The Hillsboro, Ohio USHCN climate station of record, measuring rainfall and the “surface” temperature. Note the MMTS temperature sensor laying flat on the ground.
To be fair, apparently the station is in the process of being moved. The new addition to the home (seen below) required it to be moved around to the side.
Surfacestations.org volunteer Ed Fix writes in the station survey:
Private residence, second longest continuously used Coop. site in Ohio. It has been at the present position since 1959, and in use in the area since 1893.
The previous owners of the house Marie and Thomas Knott, now deceased, collected the data from 1959 until Marie’s death in 2007. Current resident is continuing the observation duties.
MMTS temp, manual rain gauge. Rain gauge has been in use since at least 1959. The instrumentation is in the process of being moved. The previous location is on the south end of a deck (removed 3 weeks ago), approximately 14′ from the metal-sided south wall of the house, 40′ west of the new location. It was approx 42′ from an air conditioner at the SW corner of the house. The station is to be set back up in the very near future.
The proposed new location is SE of the SE corner of the house, approx 21′. This is 32′ from the corner of the house next door, with an air conditioner condenser.
While one would think that maintaining a continuity of records for such a station would be of prime importance, it lays idle as the photography shows.
The first point here is that backyards are dynamic places, prone to land use changes and biases that result from the changing/evolving lifestyle of the owner of the home, which makes them less than desirable for gathering scientific data. The second point is that the gap in the record could easily be avoided if the local NWS COOP manager had worked to help the homeowner get the equipment operational again.
The USHCN is far from a homogeneous measurement system.
Addendum:
I should add that the many problems we have seen in the USHCN are not the fault of the volunteer observers. These people give their valuable time and dedicate their lives to doing a mostly thankless job. They do it mostly for their own satisfaction and interest in providing something useful that can be part of the permanent record of our country.
We should never forget that. They are to be congratulated for their service.
The responsibility for the errors in siting is with NOAA, as they are in charge of doing these installations and ensuring a modicum of quality control based on their own 100 foot rule.
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/coop/standard.htm
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Not really fair, IMHO.
REPLY: Maintenance and continuity of records issues are fair game, and that is what this shows. The station has been idle for three weeks. During that time a new temperature or rainfall record may have gone undetected. Either NOAA is in the climate measurement business or they are not, there’s no room for shoddy data gathering when records for individual stations are often cited for new records. – Anthony
This should be the most accurate sensor yet! It’s in-contact with the surface! Now if we could only pour some heat-sink grease over the whole thing, it’ll be just like a laboratory thermocouple in contact with the surface in question.
Well, this does not surprise. Is this one of the southern Ohio stations?
I thank the new owner for wanting to continue the record. But a little more planning was needed for this situation.
Remember, it doesn’t matter. The secret, super-duper, pooper scooper algorithm can take whatever faulty data (or even non-data) sites such as these may provide and magically produce accurate datasets.
Guess I’m sort of a NERD. But there is NO WAY I’d allow this sensor to be in that position. I’d have corrected it IMMEDIATELY.
Speaking of “surface tempertures”, here’s the data from my “unofficial” home site. Local official “NOAA” temperature right now, 78 F.
My front yard, little shading, but in the sun shadow of the house, 74.5F.
Back yard, enclosed by 10 large oak trees, completely shaded, despite the 2PM sun (back yard faces SOUTH EAST), 71.5 F.
Button, button..who’s got the button. WHICH is the REAL “tropospheric temperature” right now.
The more I get into this the more I realize the importance of ATMOSPHERIC ENERGY rather than temperature.
Not to nitpick, but the sensor is LYING on the ground, not LAYING on the ground. If it were laying on the ground, these people would have fresh eggs.
stan (12:18:43) :
Remember, it doesn’t matter. The secret, super-duper, pooper scooper algorithm can take whatever faulty data (or even non-data) sites such as these may provide and magically produce accurate datasets.
The algorithm is probably the same one the banks used to turn sub-prime mortgages into high quality securities.
Kudos to the photographer – the apparent connection between the roof gutter and the rain gauge is brilliant! Was it intentional?
Snark aside, the height at which temperature is measured does matter. I think you guys are probably already aware of it (or at least Anthony):
http://www.climatesci.org/publications/pdf/R-333.pdf
And naturally, Surface Stations have shown that many sites have the thermometers at different heights above the ground than specified.
Why wasn’t a temporary station setup nearby in the meantime?
Pete (12:22:43) : “Not to nitpick, but the sensor is LYING on the ground, not LAYING on the ground. If it were laying on the ground, these people would have fresh eggs.”
Perhaps this station has laid an egg so to speak.
Tom: Clearly.
Chicken Little got broody
Need to put a sharpened end on the post and use if for a meat temp probe for roasting the holiday hog. Personally I don’t have a problem seeing this. It reminds me the data is off and we should take this as a warning not to use data for perfect scientific models. In accuracy, we are talking 2 degrees in 100 years. That is from data that is not precise. We can’t make precision forecasts from imprecise input.
That sensor was probably not lying whilst it was standing, but I’d lay odds that it’s been lying as long as it’s lain where it was laid.
Pete (12:22:43) :
Not to nitpick, but the sensor is LYING on the ground, not LAYING on the ground. If it were laying on the ground, these people would have fresh eggs.
If you look carefully at the bottom photo, you will see that the sensor Was laying on the ground. Not eggs, but baby MMTS’s. At the edge of the grass, I count eleven of the little darlin’s.
Always happy to elevate the level of discourse 😉
Here’s another station exhibiting the back yard effect, from today from Luling, Texas. (Not yet uploaded to surfacestations.org). http://lehenbauer.com/media/DSC_0001.jpg
REPLY: Looks like that has a “slipped disc” Maybe it was injured in a fall? – Anthony
Sorry, the aforementioned station is in Boerne, not Luling.
Oliver Ramsay (14:35:43) :
That sensor was probably not lying whilst it was standing, but I’d lay odds that it’s been lying as long as it’s lain where it was laid.
I have four words for you, Oliver: hi-lar-i-ous
It would be nice for Hansen to have a barbeque there with his friends…
Ecotretas
“Looks like that has a “slipped disc”…”
I believe it has an upper FRACTURED disc also!!
Questions in order of importance:
Has an Attorney been called??
Is there a prescription for OxyContin??
Has a disability claim been filed??
lehenbauer (14:52:54) : Nice find. I notice the proximity to a garden-probably the temperature variations there are highly influenced by how well the plants are doing!
I also wonder whether the fence or the garden were always there, or not….
Ric Werme (12:36:06) :
Kudos to the photographer – the apparent connection between the roof gutter and the rain gauge is brilliant! Was it intentional?
Definitely! Runaway global warming is roasting the sensor so they had to pipe rain water to cool it…
lehenbauer (14:52:54) : “Sorry, the aforementioned station is in Boerne, not Luling.”
How did you make contact? I’ve been emailing Roxanne Schwarz every couple of weeks with no response.