Pershore/Throckmorton again. This is not the way things should be done. Proof of guilt.

Following my recent post on the Pershore Perplexity regarding the “Throckmorton” site recording improbably higher readings for 2 days running than surrounding stations, West Midlands resident Derek Price kindly took the time to visit the site and forward me photos. If a picture paints a thousand words…..spot the weather station in the above image, it is there you just can no longer see it!!!!

This is the Google maps aerial image of the site from 1999. bear in mind these images orientate with north to the top. A good site with little, if any, surrounding vegetation to break the wind or provide excess sheltering or shading, but this was 26 years ago.

The latest version of the above from 2025 looks very different indeed.

These images indicate very major changes but it is still hard to tell scale without actually visiting. Derek supplied that perspective with his graphic explanation to the image below: ” You can just see the top of a 6 foot fence and I am holding my camera over my head”. Excellent work for which I am most grateful.

Going back to the 1999 image which shows a pristine well ordered site – it certainly is not like that now. Derek diligently offered views from the side access gate to the east of the screen (hence looking west) firstly from range:

And then an all important close up from the gate post.

All these indicate everything that needs to be known. The screen is now, through either neglect or lack of control of the boundary, heavily wind shaded. All winds from west through north to east will be inevitably stilled creating a south facing suntrap. The wind mast may well be accurately recording wind speed and direction, but it is 10 metres high after all. The naturally aspirated screen itself will regularly experience low wind speed regardless of the recorded figures high above it from the anemometer.

Scottish meteorologist, physicist and marine engineer, John Aitken, noted way back in 1884 that Stevenson Screens (coincidentally officially adopted the same year) were prone to over recording temperatures in wind speeds within the screen of less than 1 metre per second. The effect was subsequently named after him and is well understood by meteorologists to such an extent that the World Meteorological Organisation recommend artificial aspiration (fan assisted) to negate this problem. The Met Office has no operational artificially aspirated screens in their climate reporting network.

The Met Office claims to annually inspect all its sites. Whether or not it fulfills that function I cannot verify though no doubt they will claim they do. What is beyond any doubt is that the obvious problems are simply not being addressed leading to progressively worsening effects and thus known inaccurate readings. Below are readings for the last 7 days for Pershore (including 27th October.)

27th October, 11:00 GMT – low wind speed from the north west when the hourly maximum was recorded – with almost certainly static air inside the screen. And hey presto yet again!

I invite readers to go back to all those extensive links I previously provided for the surrounding weather stations to Pershore and it will be seen that none of them attained within 2 °C of its maximum reading. The official CET reporting station of Pershore College (just a few kilometres distant and at the same elevation) did not record within 2.5°C. This information is obviously fully visible to the Met Office – do they just ignore it?

Well consider what the Met Office has the hubris to claim about its sites.

I categorically state the above is untrue.This is clearly totally unacceptable and unscientific behaviour on the part of the Met Office and must stop immediately. Unfortunately they now seem to have become a completely unaccountable and almost out of control organisation driven by other agendas.

If I am wrong perhaps the Met Office might at least try to disprove my claim or stand guilty in silence.

Codecil: I would like to repeat my personal thanks to Derek. It helps in more ways than one.

Source: https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2025/10/28/pershore-throckmorton-again-this-is-not-the-way-things-should-be-done-proof-of-guilt/