Britain bathed in an abundance of sunshine and above-average temperatures this week, leading to a record-breaking May 1 high on Thursday, beating the previous record set in 1990. However, a public toilet may have flushed hopes that one London park would be home to a record reading.
The unseasonably warm and sunny conditions were driven by a high-pressure system situated over the country, and temperatures climbed steadily throughout the week. On Monday, St. James’s Park in central London, tucked between Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey, recorded its highest temperature so far this year, only to be outdone each subsequent day, culminating in another record-breaking day on Thursday.
But not so fast, record-keepers.
Observations from a weather station in the park had to be disqualified, because of a “contamination” at the site. The culprit? Public toilets, barriers and generators that had been temporarily installed near the weather station in preparation for upcoming celebrations of the anniversary of V-E Day, cutting off crucial airflow needed for accurate readings.
“We have withdrawn observations from this weather station until the site has been returned to an acceptable standard,” said a spokesperson for the Met Office, Britain’s weather service.
The Met Office operates a national network of more than 200 automated weather stations, each of which monitors a range of meteorological variables including air temperature, atmospheric pressure, rainfall, wind speed and direction, humidity, cloud height and visibility.