Over at Weather Underground, they are all excited about a new monthly high temperature record. Christopher Burt writes:
Wichita, Kansas Measures May Monthly High Temperature of 102°
On Sunday, May 4th, the temperature peaked at 102° at Wichita’s official NWS site Mid-Continent International Airport. Not only was this the hottest temperature ever measured during the month of May (previous record was 100° set on four different occasions) but was the earliest 100° reading on record (previous was May 9, 2011) and hottest reading so early in the season by a whole month: since June 4, 1933 when 102° was also observed. The city is off to its 2nd driest start of the year on record as well. Temperature and precipitation records for Wichita date back to 1888.
But, as I’ve pointed out many times, airports are one of the absolute worst places to measure temperature for climatic records. Not just because the airports themselves are massive heat sinks of asphalt and concrete, but also because the ASOS weather station system is known to be highly unreliable and prone to giving false high temperature readings like in Honolulu, Tucson, and more recently in Tacoma, where after fixing the ASOS temperature sensor, temperatures dropped to normal levels.
Have a look at where this thermometer is located for Wichita:
I think the asphalt pad right next to the ASOS (just north) is a nice touch, don’t you?
Location: 37.647564 -97.430027 Looking North. Image from Bing maps: http://binged.it/1mvYRyf
But look at the larger picture:
Looking North. Image from Bing maps
The location of the ASOS weather station is shown circled in red. It is surrounded on all sides by tarmac. You can bet that measurement environment didn’t exist for previous May high temperature records in Wichita.
Let’s look at the data for May 4th from KICT:
Source: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KICT/2014/5/4/DailyHistory.html?req_city=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA
Note that the high temperature of 102°F was set during a period of gusty winds which look to be WNW at the time. Winds normally act to suppress mid-day high temperatures, because the mixing interrupts the boundary layer and surface heating from solar insolation. Unless of course, that wind is doing heat transport from the road, tarmac, and nearby asphalt pad to the WNW. It is also possible that the ASOS temperature sensor malfunctioned in some way, giving an erroneous high temperature, which happens with some frequency according to the links to previous events I gave earlier.
No other nearby stations set records over 100°F:
RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
130 AM CDT MON MAY 5 2014
...NUMEROUS RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES SET ON MAY 4TH...
WICHITA MID-CONTINENT AIRPORT REACHED 102 DEGREES AT 306 PM THIS
AFTERNOON. THIS NOT ONLY SHATTERED THE MAY 4TH RECORD OF 94 DEGREES
SET IN 1963...IT ALSO BROKE THE RECORD FOR THE EARLIEST 100 DEGREE
OR HIGHER TEMPERATURE...WHICH WAS MAY 9TH...2011.
SALINA REACHED A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 96 DEGREES TODAY. THE
PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 95 DEGREES SET BACK IN 2012.
CHANUTE REACHED A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 94 DEGREES TODAY. THE
PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 92 DEGREES SET WAY BACK IN 1909.
And, no other NOAA operated COOP station under the NWS Wichita office hit 102°F:
MAX/MIN TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION TABLE
FOR CENTRAL...SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST KANSAS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
921 AM CDT MON MAY 5 2014
.BR ICT 0505 C DH07/TAIRZX/TAIRZN/PPDRZZ/SFDRZZ/SDIRZZ
:
: Cooperative temperature and precipitation observations
: for the previous 24 hours ending around 7 am local time
:
:....................................................................
: ID Station Obs Max Min 24HR Snow Snow
: Name Time Temp Temp Pcpn Fall Depth
:....................................................................
