East Okement Farm Addendum – “We cannot retrieve these details” 

A reader and amateur meteorologist alerted me to odd readings from one of their nearest Met Office weather stations that raised what is either a very surprising admission from the Met Office or potentially a “fob off” to an awkward question. The issue is the above national highest temperature for 22/12/2026 recorded at a very remote, higher altitude, Class 4 station (East Okement Farm) which was markedly different from its surroundings. I further investigated and also found the reading suspect – here are my findings.

Below is the hourly readout from the Met Office data that Weatherobs supplies online in real time. The on-the-hour maximum recorded for the 22nd was quoted as 9.15°C at 11:00. {N.B. Met office readings are only recorded to the instrument calibration accuracy level of the first decimal place. This 2nd decimal place reading is an artefact of averaging 4 separate readings taken at 15 second intervals by the PRT. } This hourly reading is over 2°C lower than the claimed high point which suggests a remarkably rapid and unlikely rise and fall in between the hourly readings. My readers nearby amateur system recorded 3.5°C lower than the Met Office claimed maximum.

My first comparison was the Class 2 (fully accurate) North Wyke station operated by Rothamsted Research which is just 5.5 miles distant and 230 metres lower elevation. In this case the hourly maximum of 10.06°C occured an hour later at 12:00 but was still a rounded 1.1°C lower than the claimed daily high. The direct comparison 11:00 reading was only 08.36°C.

Referring to the Met Office WOW site for nearby private stations firstly indicated a station in Okehampton itself hourly peaking at just 8.7°C. with a profile not indicatie of sharp rise and fall at any time.

The next nearest site slightly to the west of Okement Farm yet again only peaked at 9.5°C.

My reader decided to contact the Met Office to check this daily high reading stating the following.

“on the Daily Extremes page for 22/1/2026 the high is being shown as  11.2C at East Okement Farm.  This seems markedly different to the hourly bulletin on Weatherobs which peaked at 9.15 @ 11:00  on that day and also much higher than readings shown at nearby North Wyke and also the nearby private weather stations appearing on WOW. Could you advise please the time of the peak reading and the approximate duration of this high.“

The Met Office response was as follows.

“Public – Data – East Okement Farm Readings 22/1/2026

Dear xxxxxx,

Thank you for your email. We cannot retrieve these details as the system we use to view the times of daily extremes resets the following morning. We’ve had a large backlog of emails to work through so I apologise that your email was not picked up in a more timely manner. 

Kind regards,

Jennifer

Service Desk “

This response seems remarkably convenient, data accuracy is questioned leading to a “sorry we cannot check it for you” reply. However, this goes completely against my own personal experience. When I queried the readings at Cavendish in 2024 this was the response:

On the 18th September 2024 the Met Office was demonstrably capable of retrieving data from 14th August and to the absurd 5th decimal place. What has changed since? Could it be that the heat is on with the Met Office coming under increasing scrutiny of their dubious recording practices.

One possible scenario is that there was a momentary blip in the readings caused by the rapid response modern PRT picking up any of the multiple extraneous heat sources possible on a working farm with the screen within a stone walled enclosure. Inspection of the data revealed this and it could well prove “embarrassing” to reveal such a glitch evident in the readings.

Below is a close up of the site from a recent archaeological survey. It is not difficult to see how “rogue” readings could easily occur with this type of enclosure and solar panels.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the Met office no longer feels it has to respond to any public concerns regarding its accuracy and is becoming a law unto itself. How many other sites readings are equally compromised and how frequently?

Source: https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2026/01/24/__trashed-9/