upon investigation by the Met Office it was found that a stationary vehicle was parked nearby with its engine running and the record was rejected.

I have questions.

How long after the temperature was recorded did the Met Office investigate? Immediately? Within hours? A day or more later? What is the process of investigation? How did they even know that the car was there at that time?

I asked Gemini to look into it, and as you’d expect, the Met Office has a strict auditing process for any history-making weather anomalies. While the Motherwell reading of 33.2°C initially seemed plausible on that scorching afternoon of 28 June 2018, all potential national records trigger a deeper dive.

Within a week, the record was officially debunked. Because the weather station sits in Strathclyde Country Park, an on-site observer realized that a vehicle had been left idling right next to the Stevenson screen (the enclosure that houses the thermometers) during the peak afternoon heat.

The full story is on the Met Office blog.