52.45931 0.67118 Met Office Assessed CIMO Class 5 & “GOOD” Relocated to this site 1/1/1960
Another of the many Class 5 sites that the Met Office regularly proclaims on its daily extremes but Santon Downham is a bit different. It regularly records either the hottest or the coldest and even both on the same day!
Clearly there must be very site specific reasons for a weather station to have such variability and even the local parish council boasts about it.
And there is the answer in a nutshell “The explanation is our sandy soil” …well that and also locating the temperature sensor next to a car park in the cauldron setting of surrounding windbreak trees and various buildings. Tim Channon reviewed the site back in 2013 and the reality is the site has actually worsened since his rather scathing review.
Exceptionally poorly located weather stations such as Santon Downham make a mockery of Met Office claims to have high quality standards.
“To ensure consistency of measurements in the records, weather stations must meet strict criteria, in alignment with meteorological organisations across the world. This includes specific standards on the levels of grass-cover within the observations area, as well as having enough clear space for the weather station to be free from the influence of non-meteorological factors on the readings.”
The inclusion (and highlighting) of this station’s readings in the historic climate record is more indicative of poor observing practice and smacks more like record chasing to “prove” a theory. After all Simon King insists – https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/articles/cn07jrm86l4o
Given that most of these early 21st Century measuring points simply did not exist in the “early 20th Century” (and meteorologists were rather more selective back then) his claim is hardly surprising. Notice though that the “threshold crossing” concept is being used rather than the now discredited “average” temperature. Santon Downham and a cast of hundreds of other poor sites have a lot to answer for.
via Tallbloke’s Talkshop
October 7, 2024 at 06:23AM
Iowa Climate Science Education 