Manston – Part 4 What a difference 58 metres make.

I post my reports on X to widen the audience for the topic. I was recently messaged there by an amateur meteorologist local to Manston (who preferred to retain anonymity) who pointed out that it was remarkably easy to spot the issues at Manston with its two official fully equipped weather stations just 58 metres apart.

To recap I posted a review of the complex situation I found at Manston with several different operational screens there. A reader was able to ascertain from the Met Office where exactly the two current sites actually were, and I subsequently asked for anyone to help with number crunching (part 3.)

Coming across this last request only just recently, the meteorologist pointed out to me that the third part of my trilogy actually answered a large part of my own question. He told me to look at the graphs I had posted and the “Stats – last 7 days”.

The headline image above is for the longer running Manston site and shows the last 7 days up to 10:00 19/7/2025. The minimum recorded over that period is 0.4°C. Below is Manston No 2 station just those 58 metres away. {captured slightly later and showing the 11.00 reading}

The minimum recorded in the same last 7 day period was 1.62°C {note this unit records to the second decimal place unlike the original unit} Over just 58 metres at the same elevation the minima recorded varied by 1.2°C. On my part 3 report I had also shown comparative images and not noticed that over that period the minima differential was 0.6°C. In both cases the No 2 station recorded warmer.

I personally have tended to note high temperatures and (sadly) overlooked the effect of this warmer minimum on averaging. So what is causing this differential in open countryside with no shading? Whilst the Manston No 2 site may be only 58 metres from its elder partner, it is also the same distance nearer to the runway. Remember that Internationally agreed distance from the runway? “The exceptionally wide runway is almost certainly contributing to the temperature holding up overnight by storing daytime absorbed heat” – this is not my opinion but that of the local amateur meteorologist

I have been assured that the Met Office has been made aware of this level of discrepancy by a number of amateur meteorologists monitoring the situation. Replies to enquiries of why two sites have been running simultaneously for over 6 years are only the type of evasive answers I noted in part 2 of my review series. I have discovered a level of distrust of the Met Office from a most surprising source – meteorologists.

Further scanning the last 7 days numbers is very revealing. At 2:00 today (19/3/2025) Manston 2 (nearer the runway) was reading 0.6°C warmer and throughout the night was consistently above the older site. However, come sunrise and the influence of solar warming, the situation reverses with 0.6°C warmer reading at the older site by 9:00. Clearly two sites so close together should not be showing such discrepancies – there must be unnatural factors involved. Whilst I might cynically suggest the Met Office may soon retire the old station in lieu of its tripod mounted and fully mobile unit, I was somewhat astonished to have other well qualified people saying exactly the same.