Verifying records – can the Met Office really be trusted?……Prepare to be very surprised.

The above image is from the Met Office of one of their official weather stations. Much of the equipment inside the screen is NOT the Met Office’s but was fitted (unauthorised) by the observer for their own personal use. The AIG (Alcohol in Glass) thermometer was broken and fixed up with tape but amazingly “passed” testing. Despite being way out of step with surrounding areas and with “dodgy” equipment a UK all time record was officially authorised. Below I detail the official account of the event and leave it to readers to judge if they find this acceptable.

When I reviewed Shirburn Model Farm I was particularly doubtful of the likely accuracy of the alleged all-time record maximum low temperature/ highest nighttime minimum of 26.8°C. Two things concerned me. Firstly that the reading was very markedly different to surrounding better equipped stations which I found very reminiscent of the Faversham 2003 record disputed by Philip Eden of the Royal Meteorological Society.

The even more important second point (which I referred to in my report) was my having been anonymously contacted via a “Met Office Observer” regarding the site and the record. This “observer” seemed to be casting doubt on the record and clearly knew a great deal about the area but did not state their exact position. This unsolicited contact seemed very odd but I ran the piece with all the evidence I could find at the time to try to verify the position. I have now come across the quite astonishing official Met Office verification process for this record which I reproduce below in full.

End of Report

Okay, a brief review.

The screen has unauthorised private and unofficial equipment fitted inside…..but that’s okay(?)

The thermometer is broken and taped together but we have to take it on trust it broke AFTER the event.

The site reading is way “out of kilter” with surroundings which the Met Office confirms the view that I originally expressed.

We have to assume that there was no “outside” interference despite it being blatantly obvious (and confirmed) “inside” interference with unauthorised equipment inside the screen. N.B. the unauthorised equipment was two “ERTs” as in “Electronic Resistance Thermometers ” which require a power supply. How was that achieved and, if “wired in”, by whom and on whose authority?

But the observer is “a reliable chap you know.”

The temperature readings “profile” from the Data Logger bears no similarity whatsoever to the nearby private weather station at Thame that I highlighted in my original report.

And most damning there is almost a “returning to scene of the crime” about this with the observer making odd comments “querying” whether this really was a record…………and later I get an unsolicited and anonymous email.

Draw your own conclusions but in my view, if this is the way the Met Office verifies records then I personally have no confidence whatsoever in any of their alleged records. Put this as an example of “evidence” in a court of law and watch the case to be immediately thrown out as inadmissible. This is the appallingly poor standard of a generously taxpayer funded organisation. YCMIU but they do.

Source: https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2026/01/23/verifying-records-can-the-met-office-really-be-trusted-prepare-to-be-very-surprised/