Culzean Castle & Culzean Castle No.2 – No change for the better?

Above – Culzean Castle No 2 55.35567 -4.78128 Met Office assessed CIMO Class 5 Installed 1/8/2018

Above – Culzean Castle original site. No Met Office assessment but clearly Class 5. Installed 1/1/1888 closed 1/5/2017 prior to relocation and renaming.

If a Met Office weather station requires relocation it would be reasonable for the sensible use of tax payer funding and scientific credibility to move it to an improved location. Amazingly the Met Office managed to achieve the reverse and actually worsen the siting standard.

This is what the old site looked like in 2015 (prior to closure) situated in the Walled Garden of Culzean Castle.

Obviously the principle objective behind a walled garden is to artificially elevate temperatures so inevitably this long running site would never have accurately represented the wider area temperature. However, it was clearly an extremely well maintained site and reported readings with unfailing regularity.

For whatever reason a decision was made to close down the site and it has now been completely removed. At this point any new location would be expected to be a significant improvement to improve observation accuracy at best value for money. Below is what actually ensued.

From its inception the Met Office themselves assessed the site as CIMO Class 5 with a known error margin of up to 5°C. The blatantly obvious question is why? Surely those responsible for the installation knew the necessities required for an accurate site. Was it beyond their means to ensure that it was away from those newly planted growing trees that will inevitably only worsen the location into heavy immediate shade? The broader angle view clearly indicates the existing established trees as a major problem. The grass seems to be intermittently cut (“no mow May” for example) exceeding local vegetation height limits.

And then, could it not have been further from the roadway avoiding cars queueing from the nearby car park? Surely this is not “nit picking” simply expecting a government scientific agency to follow basic rules to ensure scientific integrity at best value for money. Readings from this new site are acknowledged as “junk” status so why bother with it at all – surely no more than just a waste of taxpayer’s money.