From Mike Bastasch at The Daily caller and the “told you so, again, and again” department.
U.K. meteorologists won’t be declaring a June 28 temperature reading as the hottest recorded in Scotland since the early 20th century after discovering a car parked near the weather station may have contaminated the data.
The city of Motherwell, southeast of Glasgow, recorded a record-high temperature of 91.8 degrees on June 28, according to Met Office figures, breaking the previous record of 91.2 degrees set in Greycrook in August 2003.
The record temperature reading even found its way into the Washington Post. The Post’s Capital Weather Gang included Motherwell’s heat in a round-up of record-high temperatures around the world.
“No single record, in isolation, can be attributed to global warming,” the Post reported, trying to link summer weather to global warming. “But collectively, these heat records are consistent with the kind of extremes we expect to see an increase in a warming world.”
However, the Met Office posted a blog post on Thursday noting “subsequent information has cast some doubt on the Motherwell measurement for that day, meaning that we will not be able to accept it as an official new record for Scotland.”
So what happened? It turns out exhaust from a nearby vehicle may have heated up the weather station that reported the record-breaking heat.
“At first review the Motherwell record appeared plausible given the wider conditions on the day and was therefore reported as such. However for all new records we undertake further careful investigation to ensure that the measurement is robust. This investigation includes statistical analysis of the station data, evaluation against neighbouring sites, and in some cases an additional site visit to check for unexpected issues with the instrument enclosure or equipment to ensure the measurement meets our required standards.”
“Unfortunately in this particular instance we have evidence that a stationary vehicle with its engine running was parked too close to the observing enclosure and the Stevenson screen housing the thermometers during the afternoon of 28th June,” the Met Office explained.
“Although the measurement appears plausible given the weather conditions that day we cannot rule out the potential for contamination of the measurement by this non-weather-related factor,” officials wrote.
This is a common problem for weather stations. Many are located in urban areas, especially airports, where they’re susceptible to urban heat islands (UHI) — anomalous warmth present in cities.
In fact, a major study released in 2015 found the majority of weather stations National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) relied on for temperature readings were poorly sited, meaning they were contaminated by artificial heat sources.
“The majority of weather stations used by NOAA to detect climate change temperature signal have been compromised by encroachment of artificial surfaces like concrete, asphalt, and heat sources like air conditioner exhausts,” said Anthony Watts, a seasoned meteorologist and lead author of the study.
Read more at Daily Caller
I’ve spent a lot of time trying to locate the Stevenson Screen, to no avail. It’s somewhere in this complex if the lat/lon is accurate.
Anyone want to have a go?
Paul Homewood suuplied the Lat/Lon which he dug out of the Met Office page.
It’s 55.786, -4.022, which also corresponds with their site:
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/climate-network/#?tab=climateNetwork
UPDATE:
Nick stokes tries to minimize the importance of this station in comments.
Motherwell is not in any set of stations likely to be homogenised or used for homogenisation. Or used for any major temperature index.
But, the Met Office lists it as a “Manual” climate station:
Here? The triangular strip has a tall pole sitting to the one end of the grass area.
https://www.google.com/maps/@55.7885425,-4.0297394,46m/data=!3m1!1e3
Looks too skinny, it’s supposed to be a Stevenson Screen.
Given the location, it looks more like a light pole for pedestrians. It’s too tall and skinny for a weather station too.
Trying to get the picture up, not working.
My guess on the location of the Stevenson screen is that it is located right at the entrance of the building as what appears to be a white roughly screen sized square object [ by comparison with the vehicles ] seen slightly to the left of centre. This white object also appears to be throwing a tiny but hard shadow towards the left as do the buildings.
There is certainly room to park alongside of the screen if that is what it appears to be, probably whilst loading something out of the main entrance or waiting with the engine running to run the A/C on a warm to hot day.
I would almost place money that the screen finished up in that location to get it out of the way when the car park was surfaced but nobody got around to shifting it back to its orginal spot where ever that might have been.
Irrespective of its exact location all the car parking spaces at that facility are tarmac.
Ever walked across a carpark on a hot day with bare feet?
We get melted bitumen here in QLD. Does Scotland get that hot?
We did this year. It used to happen quite regularly in the beautiful summers we had in the 70’s and early 80’s. Not so often since then.
Why not gather underwriters and plan an expedition to the area? The marina is probably watered-over for the Summer but a dog team could navigate an overland route through the hostile urban terrain. Perhaps the locals have built a wooden church for whalers, which would make for quick escape from the area once the weather station had been located, they could construct an ice boat and wait for the onset of Winter. It is suspected that automobiles gather in large breeding groups but a sighting of a large colony would be of great scientific import.
I don’t know about your neck of the world but now our local weather reports give the “heat index”. So when the weather station reports it’s 90 degrees but it feel like 100 degrees. The alarmist my want to stop this practice. It proves water vapor has a net negative feed back.
Anthony. Despite all that we Brits have to say about the Met Office and their failings, I would like to commend the way their staff are prepared to join in conversation with members of the public on weather and climate issues. I tweeted to Mark McCarthy of the MO about this problem at Strathclyde and he informed me that the stevenson screen is not in the car park. As to how high it would rate on the WMO classification I’ve yet to determine.
