Brize Norton WMO 03649 – Why Met Office claims about aviation sites do not ring true.

Antonov AN225 – The World’s largest cargo aircraft readying to take off at RAF Brize Norton 25th June 2021.

The Met Office claims its many aviation sites are acceptable to be used for historic climate temperature reporting purposes. The English, Scottish and Welsh all time record highest temperatures were all recorded at aviation sites of one form or another. In reviewing RAF Brize Norton I further examine whether these Met Office claims are reasonable or just an excuse to claim both records and routine regular readings out of direct public scrutiny.

In previous reports on airfield sites I have included Youtube clips of Typhoon power take offs at Coningsby and jet blast effects at St Maartens. I strongly recommend this BBC posted 36 second clip from RAF Brize Norton.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-oxfordshire-57613090

Below is the map of the runway showing the marked section visible in the clip at metres from the fence that blew over. I estimate the aircraft engine exhausts to be a minimum of 250 metres/ 823 feet from those spectators.

Thus, when Met Office staff assure the public that aviation sites such as Dyce , St Athan, Hurn, and most notably Heathrow (amongst literally over 120 others) are unaffected by the airport activities, I find it impossible to accept their unsubstantiated opinion.

““Planes make a negligible difference,” says Professor Williams {Editors note: of Reading University}. “Every time you use energy – whether it’s from a plane’s engine, or even just switching on a light bulb or taking a shower – it’s eventually turned into heat. “But all of that is a minor influence compared to the effect of the urban heat island.”

The consequences of jet blast (that another BBC article was concerned whether there were any personal injuries to people more than 250 metres from the source) is conveniently hand waved away whilst simultaneously admitting that urban heat island effects are massive influences distorting temperature readings. Inconsistent messages seem to be the Met Office/BBC way of misrepresenting obvious facts. Anyone who has ever felt jet blast knows it can be very strong indeed and notably warm – only quite magical thinking can deny it would not affect temperature readings.

Looking at Brize Norton weather station in detail reveals a truly appalling site that even the Met office themselves struggle to justify.

51.75841 -1.57794 Met Office CIMO Assessed Class 4S Installed 1/1/1968

At first glance it is possibly a case of no aircraft in site so that is not an issue but more of that later. Firstly, on some Google Earth Pro historic images it is far too heavily shaded to even exactly discern the screen location. Quite how this addition of “S” does not render this site Class 5 rather baffles me. However, as the surrounding parked cars, hard standing and buildings are just over the prescribed distance away that seemingly makes them “okay”.

Just from the above standpoint this is a highly undesirable site by the Met Office’s own defined standards even ignoring the lowly WMO CIMO rating, but widening out the image indicates further problems.

How do those very large military jets get into these various and ever changing positions? Nine aircraft on parking bays to the north, south and east is the norm – I chose this image for clarity only, in some others there are many more. They may move around under low power, but “low” is a relative term given the size of some of the world’s largest aircraft that are regularly housed here. Even low power can represent up to 10% (typically 6-8%) of maximum thrust capability.

I defy anyone, meteorologist or otherwise, to claim this type of site could ever provide readings that reflect the wider natural environment and climate of the UK. It is simply not a credible site for climate reporting, even its forecasting benefits are likely limited and, of course, the RAF themselves do NOT use Met Office stations for their purposes as they are not nearly good enough. Even GROK recognises that!

“RAF Brize Norton has its own weather and temperature sensors separate from the Met Office station. The base, as a military airfield, maintains independent meteorological equipment to support aviation operations, which require real-time, precise, and localised weather data. These sensors provide critical information for flight planning and safety, including temperature, wind speed, humidity, and visibility, and are distinct from the Met Office’s synoptic and climate station (WMO ID 03649) located at the site, which focuses on broader weather observations for the UK network.”

Finally for those into large scale aviation (and to further demonstrate the unsuitability of so many Met Office aviation sites for climate reporting) here is a longer Youtube clip of Brize Norton to enjoy.

Source: https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2025/06/12/brize-norton-wmo-03649-why-met-office-claims-about-aviation-sites-do-not-ring-true/