Northern town grimness calculator

Last updated 10 March 2010 at 12:00

This is an experiment to objectively determine if the North of England really is grim. Each day the weather from a number of towns is compared with a baseline (London) and determined to be better, worse or the same. For example, 'sunny' is better than 'cloudy' and so on (temperature is not considered). From this data a measure of grimness is calculated as follows:

grimness = (days worse than London - days better than London) / total number of days

This measure is known as the Morrissey factor for the town. A Morrissey factor of 1.0 means that the weather is always worse than London, while -1.0 means the weather is always better. For example, a Morrissey factor of 0.23 means the weather is worse than London 23% of the time. It is hoped that in the long term (100's of samples) the Morrissey factors for the different towns will settle and we'll finally know for sure if Londoners have been right all along.

Birmingham

The weather on 94 days out of 313 days was worse than London
The weather on 78 days out of 313 days was better than London
The Morrissey factor for Birmingham is 0.05

Barcelona

The weather on 64 days out of 203 days was worse than London
The weather on 130 days out of 203 days was better than London
The Morrissey factor for Barcelona is -0.33

Carlisle

The weather on 139 days out of 257 days was worse than London
The weather on 107 days out of 257 days was better than London
The Morrissey factor for Carlisle is 0.12

Leeds

The weather on 169 days out of 313 days was worse than London
The weather on 124 days out of 313 days was better than London
The Morrissey factor for Leeds is 0.14

Liverpool

The weather on 171 days out of 313 days was worse than London
The weather on 127 days out of 313 days was better than London
The Morrissey factor for Liverpool is 0.14

Manchester

The weather on 181 days out of 313 days was worse than London
The weather on 119 days out of 313 days was better than London
The Morrissey factor for Manchester is 0.20

Maryport

The weather on 144 days out of 257 days was worse than London
The weather on 112 days out of 257 days was better than London
The Morrissey factor for Maryport is 0.12

Sheffield

The weather on 178 days out of 313 days was worse than London
The weather on 124 days out of 313 days was better than London
The Morrissey factor for Sheffield is 0.17

Newcastle

The weather on 165 days out of 291 days was worse than London
The weather on 117 days out of 291 days was better than London
The Morrissey factor for Newcastle is 0.16