Do we know where it is yet? Someone on Notalotofpeopleknowthat has indicated they have been on-site today, and that the station is on the roof… If that is correct, then why is it claimed a car caused it?
I have a comment on their blog from 09:10 am today (BST) asking them for an image and more details of the site. I am still in moderation (which is odd as comments from after 9 pm last night have appeared).
Until it can be located, we don’t know what questions to ask.
I hear the argument that this is not used in a global temperature dataset, and I understand it. However, this is part of the publicity machine – general public won’t be bothered about the nuances and all they understand is that it is the hottest ever….
…I tweeted to Mark McCarthy of the MO about this problem at Strathclyde and he informed me that the stevenson screen is not in the car park…
Given that reply, and given the heroic data gathering exercise by Roy Mc, perhaps you could re-tweet him with this evidence and ask if he still believes that the screen is not in the car park…?
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2VgR9HKvlVrdHpmS0xWdEN3djlsOTJJeE9abExUQzQxLWFZ
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2VgR9HKvlVrYkpKdVNFMzVod3BIS0VuTWpMVTREbFF6MUtJ
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2VgR9HKvlVrMWVaNVo0SEw0d29lek5lX1FVOEI4SUdSTGp3
In the advocate anthropogenic climate change community when frigid, record-breaking temperatures of winter are cited they always state that this is simply weather and not climate; yet during periods of blistering heat in summer, that same admonishment conveniently and opportunistically disappears.
It’s heads they win, tails we lose.
Sounds fair to me!
“they always state”
Dude stop making stuff up. Thats called fibbing.
Meanwhile:
Temp Records Shattered Across Northern Hemisphere
(https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/datatools/records);
and 33 Lives Lost to Heat in Quebec
(https://globalnews.ca/news/4313927/heat-wave-blamed-for-33-deaths-in-quebec/)
Funny how record low temperatures and deaths due to to cold are just weather.
Those 33 deaths were due to being poor, and unable to afford AC. Likely other factors as well related to being poor, such as less-than-robust health, poor eating habits, smoking, drinking, etc. etc.
it appears “really skeptical” ought to be renamed
“really apologetic”
I wonder if the Met Office still use the station located in Gravesend to get their ‘record high’ temperatures for the South of England?
This has also been noted to be a dubious site.
if they haven’t been outed as fraudulent and had to admit it, just ask Nick he will defend it because it fits the narrative.
If they have, and they can’t, he will claim it isn’t part of the network because then it can’t.
funny how that works. what is that called? A loaded deck?
Who parked the car there – innocent bystander or not so innocent alarmist?
Who parked the car there? innocent bystander or less innocent alarmist?
Perhaps the temperature station is here? -4.0150744, 55.7854202
My error for copying the coordinates from Strathclyde Park.
Reverse those coordinates: 55.7854202, -4.0150744
Can’t they just create a proxy record temperature by combining a temp from Death Valley 🙂
You don’t suppose all that asphalt might’ve affected the readings at all, do you? Who are these idiots?
Try 55.786023, -4.023091? In the NW corner of the complex, there is a small yard with a number of rowing shells up against the fence plus a bunch of other stuff just south. There is a small building bordering the yard on the east. (Note: In some of the links that have been posted upthread, this area is all grass. So I’m not sure which is today’s reality.) On the west side of the building is a small green patch that seems out of place, with what looks somewhat like a “kiddie swimming pool” just to the west a few feet. Unfortunately, the timing of this view does not have many shadows that help out, but with the best 3D view I could get, which isn’t very good, it looks like it may be elevated but it’s really hard to tell.
Good job, I guess the building in a temporary marquee, maybe for a rowing competition.
This one is plausible. Right size and height at least.
OK Roy MC below confirms that this is the location, with photos.
Is it possible that the station has been camouflaged or put off the map completely by Google?
They are doing such things with military installations, for example, as well.
Or are the satellite photos outdated? When has that station been built, before or after the pics were taken?
Satellite photos don’t necessarily have to be up to date and same applies to Google Street Maps.
The Stevenson screen should be found on a grass patch roughly the size of a car, and as it is operated manually, there must be at least one, supposedly paved, footpath running towards it, clearly visible from the air.
It wasn’t too far a detour this morning to drive past Strathclyde Country Park, so I stopped off and went hunting for a Stevenson screen. It is located at 55.786021, -4.023076. That is between a tarmac parking area and an unpaved fenced storage area. The screen is approximately three feet away from the tarmac. On google maps the storage area is quite empty, it is not at present.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2VgR9HKvlVrdHpmS0xWdEN3djlsOTJJeE9abExUQzQxLWFZ
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2VgR9HKvlVrYkpKdVNFMzVod3BIS0VuTWpMVTREbFF6MUtJ
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2VgR9HKvlVrMWVaNVo0SEw0d29lek5lX1FVOEI4SUdSTGp3
Thanks!
Thanks!
From Bloke down the pub: “Mark McCarthy of the MO about this problem at Strathclyde and he informed me that the stevenson screen is not in the car park. ”
Seems like the MO was not being entirely forthcoming, technically not in the cark park, but completely surrounded by tarmac.
