Tudor Hughes wrote in
:

On Sunday, 9 March 2014 19:57:07 UTC, yttiw wrote:

I don't believe anything from Gravesend. 20C they are supposed to
have reached, and that is with an airmass dewpoint of 4 or 5. They
should be subjected to a correction of -10% on their max's, or
ignored.

What has the dewpoint got to do with it?

There's nothing wrong with the Gravesend site. It is near the
tip of an open grassy headland that sticks out into the Thames
and is about a mile from any significant building. The surface
is not sand as someone has stated but short grass. It is a very
exposed site.
I'm getting the impression that people just don't *like* it
because of its high readings under certain conditions (generally
a sunny anticyclonic south to southwesterly) and there is a
degree of envy, but there is no evidence to show it is
unsatisfactory.
The maximum reached was 2.2 degC higher than here on the North
Downs at 557 ft (169 m). That does not seem unreasonable. Even
if it were there are no grounds on which to dismiss it.
Here is a photo of the place (rather accidentally, since the
source is not a meteorological website):

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/48941

Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, Surrey.


Bing maps aerial view shows it well and it confirms all of the above
remarks. It's clearly over grass.

Alan