South Newington DCNN4528 – Naturally good or bad? Probably better than the Met Office “thinks.”

51.99807 -1.40616 (elevation 105 metres amsl) Met Office CIMO Assessed Class 5 Installed 1/1/1994

South Newington is one of the relatively few rural sited weather stations installed in the last 30 years. Situated on the northern outskirts of the small Cotswold village it is 8 km / 5 miles south west of Banbury, 25 km /15 miles north west of Oxford. There are no large urban areas likely to distort any readings by Urban Heat Island effect and this certainly shows.

The Class 5 status is possibly due to being in a potential frost hollow alongside the River Swere though the CIMO regulations themselves are not likely to reflect that. On the flat ground of the flood plain at 105 metres amsl, the site is in a shallow valley with the sides rising up to 150 metres as seen in the Ordnance survey sheet below. The line of trees 25 metres to the west of the screen will also be a mark down factor but fairly small beer compared to the urban buildings, electricity sub stations, solar farms, greenhouses, sewage settlement tanks and all the other paraphernalia the Met Office seems to otherwise find acceptable near neighbours for their Screens.

Will the open field location seriously affect readings or will any notably cooler temperatures reflect a lack of urban heating when compared to other sites? The image below courtesy of weatherobs is from 8/3/2025 at 20:00. South Newington is registering just 6°C and cooler by between 4°C to 7°C from stations in all compass directions. {n.b. the Cheltenham/Staveley reading of 15°C is an error being a 17:00 transmission – all other readings have been checked as being simultaneous}

It could be argued that this differential indicates a problem at South Newington and it is also noticeable that the acknowledged cool site at rural Benson at just 8°C to the south east is recording lower than neighbouring sites as well. Alternatively, this site could be a much more accurate representation of the natural environment that is unaffected by artificial influences. Unknown to me when starting this review was what the following day’s “extremes” would reveal –

Leaving aside the slight oddity of classing a location just 15 miles from Stratford-upon-Avon as part of the “South East”(?) – which site is more likely to reflect the region’s natural climate, Kew or South Newington? Botanic gardens close to the centre of one of the world’s most intense urban heat islands or one set in the Cotswolds open countryside? I suggest the bias towards progressively more urbanised weather station warmer locations is having a much greater effect on the national historic temperature record than is being allowed for. South Newington may well record as a cooler site but is it giving unnatural readings?