It’s worse than we thought! There are quite a few construction vehicles, including a JCB Digger and a trailer parked very close. With that sort of vehicle movement next to the weather station, perhaps the engine of one of the machines or the exhaust was running close by – making the reading literally hot air!
No matter if it is claimed to be the “hottest”, or the “coldest” day in Scotland, ALL data collected at this site are worthless because of the uncalculable influence of parked machinery of any kind, running or not, in direct vicinity. This affects temperature, shading, wind speed and -direction, precipitation etc etc. I’d love to see how many other stations collect flawed data. Garbage in – garbage out.
Right, that’s Anthony’s point for many years now.
And it’s not helped by the Met office implying (by omission) this site is suitable for setting a long term temperature record.
I’ve read about it and learned that it has been in a controversial dicussion, but it is hard to realize again and again what stupid mistakes these MO public servants make. There are so many sound (more or less) WMO guidelines about best practices, how far to stay away from buildings, the size and surface of the premises etc. and nobody really cares. Instead, they keep themselves busy fiddling data. What a shame. Or a disgrace.
It looks like this site was previously a grassy lot. I wonder when they paved everything except the few square meters around the station? Is there a step change in the data?
The data site Nick Stokes provided just said it was producing data since 2012, so not much of a record.
The claim was that is was a record for Scotland, not for Motherwell.
I meant the site’s historical record (number of data points) was not that long, so unlikely to see a step up due to an environment change.
Nick, is there a link for the Met office meta data for a station, I’ve been unable to find one on their site, while equivalent meta-data records are easy to find on NOAA?
CB
No, I haven’t found one either. I have to say that the Met Office site can be annoying.
Is the metal pole for the wind sensor actually going through the Stevenson screen?
Wouldn’t that conduct heat directly inside the screen?
No, it’s a few feet behind, since the photos on the newer post.
‘The majority of weather stations used by NOAA to detect climate change temperature signal”
Whoever wrote the above added 5 pounds of editorial comment.
It is irksome. Propaganda. Weather stations exist to measure atmospheric conditions: the weather. Including making temperature readings. Period.
BTW . . . ‘climate change temperature signal’ is gibberish, having no actual meaning.
No editorial comment in the statement at all. The study was based on well-documented research; the problems were found, and they even violated NOAA’s own guidelines. Those sites were not measuring actual atmospheric conditions, but heat from asphalt, AC units, tarmac, etc. Facts are facts, not opinions.
That you think ‘climate change temperature signal’ is gibberish, however, is an opinion, but it does reveal the fact that you have low reading comprehension skills.
Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.
S’pose you want pictures huh…
I hope they work.
Up close and personal…
https://postimg.cc/image/bel7msnlj/
Same angle but steeped back, now we see the ‘parked vehicle’
https://postimg.cc/image/7i7vqpuvb/
Oh the ironing, its an ice cream van.
From the exact opposite side..
https://postimg.cc/image/5qeww4ogn/
The piers/water are off to the left and we’re looking into the gym (those S shaped things are treadmills) in the top left corner of the big white roof building in the top photo..
Yes, that is a diesel generator attached to the back of the ice cream van
It is one very large water park, set below the town and driving into there is like walking into a fridge. The water really does cool it – or is the a carbon dioxide hole above the park?
The ice cream girl (that’s her in the drivers seat with her back to us) was ever so ever so sweet – from Poland I guess, not Scottish at all. Hope that cow May doesn’t send her home.
It made her soooo happy to be a World Record Breaker, just the smile on her face made the trip worthwhile.
Otherwise what a Complete Mess of a weather station
The ‘gallery’ should be here: https://postimg.cc/gallery/f8lhzifs/
Thanks, good job.
Dog parks are becoming very popular in the U.S., are “car parks” the next big thing ?
We’ve already got demolition derby’s, is this something different ?
First (re my visitation) comment still in mod.
PS Held the sat-nav up against the fence of the offending station and it told me:
(Garmin):
N55 47 163
W4 01 396
As best I can convert, it comes to:
55.78605, -4.02327 (decimal degrees)
Putting that straight into Google places you about 12 metres almost directly West of where the thing is.
Does it need a clean or some fresh paint, or what!
Here’s a nice aerial that shows it, white dot under the arrow.
Heart is where the ice-cream van parks.
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2dvolci&s=9
At least the MetO are being honest about it. It’s an almost daily occurence for AccuWeather to inflate my local temps by a degree or so here even when you can observe their daily high in real time. Not once have I seen them adjust downwards.
…“Unfortunately in this particular instance we have evidence that a stationary vehicle with its engine running was parked too close to the observing enclosure and the Stevenson screen housing the thermometers during the afternoon of 28th June,” the Met Office explained….
Just the car part with no vehicle on it would cause a very significant error. I have just measured the temperature on my drive in the sun at 53.8 degrees. It is not till near the boundary at forty feet that the temperature settles to the actual reading of 26.3 degrees.
Anthony,
concentrate on the left side of the
Strathclyde Park Aquasports Center
BUILDING.