Hull East Park – a brief update on things not getting any better.

In my original report on the Hull site I considered this station to be one of the worst the Met Office operates.. I doubted it could actually get any worse but time has obviously proven me wrong. The above image is stripped from the local radio station sending a reporter to try and find this “site” (I use the term very loosely) that so regularly reports both regional and national highs. A quick update regarding how bad this is getting and a sad indictment of the unacceptably poor Met Office operating standards.

This is how the Met Office likes to portray their “highly regulated, premium quality” sites to the public.

Lots of wide open spaces, sophisticated equipment that is carefully segregated from unwelcome visitors, no extraneous heat sources, no buildings nor artificial influences anywhere to be seen. I consider this representation and their associated descriptive claims to be dishonest. The above image reflects a tiny minority of their sites whilst the above image of the Hull East Park site is typical. In an enclosed Zoological garden (the Animal Education Centre) in front of a 2 metre hedge, alongside metal railings and with the park tour bus parking alongside is par for the course. If this Hull site was a private weather station claiming a record, the Met Office would dismiss it out of hand.

Consider this statement: {my bold}

“Consistency of measurements is vital across the network, both for informing our forecasts and for the long-term weather and climate records of the UK. Much of the observation equipment across the UK is housed in a Stevenson Screen, a white slatted box with a north facing door, 1.25 metres above the ground. To ensure this consistency, weather stations follow global guidelines, provided by the World Meteorological Organization. This includes specific standards on, for instance, the  levels of hard surfaces, such as paths within the observation area, and having sufficient clear space for the weather station to be free from the influence of non-meteorological factors on the readings. For example, outdoor instruments should be installed on level ground, it should be away from the immediate influence of trees, buildings, hedges, fences and other obstructions. “

The “global guideline” for a CIMO class 5 site is just one line long:

“Class 5 (additional estimated uncertainty added by siting up to 5 °C) Site not meeting the requirements of class 4.“

You almost have to admire the hubris behind such claims made by the Met Office who state their class 5 sites (all 112 of them plus more that should be so categorised) are acceptable. After all they are quite comfortable with proclaiming national all time records from such appallingly bad sites such as Class 5 Cambridge University Botanic Gardens or more recently Lingwood .

The Lingwood verification report had one particularly interesting aspect in that the Met Office openly compared the readings from this back garden Class 5 ridiculous site with other nearby private sites which report their data to the Weather Observations Website. (WOW) y

One minute the Met Office States:

“Not all weather stations are created equal. Observations from amateur stations or those outside the official Met Office network can’t be considered for official records, as they aren’t subject to the same rigorous standards.This isn’t to say that personal weather stations aren’t valuable, they can provide useful local information, especially during extreme weather events, but their data must be treated with caution when it comes to national records.” {Ed note: What rigorous standards?}

And then when it suits them to support their agenda of dubious data (from what is after all just a back garden amateur site) they are only too willing , or more likely desperate, to quote other amateur weather stations. It would appear “well correlated sites can be a long way away providing they support the point to be proven. So I shall apply the same principle to Hull and see how that works..

UK daily weather extremes

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Weather observation extremes for yesterday

Tuesday 4 August 2026

Issued at: 11pm on 4 August 2026

Extremes for Yorkshire & Humber

Parameter	Location	Value
Highest maximum temperature	Hull, East Park	30.4 °C

There are 2 nearby WOW reporting sites operated by “Hull Weather” and another research site run by Hull University

That Hull Met Office high occurred at 16:15 (they have not directly told me that but I have found that out and I am not saying how) The two private “Hull Weather” sites simultaneously record their daily highs of just 29 °C and 29.3°C. The sites’ owner is quite happy to broadcast his very detailed readings online like this. Unlike the Met Office who charge even for immediate historic data that really has incredibly limited commercial value.

In similar vein the remarkably helpful staff I mentioned in my previous Hull review over at their research centre site at the university with their high quality equipment only measured a maximum of 29.1°C.. N.B. Hull University operate a fan aspirated “Gill Type” system to overcome any low velocity wind conditions such as those guaranteed to prevail at the Met Office site most of the time sitting its its cosy corner alongside the animals.

So who to believe now? 3 sites openly broadcasting all their data and submitting it to the Met Office WOW or the incredibly bad parody of a weather station that meets zero requirements at all that is operated by an organisation that demonstrably misrepresents its quality standards on a routine basis.

I leave readers to decide. For my part I no longer find any of this “funny”, I consider it downright dishonest.

Source: https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2026/08/06/hull-east-park-a-brief-update-on-things-not-getting-any-better/