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Following on from today's look back at the last decade of climate change you might want to examine the temperature records yourself. Including those from the Birmingham weather station we filmed this afternoon.

After the recent furore over climate change research the Met Office lets you do just that because it has released all its temperature data. You can find it .

While it's fun to play with numbers (although as Science Correspondent I would say that) there are some pitfalls to be aware of. And shortly after this data was released there was a loud noise from the internet as several people fell into them.

This on shows some of the problems people can run into. It sounded quite reasonable to many of Iain's readers and indeed the man himself. But a quick google will throw up several nice explanations of what has gone .

Of course the question of how to treat data is a very interesting one. For example the Birmingham temperature record may go back to 1881 but the equipment and even location of the station has changed over that time. If a weather station is to be moved the scientists will run the two stations, old and new, in parallel over a year or more to see if there are any variations between the two sites and adjust things accordingly.

It's just one example of the care scientists take with their equipment and data. Thanks to the internet we can all examine the numbers for ourselves. But we need to treat data with the same respect scientists do.

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