In message , Eskimo Will
writes
snip
The MetO fully intend to make use of WOW information in model analyses
and a whole host of other data types. They will be able to do this due
to improved data error co-variances and some cunning mathematical
trickery which I cannot go into here. This is due to happen by the end
of this decade.

That makes me a little uneasy. Will they be able to get rid of all the
wrong data, of which I'm sure there must be a lot on WOW? And there's
also the opposite problem that, the more stringent their checks, the
greater the risk that some valid and important - but unexpected - data
might be discarded. Take the Hampstead thunderstorm in August 1975, for
instance, when a phenomenal amount of rain fell in an hour or so when
IIRC practically everywhere else in the country was dry. I can imagine
the vetting algorithm seeing a WOW report of say 160mm of rain and -
with no other reports of rain - deciding that it must be a typo for 16mm
or even 1.6mm.
--
John Hall
"Honest criticism is hard to take,
particularly from a relative, a friend,
an acquaintance, or a stranger." Franklin P Jones