{"id":418841,"date":"2025-12-27T19:59:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T18:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=418841"},"modified":"2025-12-27T23:01:58","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T22:01:58","slug":"katesbridge-dcnn9265-the-cool-capital-of-northern-ireland-more-met-office-manipulation-on-a-massive-scale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=418841","title":{"rendered":"Katesbridge DCNN9265 \u2013 The \u201cCool Capital\u201d of Northern Ireland. More Met Office Manipulation on a massive\u00a0scale."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Aerial<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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From Tallbloke’s Talkshop<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Ray Sanders<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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54.29676 -6.11109 Met Office CIMO<\/a>\u00a0Assessed Class 4 Temperature records from 2\/8\/1993<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Katesbridge is a small hamlet with a quoted population of just 150 people. It lies approximately 20 miles southwest of Belfast and 12 miles north east of Newry in County Down. The weather station is not in the hamlet of Katesbridge itself, rather it is about 1.5 miles to the east south east in a notably rural spot. The issue with this site is that it lies in a location that the Met Office expressly states is \u201cUndersirable\u201d but then still goes on to proclaim this as a \u201cClimate Averages\u201d site representative of a wide area. And it certainly does produce some very interesting figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Tim Channon focused on World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) numbered sites in his original Surface Stations Project<\/a> he also reviewed some of the more notable non WMO sites \u2013 Katesbridge<\/a> was one of them.<\/p>\n\n\n

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His report and the many and very detailed comments below it are well worth studying for the valuable local content added. Importantly, Tim felt this could well be a Class 1 rated site and he rarely called things wrong as time and subsequent Met Office ratings have shown. Revisiting it myself I could not initially see how this site could be rated at anything lower than Class 2 and agreed with Tim that the site has class 1 potential solely based <\/strong>on distances from buildings, roads etc and ground cover. Katesbridge appeared to fall into that category of Drummond Castle<\/a>, Levens Hall<\/a> and Stowe<\/a> amongst many other rural sites that are marked down by the Met Office for no immediate visual reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, looking deeper into this particular site brings up many valid claims that it is in a significant \u201cfrost hollow\u201d. What initially does the Met Office claim about frost hollows and weather stations.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

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There are numerous sources of evidence that Katesbridge is in a major frost hollow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The BBC regularly runs\u00a0articles on Katesbridge\u00a0<\/a>whenever there is a cold snap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Headline<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Clearly Katesbridge gets cold due to known effects. The weather station itself is a fully equipped synoptic site which was originally just a rain gauge location later enhanced for immediate forecasting purposes. This makes perfect sense in that, in temperature terms, freezing events are critical to forecasting as they represent dangers in multitudes of ways from agriculture to transport and many others. Being a degree or two out on mild days is really no problem but missing a frost event can have major consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is perfectly right and proper for a site specific to local conditions to be in Katesbridge beyond any doubt. What is very strange is to use such micro-climate readings as representing a wider area. This practise is akin to reversing the walled kitchen garden<\/a> effect where every attempt is made to avoid naturally occurring frosts. Then again the Met Office has form in using very many walled gardens and still installs weather stations in such inappropriate sites<\/a> even in the recent 21st Century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Met Office says Katesbridge is \u201dUndesirable\u201d but then assess the site by their own (Roy Spencer PhD approved<\/a>!) unique system as the second best possible category of \u201cGOOD<\/strong>\u201d as disclosed under Freedom of information request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Conversely the WMO is quite unequivocal about the use of micro-climates including frost hollows for climate recording purposes. From Grok AI regarding WMO Commission for Instruments for Meteorological Observations guidance:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKey Relevant Guidance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Part I, Chapter 2 (Measurement of Temperature), the guide emphasizes site representativeness and states that stations should be sited to avoid locations where cold air drainage leads to unrepresentative low minimum temperatures. Specifically:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n