The Met (Meteorological)
Office was challenged
and provided the
following replies
to questions.
1. Are you saying that the record in the link you refer to (Bruton) is from a non standard site ?
"Yes the daily data from the contributors to early British Rainfall are not currently included in the digital Met Office climate archives from which we quote the UK extremes. The extremes quoted by the Met Office are for consistency using the historical network of official observing stations, but wider Met Office archival material including the British Rainfall publication are available in the public domain.
2. Why do you compare a site halfway up a mountain (1100 feet) to those at sea level ?
We monitor climate across the range of climatic conditions of the UK. Reported extreme values reflect the extremes of UK climate but do not make any direct comparison of one location to another.
3. Do you accept data from the EA, is this not ‘non-standard’ ?
The EA and Met Office have a long standing collaboration for monitoring UK rainfall. EA gauges meet appropriate standards and are used for climate monitoring.
4. How long has your organisation been referring to rainfall records from this station ?
The Honister Pass rain gauge has been reporting since 1970
5. Why was this duration not mentioned in your press releases ?
The duration of the individual rain gauge series does not relate to the nature of the specific record being quoted.
We hope that you find these answers useful."
There is always
some doubt
about the accuracy
of old records.
And new records too !
The Met Office has many
more weather station sites
used for rainfall now.
So there is a higher probability
of one of them will catch
an “extreme local rainfall
and/or temperature” event.
The charts below
shows station networks
used by the Met Office
for calculating rainfall
in 1960 (a),
and in 1980(b):
Growth in the number
of stations is obvious:
In the past,
there was no reliable
daily data from he hills.
Many newer stations
are automated, so no one
has to make a rain gauge
reading every day.
And new automated
stations are much ore
likely to be located
in the hills, at a high altitude,
where rainfall is heavier.
Claiming a “new record”
at a mountain site,
in place of a low land site
record, is science fraud.
The Met Office
claims that
Honister Pass
is a “standard site”,
because it uses
an approved
rain gauge.
But it's also
half way up
a mountain,
which is not
a standard site.
The MET claim they
only count records
using their own
historical network
of official observing
stations.
But Honister is not
one of them !
BOM's alleged
new rain record
may prove Honister
rainfall may be the
highest there
since 1970.
Or maybe not.
For the Honister Pass
rain gauge, the
MIDAS records show
it has been reporting
since 1970.
But it appears
that 12 years of records
are missing since 1970
– so there are gaps
in the record.
The Met Office
ignored evidence
that more rain fell
in Somerset in 1917,
by claiming that Bruton
was not formally included
in their official network
of observing stations
at the time.
Before automatic gauges
were introduced in the
past couple of decades,
rainfall measurement
was manual
(except for a few,
very expensive
recording gauges
– but they had
paper charts and
still needed
to be emptied
and attended to daily).
In the hills,
a big proportion
of the manual gauges
were read MONTHLY
– usually on the first
day of each month.
A quick look at
"British Rainfall
for 1959-1960",
for example,
reveals that
about 39 of
the 127 gauges
in Cumbria
at that time
were only read
monthly.
Virtually all of the higher
altitude gauges, and all
of those away from
habitation, were only
read monthly.
Even the daily gauges
were only read once a day
at 9am.
Because of the newer
automatic stations
BOM can measure
the rainfall
minute by minute,
leading to new records.
BOM can also make a ‘day’
any 24 hours they choose.
The standard reference
time for rainfall quantities
falling in a day had been
taken by reading the gauge
at 0900 GMT, with the value
being recorded against
the previous day.
With rainfall
now recorded
using automatic
gauges and
reported to BOM
electronically,
it's possible
to calculate
rainfall totals
over any span
of hours, or
even minutes,
that results in
the highest
rainfall numbers !
The BOM explains
none of this
when declaring
a new rainfall (or
temperature) record.
UK's BOM
are dishonest.
That's politics.
This blog prefers honesty
about the past climate,
and no wild guessing
about the future climate.
That's real science.
And never forget,
the climate will get
warmer in the future
... unless it gets cooler !