The pain in Maine

17 01 2009

I don’t know if any of you readers have ever experienced temperatures that are down to -50°F, but it is painful to endure.

From the NWS WFSO in Caribou, Maine, a report of a new statewide low record event.  (h/t to Joe Bastardi via Jeff L). Unlike the WSFO in Chicago, which wants to throw out a statewide record low temperature because they don’t seem to trust the quality control on an AWOS station calibrated the day before in Rochelle, the WSFO in Caribou seems ready to consider the temperature recorded by a USGS gage. Ah, consistency.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CARIBOU ME
0955 AM EST FRI JAN 16 2009

**********POTENTIAL STATEWIDE RECORD MINIMUM TEMPERATURE*************

AT 0730 AM EST THIS MORNING A USGS GAGE AT BIG BLACK RIVER RECORDED
A LOW TEMPERATURE OF -50F.  THIS EXCEEDS THE CURRENT STATEWIDE
RECORD LOW TEMPERATURE OF -48F SET ON JANUARY 19TH…1925 AT VAN
BUREN. THIS REPORT IS CONSIDERED UNOFFICIAL UNTIL A REVIEW OF THE
EQUIPMENT AND DATA BY THE STATE CLIMATE EXTREMES COMMITTEE AS TO
THE VALIDITY OF THIS REPORT. IF THE COMMITTEE ASCERTAINS THAT THIS
IS INDEED A VALID REPORT…A SEPARATE PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
WILL BE ISSUED AT THAT TIME.

$$
PJR
But wait, there’s more from the Caribou WSFO: Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : 153 Comments »

Categories : weather

Misguided thinking: All time low temperature record for Illinois called into question by NWS citing lack of confidence in equipment. “ASOS better than AWOS”

17 01 2009

http://www3.verticalgateway.com/portals/12/rotornews/aug%2008/awos.jpg
ASOS (left) AWOS (right) – both at airports click for larger images

People send me stuff. Last night I got an email from reader Andrew Schut that said:

See public information statement below.  I’m perplexed.

ASOS was put in for “aviation purposes” given its tolerances, yet we use it for climate purposes, why should AWOS be any different?

Not to mention the sensor that AWOS uses is a Vaisala sensor and at least a decade ahead in terms of sensor technology compared to the prehistoric 1088 RTD thermistor that the NWS has been using since the mid 80’s.

What Andrew was referring to was this unusual public information statement from the National Weather Service in Chicago, nullifying an apparently new low statewide temperature record from Rochelle Illinois:

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
432 PM CST FRI JAN 16 2009

…REGARDING ROCHELLE`S LOW TEMPERATURE THIS MORNING…
THE AUTOMATED WEATHER OBSERVING SYSTEM (AWOS) AT THE ROCHELLE
AIRPORT RECORDED A TEMPERATURE OF -36F AT 745 AM THIS MORNING.
WHILE THE THERMOMETER ON THE AWOS WAS RE-CALIBRATED YESTERDAY
AND MAY INDEED BE ACCURATE…AWOS OBSERVATIONS ARE NOT QUALITY
CONTROLLED OR CALIBRATED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AND
ARE ALSO NOT DESIGNED FOR CLIMATE PURPOSES.
THEREFORE…THE STATE CLIMATOLOGIST DOES NOT CONSIDER THIS
TEMPERATURE AN OFFICIAL MEASUREMENT FOR THE PURPOSE OF
DETERMINING WHETHER OR NOT AN ALL TIME RECORD LOW FOR THE
STATE WAS REACHED. FOR THE PURPOSE OF DETERMINING RECORD
TEMPERATURES FOR THE STATE…ONLY ASOS AND
COOPERATIVE OBSERVER OBSERVATIONS WILL BE USED SINCE BOTH OF
THESE OBSERVATIONS ARE QUALITY CONTROLLED BY THE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

See the original here. Personally, I don’t think airports are a suitable place for ANY climate measurements to be made. Here is why. Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : 91 Comments »

Categories : climate data, climate_change, weather_stations

Inauguration day and climate change politics

17 01 2009

Inauguration day 2005:  35 °F Mostly cloudy with some sunny breaks.  Northwest wind 14 mph. Around 1″ of snow lay on the ground. More inauguration day weather history is available here
By Anthony Watts and Steven Goddard
There is much speculation about the weather on Tuesday, January 20th, which is the inauguration day of president Obama. Particularly it is being conjectured widely on the blogosphere that a colder than normal day might have some chilling effect on climate change thinking in Washington. After all, it is not unlike politicians to grasp onto ancillary topics and use them as the focal point for forming opinions.
For example, as reported here, The last time Dr. Roy Spencer testified before Congress, committee chair Barbara Boxer appeared more interested in discussing Rush Limbaugh than she did in discussing science.  That is not necessarily a sensible way to weigh trillion dollar policy decisions.
Here is another example. When Dr. James Hansen testified before Congress in June, 1988, on the topic of global warming, Senator Timothy Wirth took several deliberate steps to make sure that the room was oppressively hot.  This excerpt below is from a PBS Frontline interview: Read the rest of this entry »

Comments : 114 Comments »

Categories : climate_change, politics, weather

Divergence Between GISS and UAH since 1980

17 01 2009

Guest post by Steven Goddard

The GISS website shows the graph below, which indicates a steady, steep warming trend over the last 30 years.  The monthly average anomaly for 2008 (0.44) is 0.26 degrees warmer than the monthly average anomaly for 1980 (0.18.)  Data obtained from here: http://www.woodfortrees.org/data/gistemp/from:1980/plot/uah/from:1980

By contrast, the UAH monthly average anomaly for 2008 (0.05) is 0.04 degrees cooler than the UAH monthly average anomaly for 1980 (0.09.)  Again, data obtained from here: http://www.woodfortrees.org/data/uah/from:1980 Read the rest of this entry »

Comments : 121 Comments »

Categories : climate data