On 1 Sep, 18:38, David Buttery wrote:

The BBC website is reporting that August was "the dullest August in the
UK since records began in 1929, the Met Office has confirmed." So what
about 1912, as discussed on here? Clearly "records" did not begin in
1929, or else we wouldn't know about 1912! What happened in 1929?


The Met Office uses a relatively short period of record for these
datasets, because they are based upon mapped data as originally
published in the old Monthly Weather Report. Sunshine began to be
mapped in this way in 1929, whereas most other elements are available
from 1914. Basing them upon these maps, whilst giving a relatively
short period of historical record (compared with e.g. England and
Wales rainfall and Central England Temperature series), does enable a
regional series to be derived and thus statements such as "The driest
February in Western Scotland since 1957". This was covered in some
detail by a reply from John Prior (Met Office National Climate
Information Centre) in a letter in Weather a few months back.

This is fine as far as it goes, however, there are plenty of good
'regional' long-period sites with temperature, rainfall and sunshine
records which could extend the series back to 1881 without too much
effort. I believe this is planned and will provide a more sensible
historical record base in the future.

--
Stephen Burt
Stratfield Mortimer, Berkshire