Met Office Weather Stations – CIMO Classification list.

Following my letter to Peter Kyle, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology regarding the UK Met Office, many have asked I list official weather stations by their CIMO Classification. It is important to note that though the Met Office supplied me with this information under “Freedom of Information” request, I am technically not at liberty to publish it. However, I have not thrown soup at the Mona Lisa nor blocked the Dartford Crossing so in the interests of public information I feel at liberty to broadcast my own “personal knowledge” as I did with the list of “Open/Closed” Climate Averages stations.

It is important to note that the Met Office system automatically defaults all their site’s classifications to Class 1 (the best possible) unless manually adjusted downwards. I highlighted this point regarding the Met Offices’ incorrect assessment of Hastings as Class 1 which was subsequently downgraded to Class 4. This was further confirmed when I queried Edenbridge which again was subsequently downgraded to Class 4. Interestingly today (6/11/2024) I have had further communication from the Met Office regarding Edenbridge which is clearly incorrect. I quote:

“FBK0015628 – Public – Data integrity – CIMO Classification Edenbridge Weather Station.

Dear Mr Sanders,

Edenbridge observation site is indeed still CIMO 4 for screen air temperatures. The class 4 is due to occasional shading by trees.

The classification was incorrect in our database, due to a typing error during the 2023 inspection, but this listing has since been corrected.

Thank you for your interest.

Kind regards,

Weather Desk”

NOTE Shading effects are noted by the addition of “S” after the CIMO assessment. It is completely against CIMO assessments to downgrade a site solely on shading effects. The above Met Office statement is NOT an acceptable reason/excuse.

I have a number of other sites under query notably Cassley which is also claimed as Class 1 but has the entirety of a hydro electric power plant in its immediate vicinity.

I list below an alphabetical list as supplied to me under Freedom of Information Request numbered IMS0197291. Please note, as with previous Open/Closed stations data this list is supplied via “screen capture” from my personal Chromebook. This view is available to anyone.