Tried to read through all these pages, appears alot of misunderstanding with how the Met Office Readings work
I run the Met Office Climate Station in Brampton, Cumbria 7076 (20 years)
We have a Stephenson Screen, inside most Climate Stations we now have a Vaisala Temperature logger. These were were introduced within the last 18 months as all mercury thermometers were banned by the Met Office.
Each morning at 10am (9am in the winter) I open the screen and record Max,Min, Dry and Wet Bulb, I also have a range of ground equipment to measure aswell. Grass Min and Soil temperatures and rainfall.
This data is then uploaded onto the Met Office site (WOW) so you will only ever see my 10am data
We are told only to open the screen at 10am, to avoid unnecessary heat or cold to enter the screen invalidating the readings, hence the delay in lettting everyone know what the record has been. I am guessing then they will check with the observer that he carried out all the correct procedures. If he had a sneaky peek at 2pm it would be invalidated. We all get inspected every few years to check the site is correctly maintained.
Personally a manned Weather Station is best, Met Office did move away from these for a while but have slowly come back again recently when funding allows.
If anyone needs any further information please send me an email.
31.8c for me - new all time record, timed at 1442hrs