Weybourne WMO03488 – Class 1 Excellence or a suspect performer?

52.94940 1.12229 Met Office CIMO Assessed Class 1 Installed 1/1/1986

Weybourne is a primary weather site run by the University of East Anglia who are home to the (in)famous Climate Research Unit. I have been intending to review this site for a long time as instinct suggested to me there was something just “not quite right” about it but could not put my finger on it. And then reader Dave Ward (a regular imagery contributor) added his expertise which suddenly allowed everything to slot into place. Is Weybourne really Class 1 or is it a suspect site – here is the Talkshop evidence.

Tim Channon reviewed this one back in 2012 and whilst he felt Class 1 by site measurement and general vista he did express elements of reservation about tracks and the like in the area. In notes on his review and other sites he noted an occasional “spikiness” to readings at certain sites with Weybourne being one.

When I reviewed nearby Holbeach I also noted an unexplained spikiness that I could not pin down and started a “back burner” period of keeping an eye out for future recurrences to find a possible cause.

Weybourne is a major atmospheric research centre and probably one of the best equipped Met Office sites in the UK. The site does offer guided tours for those interested in such detail but is not something that could be described as a tourist attraction in any way. It is a retired RAF site but I gave no consideration to what remained of the aviation facilities which were originally mainly air defense emplacements and a grass landing strip. Curiously the Stevenson screen and more mundane instruments are about 110 metres from the main equipment but there was no close up imagery.

And then Dave Ward forwarded me some more excellent photography this time for Cromer weather station for further site analysis and was also able to offer his local knowledge to issues surrounding the two (yes, two) sites named Santon Downham in two different counties!

I asked him if he could assist with any imagery or opinions on Weybourne……I struck Gold.

“Morning, Ray.

I hadn’t realised the screen was so close to the runway. If its using fast responding electronic sensors I now feel it could be influenced by aircraft movements – let me explain: It may not that obvious but the longest (main) runway, 16/34 slopes, downhill towards the beach. Not a great slope – I make it about 2% using Google Earth – but enough to be a major consideration in take off & landing, particularly for heavier or low powered aircraft. You also have to consider the terrain on the respective approaches – there’s nothing but sea to the North, but the other end has Muckleburgh Hill to contend with. One is always taught to take off and land into wind, which is fine in ideal circumstances with flat runways, but that doesn’t apply here. With an offshore breeze only those with a really powerful machine would take off to the the South and climb straight ahead – getting airborne and then immediately banking left is the only option, and even this is not without some risk. From my own experience (and observations) the majority land uphill and take off downhill. The latter would be the most likely to affect the screen as they would naturally be using full power (and wishing for more!), while typically be getting off the ground about the time they pass it. The heat produced by a 150-250hp flat four isn’t remotely comparable to the turbofans on a big jet, but wing tip vortices are greatest at low speeds and high angles of attack, exactly what applies on take off and the final stages of landing.

Most pilots never experience just how powerful these can be, but I have and lived to tell the tale! I once got a bit too close behind another similar microlight, and suddenly found myself being rolled sharply one way then back the other, before normal flight resumed. Fortunately, I was not close to the ground or I wouldn’t be typing this. Microlights usually get off the ground very quickly, and light helicopters land and take off near the parking area, so it’s the bigger 4 – 5 seaters which need all the runway. If there’s any westerly component to the wind an uphill landing or downhill take off has a good probability of disturbing the air around the screen, and could account for at least some of the temperature “spikes” seen at Weybourne. Unfortunately, being a small airfield, there’s no “real time” online movements information to compare with. Visiting pilots are requested to “Book In” at the old caravan:”

I am certainly not about to question Dave’s expert experience! Together with lots of aerial imagery Dave supplied (from aircraft taking off and landing) I was able to locate the screen with exact reference to these movements. This link includes numerous images which include the screen and in the video it appears in remarkably close proximity to the aircraft visible from 15 to 18 seconds in the run. This still below to aid identification indicates the screen to the bottom left in the large enclosure.

This second video shows the aircraft touching down almost directly alongside the screen at 1 minute 5 seconds onwards.

https://www.mistralaviation.co.uk/Lunch_Landings/Weybourne/

Clearly at this stage this is currently no more than loose circumstantial evidence though Dave has kindly offered to collate some aircraft movement timings data for me to ultimately cross check with any potential readings spikes. However, I do find it very strange that the Met Office seems not to have considered this possibility given the known rapid reaction of modern PRTs as I detailed in my review of Lentran. Although this site has been a major site for a long time it is worth noting it was an “hourly obs” site for most of its history with trained observers taking hourly manual readings. This was not the same as the minute averaged continuous read outs of much more recent times from automated PRTs.

Pending the results of further findings, I am still not convinced this screen location fully meets Class 1 standard. In the modern era of very transient heat bursts being detected that earlier would not have been solely due to instrumentation change, coupled with a meteorological averaging system skewed to reporting of extremes, Weybourne could very easily be over recording by variable and largely unknown amounts solely based on the aviation activity.

Source: https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2025/07/01/weybourne-wmo03488-class-1-excellence-or-a-suspect-performer/