Killylane Reservoir DCNN9166 – (AGW) Automatic Global Warming on the move. An unfolding story and naming names.

54.81740 -6.00500 Met Office CIMO Class 5 Installed Manual temperature records from 1/11/1997 Automated readings fro 28/6/2011.

This post represents the minor milestone of the 300th currently operating weather station that I have reviewed so far – only just under another 100 to go. Killylane weather station is Class 5. What is perhaps more surprising is that despite having reviewed over 100 Class 5 sites there are still more of these low grade ones than Class 1 sites still left to review.

Here is a reminder of the one line conditions for Class 5 defined by the Commission for Instrumentation and Meteorological Observations (CIMO) Class 5 (additional estimated uncertainty added by siting up to 5 °C) “Site not meeting the requirements of class 4.” In other words there are no regulatory standards for a Class 5 site – and it certainly shows at Killylane.

Killylane is noted for its reservoir and the allegedly haunted Ballyboley Forest which was mostly planted in 1957. The surrounding area is classed as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) with many picturesque walks and bridleways. The weather station itself lies within the Killylane Water Treatment Works and does not have generally available free public access. The local roadways do not appear on Google Street View so I have not been able to find any ground level views. However, the aerial images confirm all that needs to be known about this very poor site.

The wider angle headline image shows a site that is to all intents and purposes equivalent to a walled garden area. The tree lined northern and western perimeters block air movement from those vectors whilst the large waterworks buildings to all other compass points create an artificially calmed and warmed environment. There is extensive car parking and the 6 metre wide road way is just 4 metres away at its closest. This roadway accommodates large vehicles delivering products to the warehouse south of the screen. As well as being in a permanently compromised site it will also suffer from transient heat spikes caused by slow moving and even stationary motorised vehicles so close by.

If this were a long term site, it could be argued it is a legacy originally intended for other purposes such as hydrology. Indeed the “start date” quoted for Killylane is 1976 though it was only recording rainfall back then. Manual temperature recording started 1/11/1997 with the site deemed worthy of automation from 27/6/2011. I always check the frequency of manual observation to check their likely quality and then, quite typically, I discovered modern day Met Office AGW – Automatic Global Warming.

For context it is important to note that current Met Office senior research staff created a “peer reviewed” system to derive “Location Specific Long Term Climate Averages” of which Killylane is one selected site to represent climate data since 1/1/1961.

Who are those people who in 2004 opted to include a site only opened in 1997?

Matthew Perry.

Daniel Hollis

Examining the data quality of this specifically chosen Killylane site revealed some quite dramatic results. Firstly its manual observations record was not only atrocious but also WAS NOT FROM THE CURRENT SITE.

The CEDA archives show manual readings stopped 30/6/2009, with no readings at all for 2010 before restarting as an automatic station 27/6/2011 – a 2 year gap.

For the 180 days of 2009 when manual observations should have been recorded, only 56 (31%) were successfully managed. In the full year of 2008 only 248 (68%) attempts were actually made. All the years from opening were incomplete. This begged the questions, given its location in a fully manned operational waterworks, why could nobody seemingly be bothered to make such a short walk from office to screen on a reliable basis and why such a long gap devoid of any readings?

The simple answer was that originally the screen and its LIGT instrumentation did not require any electrical power nor data communications and was at a site where these services were not available. Again one of those long secreted notes almost “on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard” reads:

” WAS AT GRID REF 3284E 3983N ELEVATION 260M”

Somewhat annoyingly Google Earth pro historical imagery does not go back far enough in this area to positively identify the old site, however, this is the quoted site by Irish Grid reference locator, 360 metres from the current site.

Further corroboration of the relocation comes from the absence of a screen at the modern site in this 2008 image.

Everything now falls neatly into place. The original site was in very open countryside (probably CIMO Class 2) that was a far more daunting trip to take observations from and unlikely to have had adequate electrical and comms suitable for automation. Such a poor observation record did not warrant continuance of the site. However, Messrs Perry, Hollis and the NCIC had granted it “CARLOS” status and the effort of 36 years worth of fabricated data from 1961 to 1997 even before its existence, thus it must be continued. An automatic site complete with modern PRT instrumentation was installed in a location guaranteed to record warmer than its predecessor now in its wind sheltered conditions with multiple transient and extraneous heat effects to record. These two completely different datasets were then seamlessly bonded together and, hey presto, anthropogenic global warming evidence – no CO2 required.

This behaviour of the modern day Met Office is the norm rather than a rarity. Castlereagh, Durris, Dunrobin and Alwen are just a few of very many stations which have been relocated from open manual sites to enclosed and downgraded automatic sites.

I challenge the Met Office to explain themselves for what many would feel is deliberate action to artificially elevate readings and consequent averages.

Source: https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2025/09/03/killylane-reservoir-dcnn9166-agw-automatic-global-warming-on-the-move-an-unfolding-story-and-naming-names/