Andrewsfield WMO03684 – A topical review.

51.89615 0.45058 Met Office CIMO Assessed Class 2 Installed 1/9/1997

In the days leading up to May Day this year there was much BBC/Met Office hype about “record breaking” temperatures for that specific day only. It genuinely seemed that they had “pre-determined” that the record should be broken for April to such an extent that readings were still being taken from London St James Park weather station despite it being surrounded by generators and portable toilets in preparation for VE day celebrations. It was only when John Dodders published a photograph on “X” of the site that the Met Office “fessed up” to the problem and ruled out any readings from the site that the old April record stood thus May Day madness ensued. I have since suggested on “X” that the all time June record (from Southampton in 1976) is now in the BBC/Met Office/Nudge Unit cross-hairs and Andrewsfield is a possible contender to have that honour “bestowed” upon it …….here is why!

Firstly a close look at the Andrewsfield site. This is now a small aviation site that was originally intended to be RAF Great Saling but was renamed RAF Andrews Field in honour of the fallen US Air Force General Frank M Andrews. The site was initially constructed in 1942 by the US Army and for most of its operational life was jointly run by the RAF and USAAF.

Imagining there were no other vehicles of any description in the near vicinity of the screen, it could quite possibly be regarded as Class 2 but quite obviously that is not the case. In all the numerous historic images of this site there are various aircraft in differing positions around the screen, some being very close indeed and they did not walk there. This is the 2009 image:

There is an ever changing tableau of not just fixed wing aircraft, this 2023 image includes a helicopter that had just dropped by.

With modern PRTs now being used and with their continuous output readings only being averaged over just 60 seconds (rather than the WMO recommended 5 minutes) site like this are always prone to freak outliers and odd spikes. The site may have the potential to be Class 2 but, in reality, the way the 21st century Met Office endlessly seeks thresholds to break suggests this is a good location to accept an engineered reading from. Coningsby (2022), Cambridge (2019), Faversham (2003) all record breakers and all very dubious circumstances – rather odd that neither of the 1911 record breakers (Canterbury and Raunds) retained weather stations as also neither did the 1990 record breaker at Cheltenham.

So remember the little white dot to the left of the static jet in the image below – it could well soon become a new record breaker. But even if it does not, I certainly do not consider its readings a worthwhile addition to the national historic temperature record.