False high temp reading on my chicken leg quarters?

[Donald Keene]

Question..I was using my 18" Weber Smokey Mountain last night. Smoking leg quarters on the bottom grate right above the water pan which was filled with a gallon of water. smoked at 250, used a probe style digital meat thermometer set at 165. After only 1 hr and 20 min...my temp alarm was going off saying I was at like 170+....I didn't believe they could have been done that quick, so I took the temp with another meat thermometer. Same thing....So I pulled them, Wrapped in foil and a towel and placed in a cooler. I had to wait another hour on a pan of smoked Mac N Cheese (on top grate) to get done smoking, then unwrapped the chicken....it wasn't anywhere near done...had to throw it in the oven to finish cooking.....so why did I have that high internal temp and it not be done? Have anything to do to with them being on the bottom grate directly above the steaming water giving a false reading? I'm stumped.

 

[Jeremy Cook]

The probe was probably touching close to the grate, giving false reading. I always double check temp with another thermometer before pulling.