Here is the latest monthly value from the state of the art Climate Reference Network, (CRN) which never seems to make it into NOAA’s monthly and yearly climate reports. But, I produce these maps now monthly since NOAA doesn’t. You can see NOAA’s monthly report here.
Before our alarmist readers get too carried away with the revelation of the CRN network being a bit warmer, you should check the map just below this one.
![crnmap-monthly-avg-temp-f_stations_national_1920x1080_201301[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/crnmap-monthly-avg-temp-f_stations_national_1920x1080_2013011.jpg?quality=83)
Click the map to enlarge – The yellow number is from the most recent NOAA SOTC report from the older Cooperative Observer Network while the blue one is from the CRN data that I ingest and calculate regularly now.
Now have a look at this map comparing the old and new networks:
![crnmap-monthly-avg-temp-f_stations_national_1920x1080_201207[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/crnmap-monthly-avg-temp-f_stations_national_1920x1080_2012071.jpg?quality=83)
The second map is from July 2012. Notice that the network averages have flipped in relation to one another.
I’ve noted this flip happens every year since 2008 (when the CRN was completed and the year with the first full data set). There’s a physical explanation for this. Do you know what it is? I’ll leave you to figure it out in comments.
I’ll have more on this new CRN resource next week.
The source data for the CRN is here.
The source data for the COOP is here
With the millions in taxpayer money spent to create the new state of the art climate monitoring network, you’d think they would report the data to the public along with the monthly and yearly SOTC reports.
Related articles
- Announcing the first ever CONUS yearly average temperature from the Climate Reference Network (wattsupwiththat.com)
- NOAA SOTC Claim that 2012 Was Warmest La Nina Year is Wrong (wattsupwiththat.com)
Increasingly powerful urban heat islands would raise winter temperatures. Increasing urban shade could affect highs in summer.
The smaller states in the northeast are over-represented because the system was built from the states to the region to the national level. When it functions on a state by state level, each state must have enough sights to make an average, so the smaller states have more sights per square mile than the larger states.
My question starts here for the meteorologists – do the northeastern states, perhaps due to humidity levels, have a history of more extreme swings in temperature from season to season?
“musingbihari” (February 15, 2013 at 12:41 pm) wrote:
NOAA CRN Temperature sensors are mounted at 10 ft (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/crn/sitedescription.html) CO-OP sensors are mounted at 5 ft. Ground surface temperature has a greater diurnal range than air temperature, so a sensor closer to the ground will have great max temps and lower min temps.
Hmmm… My reading of the relevant paragraph on that page says the sensors are mounted 4-1/2 feet off the ground:
The sensors are placed on a typical 3 meter (10 ft.) instrument tower at 1.5 meters (4.5 ft.) above the surface of the ground. Locations which experience high snowfall and snow depth are given special consideration.
Anthony,
What is the physical explanation? I’ve been waiting a weekto find out.
Thanks,
CB
@cbone, sorry. Will address this in a new post with examples, but one of the comments above got it right