France’s new ‘hottest recorded temperature ever’ is in question – guess where it was measured?

Ian Duncan writes on Facebook:


‘France has its hottest recorded temperature ever’.

New record – 45.9C on June 28th, beating the old absolute record of 44.1C in 2003.

But they don’t mention that where it was recorded was next to a concrete drain, and a steel chain mesh fence close to a bitumen (asphalt) highway.

So much for only using correctly placed instruments in a Stevenson Screen in a open space away from unnatural heat source.


You can see the station here:

https://goo.gl/maps/hF4KbSoXTt6WZfLr6

Here is the fun part – it might be the “greenhouse effect” /sarc

Seriously though, who knows what effect those greenhouses might have had on the high temperature? What we do know is that greenhouses accumulate heat and raise the temperature. Depending on wind direction that day, they may have vented waste heat in the direction of the thermometer shelter. The same could be true for the asphalt highway.

As for the heat wave itself, Dr. Roy W. Spencer adds:

When Saharan air reaches Europe, it’s going to be hot. Regarding record-high measurements, it is legitimate to ask about the placement of temperature sensors, as well as the length of temperature records.

For a record length of, say, 100+ years and NO long term warming trend, it is still expected from random weather variations that new record high temperatures will be recorded from time to time.

The recent record high in Miami, FL was made in the middle of a vast concrete jungle that did not exist 100 years ago, and now averages 10 deg. F warmer at night than rural surroundings.

One other thing to consider – Stevenson screens that are easily accessible like that are prone to biases (or forcings, if you will) that “real climatologists” don’t usually consider – like vehicles being parked next to them. Look at the satellite view: (station circled in red)

Aerial view of the location of France’s “all time high temperature” weather station. (circled in red) Note proximity of highway and greenhouses. Google Earth: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.746687,4.2594672,126m/data=!3m1!1e3

Remember this fiasco in Scotland a couple of years ago? An ice-cream truck with generators constantly running was the cause of a “man-made climatological event”.

Friday Funny: Scottish “record high temperature” caused by Ice Cream Truck

So is the new French absolute all time high temperature record valid? I’m surmising it is not. There’s just too many influences to consider.

Certainly, the measurement environment there is far different than that of 100 years ago. And, who knows if somebody parked a vehicle next to that French station on June 28th? Maybe a lunch wagon/food truck frequents there to cater to the nursery workers.

UPDATE: 6/29/19 11:40AM From comments, there’s some question as to whether this is “the station” or not. Regardless, the station shown above is in fact poorly sited. I’ll do more checking this evening. -Anthony

UPDATE2: 6/29/19 11:56AM It seems that it may not even be an “all time record”.

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Tom Halla
June 29, 2019 10:41 am

It does look like a classic example of a badly sited station.

R Terrell
Reply to  Tom Halla
June 29, 2019 12:18 pm

Or, INTENTIONALLY badly placed?

IAMPCBOB
Reply to  Tom Halla
June 29, 2019 12:22 pm

Or, INTENTIONALLY badly placed?

Wally
Reply to  Tom Halla
June 29, 2019 1:26 pm

I knew it from the beginning when it was disclosed to be a single temperature reading …. which was dishonestly said to apply of all of France in the headline.

Greg
Reply to  Wally
June 29, 2019 1:53 pm

No one said it was a national average. It is a national record, subject to confirmation. Since a bunch of local site are close I don’t see this being the result of one badly sited instrument.

It was damned hot yesterday, I live not far away.

There may be some “data correction” going onto remove earlier records in 1923 and 1930.

Reply to  Wally
June 29, 2019 5:08 pm

32C in Dartford, Kent today.

In Knockhill, Scotland, only 411 miles north, the British Superbike qualifying had to be postponed for over two hours because of torrential rain.

David Chappell
Reply to  HotScot
June 30, 2019 2:57 am

And from the BBC reporting on England’s hottest day:
“The Met Office said Heathrow and Northolt in west London had reached 34C (93.2F) making it one of the warmest June days for about 40 years.”
Northolt, while nowhere near as busy as Heathrow, is also an airfield. The met office is on the south side of the airfield, lots of concrete https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5508417,-0.4184994,1494a,35y,359.53h/data=!3m1!1e3

Big T
Reply to  David Chappell
June 30, 2019 3:52 am

Liberals love concrete, it meets their agenda.

old construction worker
Reply to  HotScot
June 30, 2019 5:18 pm

What happen to the positive feed back?

Eamon Butler
Reply to  Wally
June 30, 2019 4:18 am

Yes indeed, Wally.
A big part of the dishonesty and deception, is giving the impression that this was a temperature uniformly felt across France. No doubt, they are getting some very hot weather, but if it’s not scary, then there’s no headline. What they really need is a conference where Greta passes out from heat exhaustion.

Eamon.

Reply to  Tom Halla
July 2, 2019 8:08 am

The highway was south or southwest of the station. The wind was coming from the north. Six other stations exceeded the 44.1 degree C previous record for all of France.

00ced
Reply to  Anthony Watts
June 29, 2019 11:43 am

please look at the PDF. These are the technical data of the station: it is indicated that it measures temperatures and rain

Reply to  Anthony Watts
June 30, 2019 2:19 am

zoom in on the pdf – there is a louvred instrument, a solar panel, etc. Is this not an automated temperature station. the pdf has photos from all directions of the instrument in question.

