In May 2025, citizen investigator Ray Sanders revealed that the Met Office cannot name specific weather stations providing temperature data for 103 so-called “zombie sites”—locations that ceased operation decades ago or never existed. After submitting FOI requests, Sanders discovered the agency admitted it lacks records detailing the “well-correlated neighboring stations” supposedly used to estimate data for these non-functional sites.
Sanders highlighted two cases: Scole, a Norfolk station operational only from 1971-1980, which now lists temperature averages spanning 1959-2020—including a full decade before its establishment. The Met Office defended this by citing “regression analysis” to maintain long-term climate averages but refused to name the stations that supplied data for Scole’s 1990–2020 records, stating such information is “not held.” A similar issue arose with Manby, a Lincolnshire site closed in 1974, yet still listed with 60 years of temperature data.
“If the data isn’t real and relies on unverified estimates from unknown sources, it’s no better than fiction,” Sanders said. “Any scientist would tell you this breaches fundamental standards. Without verifiable sources, Credibility vanishes."...<<<Read More>>>...