52.22698 -0.46554 Met Office Assessed Class 2 Installed 1/1/1956 at a different site, above location from 1980
Tim Channon assessed this site as possibly Class 1 back in 2012
Then again, times change but seemingly unnoticed by the Met Office.
There are a surprisingly large number of both active and former RAF airfields in the UK. Many of them are almost forgotten and lost in the sands of time. A typical example is RAF Wisley just to the south of the, now famous, Royal Horticultural Society Gardens. It is now a lost relic soon to be built over. Better than building over virgin green belt.
A different re-purposing applies to the former RAF Thurleigh (known by the Met Office as “Bedford”) which became the site of Thurleigh Vehicle Storage and just a few new and secondhand unsold cars.
Reviewing Tim’s original scaling, the 30 metre exclusion zone for Class 2 is technically not breached so the Met Office can justify their assessment on tape measurements as they often do such as at Chertsey. However, it seems to be stretching a point claiming such a high standard when there are clearly, at times, thousands of mostly internal combustion engine vehicles alongside. They are frequently being moved in and out by using their own engines and, on this enormous scale, must surely exert influence on the immediate weather station just a fraction over 30 metres away.
This site re-purposing is neither the responsibility nor the fault of the Met Office, though I do feel this former acceptable site is now compromised beyond continued use of its data for the historic temperature record. Another re-location is overdue.
via Tallbloke’s Talkshop
November 14, 2024 at 06:09AM
Iowa Climate Science Education 