This paper focuses on interpretation of fast (1 µs) and local (2–4 mm) measurements of plasma density, potential and electron temperature in the edge plasma of tokamak ASDEX Upgrade. Steady-state radial profiles demonstrate the credibility of the ball-pen probe. We demonstrate that floating potential fluctuations measured by a Langmuir probe are dominated by plasma electron temperature rather than potential. Spatial and temporal scales are found consistent with expectations based on interchange-driven turbulence. Conditionally averaged signals found for both potential and density are also consistent; however, those for temperature show an unexpected ∼4 mm wide decrease by 10% at the very centre of a blob. In the wall shadow, temperature measured by the swept Langmuir probe yields values ∼10 eV, whilst the ball-pen temperature gradient is more steep and credible, dropping down to ∼1 eV.