Rochdale DCNN 7294 – ” enough clear space for the weather station to be free from the influence of non-meteorological factors on the readings.”

53.60879 -2.17857 Met Office Assessed CIMO Class 4 Archived temperature records from 1947

The headline quote is from the Met Office themselves. I normally pin a red kite to mark the exact site of the Stevenson screen in headline images for the benefit of readers. I have not done so in this case to demonstrate just how appallingly bad some screens are located. In order to identify its position you could think of the best site possible in such an unnatural location but that would lead you astray. It is probably easier to think of where you would avoid locating one to be nearer the mark…..thus is Met Office logic.

The siting of Stevenson screens to record the likely climate of the surrounding areas is not a difficult proposition in our modern developed society. Provided they are on reasonably flat ground over grass, away from buildings and large areas of artificial ground cover, not unduly shaded and away from major heat sources and urban areas then they will generally be perfectly okay. This is not super-precise engineering nor complex brain surgery just a few basic principles that should not be unduly difficult to adhere to. The WMO/ISO standards are not a tricksy obstacle course rather just “common sense”

Sadly the UK Met Office seems to have difficulty accepting these basic concepts. Anthony Watts once quipped that screens seem inevitably drawn to air-con outlets – to which I would add that warm sewage treatment tanks come a close second. So here is where the Met Office chose to keep the screen cosy and warm.

Obviously every modern day “climate scientist” would approve of such a location as it is 100% guaranteed not to give accurate readings representative of the natural environment and represent anthropogenic change over time i.e. since before they were built/expanded. So much is the waste heat generated by such plants that they are being considered as an energy supply for district heating systems. In London a pilot scheme is under consideration.

The Met Office, however, staunchly defends such inappropriate locations on the deceitful grounds that it is somehow difficult to achieve CIMO Class 1 or 2 in the UK. Perhaps not choosing multiple sites by road junctions alongside warm sewage settlement and treatment tanks might convince the public (if they were allowed to know) that you were at least trying to be accurate. Remember Cippenham and Iver and Castlederg? Well there are lots more equally inappropriate sewage and water treatment plants for me to review in the future – some are much worse than these previous examples.

There really should not be a lot to add about this site only that, staggeringly unsurprisingly, this site often records the regional daily high particularly in the naturally cooler months of the year such as winter. I wonder why?