Shawbury WMO 03414 – What credibility can possibly be given to this weather station?

52.79469 -2.66467 Met Office CIMO Assessed Class 2 Installed 1/1/1944 (but not in above location)

The Stevenson screen is the white box in the enclosure to the right of the helicopter. I feel it is essential to view the short Youtube clip from which the above screen capture was taken before reading my review of this site. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrrFF6QIGiY

If you have now viewed the youtube clip above I doubt there is really any need for me to continue, however, for ongoing clarity I will detail why this site is completely worthless for climate reporting. It is worth noting that Shawbury ranks as one of the Met Office’s most important sites as explained in my review of Eskadalemuir –

“The observatory is also part of the Global Climate Observing System(GCOS); one of only 8 observing stations in the UK incorporated into this important climate monitoring network (Stornoway, Aldergrove, Waddington, Rothamsted, Camborne, Lerwick, Eskdalemuir and Shawbury are all classed as GCOS surface network stations).”

In the map below the Red kite marks the modern current operational site and the distance (725 metres /2,370 feet) from its original, and completely climatologically different, location up to 1992.

For further clarification below are close up images of, firstly, the current site located just 60 metres from the nearest helicopter landing pad.

Below is the original site in a more logical location for aviation purposes being near to the threshold of the runway at 52.80185 -2.66686.

The headline youtube clip includes several glimpses of the Screen with helicopters variously taking off, hovering over and landing in very close proximity. The heat haze from the engine exhausts and powerful down-draughts from the rotors are clearly visible. Nothing in the clip is unusual or out of the ordinary for Shawbury which is the RAF’s principle helicopter training centre – there are over 50 helicopter landing pads on the main apron alone. Fixed wing aircraft also operate from this site.

“The Station

RAF Shawbury provides world-class training to around 900 personnel a year, from the UK Armed Forces and international partners.

No.1 Flying Training School trains helicopter aircrew for the Armed Forces. The Central Flying School (Helicopter) delivers Qualified Helicopter Instructors.”

Quite how the Met Office considers this an acceptable site bewilders me. The completely unnatural events around the site do not resolve down to tape measurements from nearby buildings or hard standing. The site is simply unacceptable but this never seems to deter the Met Office who not only use it as one of only 8 stations reporting to the WMO of GCOS sites but also declare it a “Historic Station.”

Clicking on the “view data” link is interesting in that despite showing an “Opened” date of 1946, the supplied temperature data only actually runs from 1957. This seems odd given the Met Office clearly has continuous data from 1946 available.

Perhaps this manuscript that reveals different site coordinates may have caused them a problem. As the “Historic Station” page states – “No allowances have been made for small site changes and developments in instrumentation. ” Thus the almost half mile relocation from the end of one runway to alongside the parking apron is a “small site change”? Difficult to accept – given the noted difference 58 metres can be proved to demonstrate even on an inactive airfield. The parking apron and regular site activity from the relatively recent move no doubt supply the required climate average uplifts.

In summary, Shawbury is not an acceptable site for even basic use and the Met Office must know that. This is another “Flagship” site that demonstrates the poor standards and total lack of adequate supervision that the Met office is being allowed to operate to.

Source: https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2025/04/27/shawbury-wmo-03414-what-credibility-can-possibly-be-given-to-this-weather-station/