:
: Cooperative observations for Central Kansas
:
BNSK1: Burns : DH0700/ / / 0.00 / /
CLFK1: Claflin : DH0700/ / / 0.00 / /
CWFK1: Cottonwood Falls : DH0800/ 97 / 58 / 0.00 / /
KANK1: Kanopolis Lake : DH0600/ 97 / M / 0.00 / /
LICK1: Lincoln : DH0700/ 89 / 50 / 0.00 / /
LSBK1: Lindsborg 3E : DH0700/ / / 0.00 / /
MCPK1: McPherson : DH0700/ 94 / 51 / 0.00 / /
PEAK1: Peabody : DH0700/ / / 0.00 / /
SRLK1: Sterling : DH0700/ 99 / 54 / 0.00 / /
SYLK1: Sylvan Grove 1NE : DH0700/ / / 0.00 / /
WLSK1: Wilson Lake : DH0800/ 90 / 49 / 0.00 / /
:
: Cooperative observations for South Central Kansas
:
ANYK1: Anthony : DH0700/ 101 / 60 / 0.00 / /
AGTK1: Augusta : DH0630/ / / 0.00 / /
BNSK1: Burns : DH0700/ / / 0.00 / /
CWFK1: Cottonwood Falls : DH0800/ 97 / 58 / 0.00 / /
ELDK1: El Dorado : DH0700/ 100 / 63 / 0.00 / /
HSEK1: Haysville 3SE : DH0800/ 101 / 64 / 0.00 / /
HUTK1: Hutchinson : DH0600/ 101 / 58 / 0.00 / /
NWTK1: Newton : DH0700/ 101 / 61 / 0.00 / /
OXDK1: Oxford : DH0800/ / / 0.00 / /
PEAK1: Peabody : DH0700/ / / 0.00 / /
WLGK1: Wellington : DH0600/ 100 / 58 / 0.00 / /
WWXK1: Wichita Weather : DH0705/ / / 0.00 / 0.0 /
: Cooperative observations for Southeast Kansas
:
CFVK1: Coffeyville : DH0600/ 94 / 59 / 0.00 / /
HMBK1: Humboldt : DH0700/ 93 / 65 / 0.00 / /
INDK1: Independence : DH0700/ 96 / 38 / 0.00 / /
IOAK1: Iola Water Plant : DH0800/ 93 / 66 / 0.00 / /
MRNK1: Moran : DH0800/ / / 0.00 / /
MVLK1: Mound Valley 3 WSW: DH0800/ 93 / 61 / 0.00 / /
PARK1: Parsons : DH0800/ 91 / 61 / 0.00 / /
SDAK1: Sedan : DH1300/ 98 / 65 / 0.00 / /
YATK1: Yates Center : DH0700/ 95 / 64 / 0.00 / /
:
.END
It seems to me that this record is suspect.
=================
[UPDATE by Willis] This post of Anthony’s inspired me to do some sleuthing. First, the history of the station is here. It reveals that the weather station moved from downtown Wichita to one airport in 1940, and then to its current airport in 1953. It switched to the ASOS automated system in 1992.
And an inordinate amount of digging located a 1956 photo of the airport, not long after the weather station moved there.
In comparison with the current aerial photo, we see that a third runway has been been added. You can also see that the airport in 1956 was surrounded by miles of farmland on all sides … and how it has suburbs all around it now.
Regards,
w.
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Obviously it was hot in Kansas. But when no other station is even close to that, you have to question it. Unless you don’t want to.
Look ASOS – We’re not in Kansas anymore
Don’t sweat it; if the temperature was cooler than required it would have been adjusted up. So you can rest assured that this temperature will be left alone.
Unless, of cause, “The Pause” continues for much longer; in that case it will (eventually) be adjusted down.
6 nearby stations reported at or above 100. Are those not close to 102? And those stations are closer to Wichita than those shown for Central Kansas or Southeast Kansas. Those two groups shouldn’t even be used to compare to Wichita.
He did go on to show the record lows too though….
“Another remarkable fact is that just two days previously, on May 2nd, the temperature fell to 35°, only 2° shy of the daily record low temperature of 33° set in 2005. Russell, Kansas did break its daily record with a chilly 28° and Wichita Falls, Texas broke its all-time monthly low for May with a 35° reading (previous record 36° on three previous occasions).”
Here is a local TV weather map. Also 102°F in Medicine Lodge. 101°F in Hutchison.
Remember back when you wanted to fool your parents into thinking you were sick because…..
like…. you had nothing of value to say on your exam at school the next day….. so, you needed to
FAKE A FEVER?
Here’s how (in case you want the doctor to write you a note so you can get out of work and go play golf or go to the beach …):
Hm. I just wonder why the above idea occurred to me…. .
lol — what a bunch of OBVIOUS FAKERS!
Too obvious, guys. Try rubbing the thermometer on your jeans instead.
#(:))
***********************************
@ur momisugly phaed-whatever
re: “6 nearby stations reported at or above 100…. .” And you know those stations are accurate?
How?
@phaedruscj,
The point isn’t the temperature; the point is it’s being called a record when it’s not.
