Surfacestations UK project getting started

8 01 2009

As many readers know, I’ve been working with a team of dedicated volunteers on the US www.surfacestations.org project since June 2007. We now have over 50% of the 1221 station network surveyed and new surveys are being added, though slowed somewhat due to winter months.

The project scope was so large that it hasn’t been practical to consider other countries until the USHCN network has been completed. Another issue is that stations in the HadCRUT list for the UK aren’t quite as easy to locate, nor to get access to. One thing that NOAA does better than any other meteorological agency is to provide public access to all records. That level of access is not as common (or missing altogether, requiring FOI actions) in other countries.

I’m happy to report that there is now an effort underway in the UK to survey that network of stations. Pete Rawlinson writes to tell me of this first survey. Kudos to him and his team. I’ll be working with them to help locate stations and to bring you reports. In the meantime, you can learn more about the effort at this link.

The first station does appear at first glance to be well sited, until you see the Google Earth view and realize how close it is to the access road, and how much land area is urbanized north and south of the runway. This concerns me more than the Goliath jet. A good portion of GHCN stations are at airports like this one. Airports, as we know, have grown in size, sprawl, and flights served significantly in the last century to accomodate air travel growth. So when we have a significant portion of the GHCN record coming from airports, what are we actually measuring?  – Anthony

Wales’s Record station – or is it? A David and Goliath tale

UK Surveys Project

Hawarden Weather Station

Today we introduce Hawarden weather station, a pristine-looking station that provides hourly observations to the UK’s Met Office. It’s claim to fame is its holding of the maximum temperature ever recorded in the principality of Wales. 35c (95F) was recorded on 2nd August 1990.

Stevenson ScreenDavid and GoliathAirbus Beluga


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Categories : Announcements, weather_stations

Here’s an odd one: dogsled race canceled because there’s too much snow

8 01 2009


How’s this for odd? Minnesota sled dog race canceled because of too much snow
Patrick Springer, Forum Communications
Bemidji Pioneer – 01/06/2009

Here’s another entry for the annals of noteworthy winter weather: The dogsled race near Frazee, Minn., has been canceled because there’s too much snow.

Too much fluffy snow that keeps drifting and therefore made it impossible to maintain a groomed trail.

That poses a safety risk to the dogs, supercharged canines whose mushers need a groomed trail to drop a hook to stop when necessary.

“We can’t pack it,” race organizer Eddy Streeper said Monday. “We just can’t get it packed. We had to speak up on behalf of the dogs.”

The Third Crossing Sled Dog Rendezvous, slated for Jan. 23-24, would have been the ninth annual running of the sprint races, which twice were canceled for lack of snow. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : weather

The new NASA solar goalpost: Cycle 24, maybe not so big

8 01 2009
ssn_predict.gif (2208 bytes)

Source: NASA, Dr. David Hathaway

A few days ago I wrote in State of the Sun for year end 2008: all’s quiet on the solar front – too quiet that “No new cycle 24 predictions have been issued by any solar group (that I am aware of ) in the last couple of months.” Coincidentally and shortly after that, NASA’s David Hathaway updated his solar prediction page here. He’s made a significant backtrack over previous predictions, and now for the first time he is claiming cycle 24 will be less than cycle 23, not greater.

Kudos to our WUWT resident solar physicist Leif Svalgaard for his foresight. He has been saying for many months that cycle 24 would be significantly reduced, and not greater than 23.

Here is Hathaway’s most familiar graphic, which has an active sun in the background. Perhaps it is time to update that background to something more reflective of the times…..oh wait, read on.


Click for a larger image

Here in this graphic, from Klimadebat.dk we can see how much has changed since Hathaway’s last prediction update in October 2008: Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Science, solar