Guensey Airport WMO0389 – You couldn’t make it up!

49.431872 -2.598142 Met Office CIMO assessed Class 2 (???) Installed 1/1/1949

Although stations in the Channel Isles are listed as Met Office sites I originally intended not to review them as I had no intention of including such relatively remote locations in my construction of an alternative climate record for Great Britain. Realistically these sites’ climate are determined by their proximity to France. Their designation as part of the British Isles is far more political than geograpical. However, as they are listed and CIMO assessed by the Met Office I felt I should include them for full completion of the original project. What a rag tag collection I came across! First Guernsey’s principle site at its airport.

Below is a section from a listing of only UK CIMO Class 1 and 2 sites from the Met Office released under Freedom of Information Act that I highlighted in full here. The Met Office claims Guernsey Airport weather station meets the stipulated requirements of CIMO Class 2.

A brief recap of the required standard to demonstrate that Guernsey Airport weather station does not get even remotely close to that standard.

This below is the 30 metre radius circled area which should be free from artificial heat sources or reflective surface – buildngs, concrete surfaces, car parks etc. to acheive Class 2.

I really do not feel it is worth labouring the point that this is clearly not CIMO Class 2 whatever the Met office may like to claim. It is very obviously Class 5, “Unsatisfactory” for the purposes of historic climate reporting and will only give approximate data suitable for the general immediate locality. For the Met office to claim that this site is suitable for climate records is risible – but of course that has never stopped them in the past or elsewhere.

I am not even going to bother with actually looking at the pretend numbers quoted – running Guernsey with comparisons on the coast of Devon and Doset up to 76 miles away is just plain ridiculous. Why not compare to Bayeaux – it’s nearer.

But talking of “planes”, whilst at Banff there was the absurd example of the Screen being located in the overflow CAR park with numerous vehicles parked alongside, Guernsey goes one better —the overflow AIRCRAFT park! What was that about reflective surfaces? And what is the shadow angle from the hangars to the west – way outside acceptable limits.

This site is one of those for the rogue’s gallery of totally unacceptable climate reporting stations. However, I should point out that I have been assured by a number of French residents that this is pretty much par for the course for stations in France which make the majority of UK sites look very good! The rest of the “official” channel Isles sites do not significantly improve on this.

Source: https://talkshop.blog/2026/11/13/guensey-airport-wmo0389-you-couldnt-make-it-up/