Dundrennan WMO03153 – “ONE GREEN CABINET REMOVED TO REDUCE HEAT SOURCES.”

54.80342 -4.00805 Met Office CIMO Assessed CIMO Class 4 Archived Temperature records from 1990

Dundrennan is a somewhat controversial MOD weapons testing and firing range. There are claims of over 6,000 rounds of depleted uranium, amounting to 20 tons, having been fired into the Solway Firth and various issues injurious to public health in the area. Though rail gun missile firing has now stopped the area is still an active military training site and largely off limits to the general public over safety concerns.

On the more positive side in contrast nearby Dundrennan village itself is noted for its large and picturesque historic Abbey which is a major tourist attraction for the area.

The headline caption is from an archive note dated 28/5/2025. Whilst it is always good to see details of site improvements I do have to wonder how effective such alterations are given the overall site. A green cabinet removal (quite common) may make a difference but how much effect is doubtful given well over 40,000 square feet of paving and hard standing within the 100 metre radius of the screen.

Aside from the extensive pavement there is also frequent periodic agricultural use of the site by the tenant farmers. Inevitably there will be both shading and heating effects from transient silage clamping alongside and the regular tractor traffic to and from the dump passing directly in front of the enclosure..

Taking all factors together, whilst this is a rural site it is heavily compromised by the nature of the activity (firing weapons will certainly generate heat) and its unnatural setting. No doubt a useful location close to the Solway Firth for forecasting purposes but ultimately unsuitable for accurate climate reporting representing a wider area.

Despite only having recorded temperature data from 1992, the Met Office uses Dundrennan as a representative site for 60 year rolling climate averages from 1961 to 2020. The pre-1992 period seems to be derived partly from neighbouring Cumbrian sites notably St Bees Head and Keswick.

The notable issue is that whilst the period maximum increment over 60 years is noted at 0.68°C, (in accord with the 4 Cumbrian Class 1 sites) the minimum increment is significantly higher at 0.88°C. This is likely an indication of all that hard standing and silage dump holding in daytime stored heat creating a micro climate variant of Urban heat Island effect holding up night time readings. I shall not be using this site’s data for any temperature reconstruction.