Belfast Ravenhill Road DCNN9259 – This is just how bad Met Office weather stations get.

54.58377 -5.90983 Met Office Cimo Assessed (the worst it can possibly get) Class 5S Installed 1/1/1985

The general public probably think that Met Office weather stations are high quality, professional sites housing ultra sophisticated equipment in the best possible locations. The idea that massive lifestyle changes led by government policy should be dictated by thermometers in someone’s back garden is probably not even considered. I am embarking on highlighting just how many Met Office sites would be ridiculed even by amateur meteorologists.

Firstly this Belfast site really is in a domestic garden – tens of official Met Office sites are similarly located. The obvious issue here is one of quality control. Ironically the amateur meteorologist running this “site” is probably more diligent than most Met Office staff, but we have no way of knowing whether or not that is the case. So moving in for a closer look we get this –

This site fails every CIMO requirement there is – and then some. Even without any abnormal human intervention, the site is far too close to just about everything it possibly can be as well as likely falling into deep shade. Any normal daily life is likely to intervene in the readings accuracy – just hanging out laundry to dry anywhere within such a small garden will affect readings. This sort of Met Office site is a disgrace to all those other amateurs at least trying to do a reliable job.

However, this site seems to rank on a similar par to its comparative neighbours.

“Newforge” at 3 miles distant is Class 4, Helens Bay is Class 5, Aldergrove (by a massive airport car park) is laughably Class 3 just like Heathrow Airport, Hillsborough Class 5 and Killylane also comes in also at an unregulated Class 5. There seems little danger of reliable readings anywhere nearby to contradict poor ones.

It is only the function of the Surface Stations Project to assess site and data representation, however, I personally find worth commenting that I find the standards applied in many locations by the Met Office to be so poor as to beggar belief. That the Met Office has ever used this Belfast Ravenhill Road site and many other similar ones is indicative of an organisation unfit for purpose. Amazing as it may seem there are lots worse than this which I shall review in series.