I think that the Wichita reading was skewed by the location, but with the temps around 100/101 in Hutchinson, Newton, Haysville, El Dorado, and others, I think that 101 wouldn’t be out of the question. The other sites could well be skewed also, Newton for example, IIRC it’s on the local airport out where Jim Bede used to build aircraft.
Given how desperate the warmists have gotten to have some high temperatures to crow about, I wouldn’t be surprised if a video feed (hypothetically, of course, as if one existed) showed Michael Mann skulking outside the weather station with a portable blow dryer.
The graphic seems to indicate a direction of SSW but the text states WNW.
Do I need glasses?
At least they didn’t put the instrument next to the incinerator at a sewage treatment center.
“Cooking” the books.
I’ve lived in Wichita all my life. Yesterday’s temperature of 102 deg at the airport seemed to be a bit high. The thermometer at my house in the back yard didn’t get over 100. I was out driving at 4 PM and my car read 102 but that was on a concrete street. My house thermometer always reads 2-3 degrees lower than the official station at Mid-Continent Airport (soon to be Dwight D. Eisenhower Airport).
In the 70’s I worked as a surveyor at the airport which was before we had electronic distance meters. We had thermometers attached to our steel tape measures to correct for heat expansion and the temperature of the tarmac could get as much as 12 degrees above the air temperature.
BTW: Haysville (listed above) is 6 miles southeast of the airport.
It was also 103 at Medicine Lodge, 102 at Hutchinson. http://www.nws.noaa.gov/climate/getclimate.php?wfo=ict
[dead link – mod]
And…. of course you’ll need to go to a doctor like those at the Weather Underground Clinic for Psychopathological Medicine……
one willing to look the other way while you mess with the thermometer… .
since June 4, 1933 when 102° was also observed.
Oh, so it happened before….
’nuff said.
But hey hot dry air from a taxiway does numbers….
Sucks to be a wheat farmer.
Maybe next year the new record set May 4, 2014 will be 103F?
I asked this question before on the thread discussing the sensor replacement at the Seattle airport ( see here):
Is there not a regular calibration/certification performed for official recording stations? I realize this would be expensive for the full network of weather reporting stations, but should not at least all the stations designated as the “official NWS site” for any reasonably-sized city be regularly certified?
That doesn’t address the question of whether airport stations should be so designated, but it at least provides more confidence that the reported temperature is accurate for that location.
Dear Bill 2,
No doubt you merely meant to report, but,…. I’d like to clarify your post just a bit:
“{NOAA said that} {i}t was also … .”
Given NOAA’s poor reputation for accuracy in temperature measurement
(See, e.g., http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/03/18/noaas-odd-way-of-presenting-feb-temperatures/
and http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/07/22/why-the-noaa-global-temperature-product-doesnt-comply-with-wmo-standards/
and http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/07/05/questions-for-noaa-and-nps-death-valley-that-have-gone-unanswered-related-to-the-100-year-celebration-of-the-hottest-ever-temperature/),
I think the above edit is simply a fair presentation of NOAA’s alleged data.
************************************************************************
NOAA is just a propaganda machine for the Envirostalinists and Enviroprofiteers (such as windmill project investors):
For “Breezy” — NOAA’s graphic is….. you guessed it! A bunch of windmills:
from: http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=33.448376495000446&lon=-112.07403860799968&site=all&smap=1#.U2gI0sJOVDw
(about 5 minutes ago)
“This
Afternoon
Breezy
http://forecast.weather.gov/images/wtf/medium/wind.png
(windmill graphic)
Breezy”
I know that air temperature right above the tarmac is indispensable for flight operations, but to use these temperatures for climate records?
It is not only the record that is suspect, but the procedure,
Better link to the Hutchinson and Medicine Lodge readings. http://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=ICT&product=RTP&issuedby=KS
REPLY: Right, both Hutchinson and Medicine Lodge temperatures were measured at airports, proving my point – Anthony
A lot of construction work going on at the airport:
http://www.flywichita.com/terminal-web-cam.php
Truthfully, I don’t understand what all the excitement is about. So the Wichita airport recorded a transient high of about 1 C more than the previous record? Big deal.
***
The city is off to its 2nd driest start of the year on record as well.
***
There’s the best explanation right there in their own statement, in addition to the adjacent UHI effect. Hardly any evaporative-cooling.
CO2 not required.