Threave DCNN 6772 – Shut that door please, wherever it is.

54.92583 Met Office CIMO Assessed Class 4 Installed 1/1/1930 Archived temperature records from 1/1/1961.

This site was initially difficult to find from the Met Office supplied co-ordinates.These show the site being over 200 metres from my co-ordinates above. Located in the grounds of Threave House, the Met Office quaintly lists the site as in Kirkcudbrightshire though it is actually near Castle Douglas in Dumfries and Galloway. It is typical of many lower quality sited (Class 4/2°C inaccuracy) rural stations that have been automated to supply real time data and improve weather forecasting. This also avoids the need for daily observer visits to take readings with only occasional on-site maintenance and inspections required. All of which makes the image below even more surprising.

Leaving screen doors open to the elements is actually not particularly unusual for manual reporting stations as I highlighted at Nettlecombe. In the case of manuals the problem would be resolved on the next daily visit, providing it actually was daily visited which again is not a given as I highlighted at Mickleham and Hartpury College. In the example of Threave the door was presumably left open on its last inspection and could have been that way for a lengthy period. The image dates to April 2021 – there are no archived notes commenting on this that I can find. The wider image does not show anyone in the near vicinity only those remarkably stationary cows.

I consequently chose to look at earlier street view images to ascertain any other occasion the door may have been left open. The only other dated image taken from the self-same spot as above was from April 2009. This was even more revealing about this “long term” site operational from 1930 than I expected.

So where is the weather station? The Met office has archived temperature readings for over 63 years but obviously not from this field which is actually the “Kid’s Play Area” in the House grounds. n.b.Those cows in the image produce no methane emissions and need no special feed – they are not real! Hours later I finally tracked down where the station was in 2009.

I imagine the current concrete cows and Jolly Roger play-ship are better near neighbours for a weather station than the former’s glasshouses, poly tunnels and hedges – and at least the door was closed. {n.b.There are so many times I find Met Office weather stations alongside glass enclosed structures that I often consider whether the Met Office have discovered a novel “Greenhouse Effect” to enhance readings}

This prior site is no nearer to the Met Office indicated location than the current one so is this really the original 1930 location? Quite oddly checking the grid reference of Easting 275151, Northing 560748 locates exactly to the current site. Further delving into the CEDA archives indicate that the last relocation of the former site was 23/6/2005. A previous relocation took place in 1990 with that site’s readings from 1961 when archiving started. This station certainly has done the rounds over the years.

Ultimately, although I have only circumstantial evidence, the original station appears to have been located by the walled kitchen garden of the house over 200 metres from its present location. I cannot as yet positively prove that but will keep trying . What I can confirm is that the claimed long term temperature record is from 3 or 4 different sites almost certainly with such significantly different climatology to cast long term climate averaging indications into doubt.

But what about that open door? In checking hundreds of site images I finally got lucky and confirmed it must have been closed by the time of this picture from around May 2021. The now closed screen can be seen just above the Jolly Roger’s fo’c’sle.

And remember – don’t feed the Belties.

Source: https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2024/11/28/threave-dcnn-6772-shut-that-door-please-wherever-it-is/