Should The MetO Place Official Weather Stations Inside Urban Areas?

[March Blizzard]

I understand that it likely goes against the criteria of where they place their stations but it would make sense to have accurate weather observations in places and in conditions where most of the population live, rather than relying on data from semi rural/rural stations that are often nearby, but can sometimes be a world away in terms of weather.

Please expose my ignorance if they infact do do this. I often notice places like Hulme Library (Manchester) on the 24 hour extremes which hints that they infact do have stations comfortably inside the UHI. Is Hulme an official met office station? If so is it a one-off or do the Met have similarly placed stations across the country?

[Aaron]

The Met Office used to operate the Leeds Weather Centre just outside Leeds city centre before it closed in 2003. Why did it close? I have no idea, but I wish they would reopen it, since Leeds now has no 'official' Met statiob, though Leeds Bradford Airport station gets quoted every now and again.

To be fair though the Leeds Weather Centre was not a good representitive for here because it had much milder nights in winter. It got quite warm in summer though relative to other areas in the north!!

The only weather station I can think of that is located in the centre of a city is Bradford.

Edited May 3, 2012 by Aaron

[Village]

I say that they have to continue to collect data from the same site regardless. However, the Met Office IMO is not discounting the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect to the correct degree. It is for this reason amoungst others that we are seeing a small and apparent rise in temperatures. Basically, if one wants to demonstrate warming then simply reduce the discount within the official stats.

If they correctly demonstrated UHI in the adjustment then there would be a clear trend to cooler temperatures in this country to a much greater degree than are officially being admitted.

Anyway, I digress....yes they should keep the sites in the same place but more must be done to adjust for known temperature creep due to ever increasing change in land usage.

[Interitus]

Re: Manchester Hulme library - the readings from this site should be viewed with some caution because the station is high up on the side of the roof.

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