This entity contains hourly observations from around 562 observation stations distributed globally. Data are extracted daily at around 00 UT for the previous day's coverage and delivered to the BADC at around 0200 UT.

The dataset contains measurements of the following parameters:

Runway visual range may be reported from airfields. It is defined as the maximum distance in the direction of take-off or landing at which the runway, or specified lights or markers along the runway, can be seen from a point above its centre line. The height of this point is taken to be 5m above ground level, corresponding to the average eye-level of pilots at touchdown. The observation is usually made by personnel belonging to the airfield authorities such as the Fire Service. Where there are two runways, for instance as at Heathrow, two measurements may be reported.

The air temperature and the dew point are both given to the nearest degree Celsius, and are recorded hourly.

The cloud amount is denoted by the octare value (number from 1 to 8), and 9 signifies that the sky is obscured. It is measured daily at 0900 hours.

The wind direction and wind speed values, which are reported hourly, are 10-minute averages taken between HH-20 an HH-10 (twenty minutes to the hour of recorded observation until ten minutes to the same hour). The wind direction is recorded to the nearest 10 degrees, and the wind speed to the nearest 1 knot. The maximum gust speed is also observed within the same time range (HH-20 until HH-10), and is recorded to the nearest knot.

The cloud type and cloud height are summarised over three types: low medium and high, where the cloud height is given to the nearest metre.

The altimeter pressure is recorded on an hourly basis to the nearest hectopascal.

The Met Office wish to monitor the use of this data and require an acknowledgement of the data source if they are used in any publication. Their data is therefore restricted. The online application for access to the Met Office MetDB data includes acceptance of the Met Office Conditions of Use.

Please note that the Met Office data sets held at the BADC are available for bona fide academic research only. If you wish to access the Met Office data for commercial or personal purposes, please contact the Met Office directly.

Your application for accessing the dataset will be processed within a day of receipt and you will receive a confirmation email. Provided your application is complete and fully meets the Met Office conditions, your web account will be activated to allow you access to the Met Office MetDB data directories via your login account from the BADC WWW Browse Archive pages.

The data are held in the BADC-CSV file format, each of which will contain one or more data records and are comma separated variables. "Metadata" are provided giving a full description of the content of the data. More information about the file format can be found on the BADC-CSV format page, which also contains two example files taken from the MetDB dataset.

Ingest scripts run at the BADC every 20 minutes, converting the incoming files to the self describing BADC-CSV format, but neither the processed or raw data are placed into archive until the following day.

Some general information about surface station readings can be obtained from the abridged version of "MIDAS Data Users Guide", provided by the Met Office. This document describes the meteorological surface data in the Met Office Database - MIDAS. This guide is rich in information and is aimed at those with little familiarity with observing methods or instrumentation.

Details of the WMO Meteorological codes used at weather observing stations (daily and hourly weather) explain the codes used in this dataset further.

If you have queries about these pages or about obtaining the Met Office surface stations data from the BADC then you should contact BADC Support. Your query should be answered within one working day. When follow-up work is required, the BADC support will carry out the work as quickly and efficiently as possible, and in any case, the user will be kept informed of progress.