Shirburn Model Farm DCNN 4542 – a model example of how not to corroborate “records” whilst seeing double.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX SITE 2 above OR SITE 1 below XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Location under query. 2 sites believed to be concurrently operating. No definitive dates/CIMO rating.

Shirburn Model Farm is located in Oxfordshire. The Met office claims this site is an all time national record holder. However, does the Met Offfice’s claim stand up to scrutiny and local knowledge? An intriguing investigation.

Firstly to clarify the above images, I was notified by a qualified Met Office observer (who wished to remain anonymous) that he believed there were two manual reporting stations at this location. Such a situation is not unusual at official Met office sites as I have demonstrated before most notably at Manston where there have been two concurrently operating automatic stations since December 2019. Other examples, of several, are RHS Wisley and RAF Wittering.

The story runs that the original site from 1968 ( site 2 in above headline) was due for relocation due to being severely compromised by both surrounding buildings and business activities. Normal procedure is to have new sites run concurrently to verify parity of readings between sites. Where readings conform and relocation distance is small, no renaming nor renumbering occurs. Conversely if divergences are noted the new site is usually renamed/renumbered to identify the changes. The same operator read both sites but, for reasons not verified, this dual reading process continued well beyond any normal verification period and was alleged to be operating in 2022 and possibly still is. The image below shows both sites.

It is worth noting that the Met Office archived location coordinates do not refer to either site though it is quite normal for their location coordinates to be only “approximate”. It is obvious the original site (annotated Shirburn 1 above) is really not acceptable so relocation was suitable, however, it is worth noting both sites appear to have co-existed for at least twenty years – not dissimilar to the Nettlecombe examples. Shirburn 2 appears better located though still only (according to the Met Office if this really is the assessed point) a rather dubious Class 3.

So what about this alleged all time national record?

In between the typical scare-story headlines of “DEATH” due to exceptionally rare hot weather events it was reported that….

As the Met Office chooses to highlight this rather odd benign type of record, I would point out that continued human unclothed exposure to 21°C can lead to DEATH from hypothermia and certainly not being too hot. The claimed 26.8°C is over 10°C below a normal healthy body temperature of 37°C

It was this alleged “highest minimum” that my informant felt was particularly questionable for not only which actual site the readings were taken from but also how valid the readings were . The aspects of both timing and area comparison were emphasized. Whilst “area comparison” seemed logical, “timing” seemed an odd aspect to raise until I considered the above article.

Shirburn is a manual reporting station. Historically the thermometers would have been standard “Six’s” types and indeed the minimum recorders still would be. No specific time would be available for the reading. To be so “time precise” (i.e. 4:32 am) the thermometers must be modern Platinum Resistance Type which would not have been the case in the past. This “Facebook/Meta” video clip demonstrates the ability to “wind back” readings to particularly time points as demonstrated at Floors Castle that was, also in 2022, wrongly credited with a Scottish “record”.

The suggestions of inaccurate or “modified” readings at Shirburn could easily be ruled out (or in) by comparison with other nearby official Met Office weather stations. What does the Met Office say about weather records?

{note that specific term “feasible”}

The above statement needs to be taken into account with regards to what the Met Office clearly states about their “climate averaging” system.

“Where stations are currently closed in this dataset, well-correlated observations from other nearby stations are used to help inform latest long-term average figures in order to preserve the long-term usability of the data. Similar peer-reviewed scientific methods are used by meteorological organisations around the world to maintain the continuity of long-term datasets.“

Thus, it is Met Office policy to compare to other local “well-correlated” sites in a manner described by high calibre words such as “robust”, “reliable” and “feasible” …..their words, not mine. So what are those local well correlated stations. Bear in mind Shirburn Model Farm recorded a MINIMUM temperature on the 19th July of 26.8°C at 4.32 a.m. The nearest Met Office stations to Shirburn recorded in archived records indicate the following:

Benson situated 5 miles west – Dropped to 19.5°C i.e a difference of 7.3°C lower than Shirburn.

Wallingford situated 7 miles west south west – Dropped to 16.9°C i.e a difference of 9.9°C

Reading situated 15 miles to the south – Dropped to 18.3°C i.e a difference of 8.5°C

Cippenham situated 12 miles to the east/south east – dropped to 17.4°C i.e. a difference of 9.4°C

High Wycombe HQAir (a non CIMO assessed site) situated 9 miles east – dropped to 22.2°C i.e a difference of 4.6°C

Oxford Radcliffe ( a highly UHI influenced site) situated 14 miles to the north west – dropped to 17.9°C i.e. a difference of 8.9°C

{NOTE: Manual stations report 24 hourly in arrears at 9:00 a.m. from the previous day at 9:00 a.m. Automatic stations archive data 12 hourly with readings at 9:00 a.m. for the preceding 12 hours from 21:00 the previous day.}

There are no Met Office stations to the immediate north of the Shirburn site, however, there is an automatic private weather station in Thame barely 4 miles to the north, an urban site that reports its data hourly to the Met Office Weather Observations site.

Thame – Queens Close dropped to 18.3°C i.e. a difference of 8.3°C

For confirmation this is the Met Office archived Shirburn site reading:

The archived and observed reality is that NONE of the nearby official Met Office weather stations recorded readings even remotely close to the Shirburn site. The nearby Private weather station similarly did not record anything close to the Shirburn readings. Even the exact location of where or which site the Shirburn reading was taken at is in doubt. A suggestion of readings being taken at completely unacceptably compromised and uncontrolled sites is difficult to refute given the circumstances.

Despite the Shirburn readings bearing no correlation whatsoever to local sites, the Met Office opted to proclaim this (these?) low grade and remote manual reporting station(s) as an all time national record flying in the face of all the comparative and “feasible” evidence rather akin to their desperate record chasing at Faversham. Is this acceptable from a largely taxpayer funded organisation?

Source: https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2025/02/22/shirburn-model-farm-dcnn-4542-a-model-example-of-how-not-to-corroborate-records-whilst-seeing-double/