Sheffield Weston Park DCNN 4061 – Implications.

53.38144 -1.49138 Met Office assessment CIMO Class 5 Installed 1/1/1882

A significant landmark in Sheffield, the Weston Park Observatory was constructed in 1880 and has a continuous site record from 1882. There is nothing outwardly particularly contentious about this site. The Met Office accepts it is CIMO Class 5 and unquestionably subject to significant Urban Heat warming effects. Despite this the Met Office describe the site as “Satisfactory”.

From the multiple historic A57 street view images on google maps nearly half show an ice cream van parked close by the Weather station no doubt with its engine frequently running. No longer an ideal site so why should it be of any great concern? Well there are implications…….

Think of all those weather forecasters comments “these overnight temperatures shown are for towns and cities – it will be a few degrees colder in rural areas” or “and maybe a touch of ground frost in the countryside”. Obviously nobody has set up artificial cooling devices for rural areas so it is the urban areas that are artificially several degrees warmer – the Urban Heat Island Effect. Basic stuff.

From Wikipedia, the Urban Heat Island effect elevates temperatures by

“heat trapping due to land use, the configuration and design of the built environment, including street layout and building size, the heat-absorbing properties of urban building materials, reduced ventilation, reduced greenery and water features, and domestic and industrial heat emissions generated directly from human activities”.

The temperature elevation effect is, however, known to be generally greater at night times than day times with overnight lows holding up significantly higher than elsewhere and raising daily average temperatures. So, in many respects, for city dwellers this can be a good thing – saves on the heating bills. Conversely those in rural sites will experience colder averages and consequently more expensive heating bills.

UHI and the increasing loss of rural located quality weather stations over recent years will be the topic of a separate detailed post demonstrating the effect this has had on the historic temperature record. For now this post concentrates on more social issues.

Not to be confused with “Winter Fuel Payments“, for those in the UK on most means tested benefits there are additional “Cold Weather Payments” (CWPs) which automatically pay extra money to those deemed financially and/or physically vulnerable during colder conditions. Extra considerations are given for those families with young children under 5 years old. The trigger for these payments is the average temperature measured at specific weather stations allocated to specific post code areas across the UK.

“You’ll get a payment if the average temperature in your area is recorded as, or forecast to be, zero degrees celsius or below over 7 consecutive days. {editors note: what “average” method?}

You’ll get £25 for each 7 day period of very cold weather between 1 November 2024 and 31 March 2025.”

This charity advice site below lists all the weather stations applicable to postcodes for which CWPs were made in winter 2022/3.

https://lottie.org/fees-funding/dwp-cold-weather-payment/

So what if you live in a higher altitude rural post code area surrounding Sheffield well away from the UHI experienced in Weston Park and significantly colder? The total postcodes allocated to Sheffield are:

If Weston Park doesn’t average below the trigger point it is tough luck on you however cold it may actually be if you live in any of its allocated post codes.

The Met Office must know of this issue, they surely cannot be that naive or just maybe they never gave it a thought – just drew some lines on a map. Whatever, the responsibility must lie with them as they are supposed to be the experts in this field and the DWP simply refers to them for advice.

Alarmingly, from the full allocation listing, a high proportion of triggering sites are found to be in known UHI affected areas such as Sheffield and are equally at CIMO Class 4 or 5 levels of inaccuracy.

I am raising this point with our new (allegedly) more socially responsive government for their views. It will be interesting to see who the responsible Ministers side with. I will report back any responses.

Meanwhile it is worth remembering there are more immediate implications to poor weather station siting than just corrupting the historic temperature record. I will cover these other equally surprising implications in future posts.

Source: https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2024/09/17/sheffield-weston-park-dcnn-4061-implications/