Only two of 95 Met Office weather stations in Scotland are rated at the highest standard by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
One station is rated class 2 and a further five are class 3. Remarkably, 59 Scottish weather stations are rated class 4 and the remaining 28 are class 5. This latter category has been described as effectively ‘junk status’ by some critics.
It comes after the Met Office said 2024 was the fourth warmest on record in the UK, behind 2022, 2023 and 2014. Last year was also the 17th wettest year since records began in 1836.
The UK’s national weather and climate body maintains a network of 380 weather stations to measure ‘temperature and humidity’ across the British Isles, including 95 in Scotland.
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The WMO grading system takes into account factors including shade and artificial heat sources such as buildings, car parks, other concrete expanses or water surfaces such as ponds, rivers or lochs. The WMO states: “Neighbouring artificial surfaces may heat the air and should be avoided.”
Weather stations rated as class 5 under the WMO system can have an “additional estimated uncertainty” of up to 5°C while those ranked class 4 can be out by up to 2°C and class 3 sites have a 1°C margin of error.
One class 4 weather station is located at Grangemouth Refinery
(Image: PA)
A class 5 site is “where nearby obstacles create an inappropriate environment for a meteorological measurement that is intended to be representative of a wide area”.
For class 1 sites, the land must be flat and all shade and heat sources must be more than 100metres away. For class 2, the distance is 30m and for class 3 it is 10m.
Class 4 sites have reflective surfaces, heat sources and water within 10m, as long as they do not make up more than 50% of the radius area. Class 5 is simply classed as a “site not meeting the requirements of class 4”.
The WMO adds: “In a perfect world, all sites would be class 1, but the real world is not perfect and some compromises are necessary. A site with a poor class number can still be valuable.”
RAF Gannet at Prestwick Airport hosts a class 4 Met Office weather station
(Image: Getty Images)
However, this has failed to impress some critics and climate sceptics. Last year, the Daily Sceptic used freedom of information laws to obtain a list of all the Met Office weather stations, along with their WMO rating.
The article noted that many recent climate records had been set at weather stations with a class 4 or class 5 rating. This included the highest ever January temperature in the UK when 19.6°C was recorded at Kinlochewe, a class 4 site, on January 28, 2024.
Journalist Chris Morrison wrote: “The Met Office is between a rock and a hard place with these surface temperature measurements. Many of its long-standing stations have been encroached by urbanisation and corruptions seem to have become endemic across the entire system.”
Only Fair Isle and Cassley are class 1
Although the Met Office does not publish the list, the Scottish Daily Express has now obtained the same information. It shows that only Fair Isle and Cassley in Sutherland are rated class 1, while Kirkwall in Orkney is class 2.
Some of the sites are near obvious heat sources, such as Grangemouth Refinery, or large areas of exposed concrete, such as Stornoway or Wick airports. Others are located at military bases such as RAF Gannet, Leuchars, Kinloss and Lossiemouth.
Class 3 sites
Braemar No 2; Cairngorm Chairlift; Dunbar; Harris: Quidnish; Lyth No 2;
Class 4 sites
Aboyne No 2; Achnagart; Altnaharra No 2; Auchincruive; Aultbea No 2; Baintown; Baltasound No 2; Banff Golf Club; Benmore Botanic Garden; Bute: Rothesay No 2; Charterhall; Craibstone No 2; Dalwhinnie No 2; Darvel, Hillview; Drumalbin; Drummond Castle; Drumnadrochit; Dumfries, Crichton Royal No 2; Dundrennan; Dunrobin Castle Gardens; Dunstaffnage; Durris; Dyce; Edinburgh, Gogarbank; Edinburgh, Royal Botanic Garden No 2; Eskdalemuir; Fettercairn, Glensaugh No 2; Floors Castle; Forrest Lodge, Burnhead; Glasgow, Bishopton; Grangemouth Refinery; Inverbervie No 2; Islay: Port Ellen; Kinbrace Hatchery; Kinlochewe; Kinloss; Lerwick; Loch Glascarnoch; Logan Botanic Garden; Lossiemouth; Machrihanish; Mugdock Park; Mylnefield; Nunraw Abbey; Orkney: Loch of Hundland; Poolewe; Portpatrick, Craigenlee Croft; Prestwick, Gannet; Salsburgh; Stornoway Airport; Strathallan Airfield; Strathy East; Tain Range; Threave; Tiree; Tulloch Bridge; Urquhart, Northwood; Wick Airport; West Freugh
Class 5 sites
Achfary; Achiltibuie No 2; Arran: Brodick Castle; Auchtermuchty, Rossie; Aviemore; Balmoral; Barwhillanty House; Bowhill; Cawdor Castle No 2; Culdrose; Culzean Castle No 2; Dawyck Botanic Garden; Dunbarney, South Hill; Faskally; Fyvie Castle; Gartocharn, Portnellan Farm; Great Cumbrae: Millport; Kinross; Lentran; Leuchars; Lochgilphead; Motherwell, Strathclyde Park; Oyne No 2; Pollok Country Park; Port Henderson; Resallach; South Uist Range; Tyndrum No 3
‘More shading from low sun’
The Met Office said: “All Met Office weather stations are inspected by trained expert Met Office Regional Network Officers at a set interval. Each weather station is assessed against both the World Meteorological Organization inspection standards and Met Office inspection standards.
“It is the Met Office inspection standard which is used as the official benchmark for assessing the suitability of a site to record temperatures to be archived in the long-term climate record.”
In a blog post, the Met Office states that “higher classes can be difficult to achieve in the more-densely populated and higher latitude UK”. This is because weather stations in the UK “receive more shading from low sun angles than some other stations globally”.
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