It definitely has the possibility of temperature measurement.

Reply to  00ced
June 29, 2019 1:16 pm

I live a short distance from Villeveille and at my place the highest temperature I recorded was 40.7 Celsius at midday in partial shade, ie under a tree, while in real shade it was no higher than 37 Celsius. I also live quite close to the other record holding site Conqueyrac, I drove through yesterday, past the Town Hall on my way home. All around there is open ground and the Town Hall is right by the side of a highway with a lot of heavy traffic all day long, so if the weather box was close to the Mairie, it was certainly badly placed, while the road in your photo of the Villeveille box is actually little used, with little traffic.My first thought was of whether the Mairie of Villeveille had signed on to Agenda 21.

Greg
Reply to  enochered
June 30, 2019 4:52 am

Hi, you are a lot nearer than I am, would you like to go and take a photo of the Stevenson screen at Villevieille. It seems to be on dirt track at the edge of la vigne.

On the face of it is looks well sited but if has not been kept in good condition it will heat up in the sun, especially since Friday was virtually windless there.

I linked to Googlemap location lower down.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/06/29/frances-new-hottest-recorded-temperature-ever-is-in-question-guess-where-it-was-measured/#comment-2734323

Reply to  Greg
June 30, 2019 9:33 am

I have no SatNav so send me a good photo and precise map cooordinates. I thought I was looking at the road which passes between Sommieres and Montpezat but I was actually looking at a photo of the National towards Montpellier I believe. Vielleveille is a maze of lanes. If I can get there while the Mairie is open I can ask them.

Greg
Reply to  Anthony Watts
June 29, 2019 12:11 pm

Thanks 00ced.

There have been two station moves. It seems like the roadside was taken out of service in 2002.

Leo Norekens
Reply to  Anthony Watts
June 29, 2019 12:18 pm

According to the technical sheet, the rain gauge should be located on the rooftop, the thermometer at 16m from the canal. Maybe it’s the other way around, that would explain 😉

Juan Slayton
Reply to  Anthony Watts
June 29, 2019 12:21 pm

Although that photo is dated April 2, 2012 in the caption, it looks to me like it was taken from the previous site at 43 42 54 N 4 10 17 E. According to the history shown, that site was closed 1 Apr 2012, and reopened at the current location on April 2.

Thomas
Reply to  Anthony Watts
June 29, 2019 12:34 pm

Looking at a picture of one here; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevenson_screen and then zooming in on the picture above it sure looks like a Stevenson screen to me.

Reply to  Thomas
July 1, 2019 8:10 am

it sure looks like a Stevenson screen to me.

Not clear at all. Could be the end of the white shed or whatever it is.

Reply to  Anthony Watts
June 29, 2019 1:02 pm

Anthony, I recognized that thing immediately – and I’m not surprised that you didn’t.

That station is very like one that a former employer of mine used to sell. (May even be one of theirs, I obviously can’t look up old engineering files now.)

The lower part is indeed a rain gauge. The temperature (and humidity) sensors are in the cylindrical vented piece that is sticking up.

These units are intended for applications like agriculture and golf courses, where accuracy is not a huge concern – “close enough” for temperature being within about +/- 2 degrees Celsius. Relatively cheap (between $200 and $300 about a decade ago), the customer could spot several of them around their fairly large properties and get reports over a wireless connection that you fed into a PC application. Showed you where possible problem areas were for your irrigation system and automated plan. Change the batteries about once a year, and my company gave a seven year warranty.

Again, NOT fit for meteorological purposes.

Reply to  Writing Observer
June 29, 2019 1:35 pm

Meteo gives the equipment a C rating, on a scale A-E. The site, for temp, gets a 3 (scale 1-5) with the objection noted being, unusually, a canal at 16m distance.

Greg
Reply to  Writing Observer
June 29, 2019 1:43 pm

That would be very useful with a link to the manufacturer’s web site and a spec sheet showing the accuracy of the temperature gauge.

That confirms my earlier comment, still awaiting passage through customs and immigration controls, that the cylindrical object was the temp. gauge.

thanks.

Greg
Reply to  Anthony Watts
June 29, 2019 12:48 pm

Anthony: “Date du relevé” means date of record , this could mean data of inspection of the site and recording of the metadata.

Greg
Reply to  Greg
June 29, 2019 1:48 pm

I think that station closed in 2017, or perhaps moved.

No, the last entry has not closure date. It is still operational. There were two site moves.

Feel free to contact me if you have any need of French translations. At your service, sir.

RobH
Reply to  Greg
July 1, 2019 3:32 am

“Date du relevé” means date of reading.

Greg
Reply to  Anthony Watts
June 29, 2019 12:50 pm

I’m guessing that the white suspended cylindrical object is a thermistor sensor.

Peter Miller
Reply to  Anthony Watts
June 29, 2019 3:31 pm
MFKBoulder
Reply to  Anthony Watts
July 1, 2019 5:56 am

Hi Anthony,

Did you find some time to look into this issue? I don not understand why you are bashing the owners of a nursery garden about their placing of a weather screen.
I was expecting some corrections of your posting of alternavie facts. All I saw was some profound resistance to consulting and advices form other participants of the discussion.
The station report clearly states that these station with above 45°C temperatures were existing beofre the 2003 heat wave and the Gallargues-le-Montueux was downgraded to a class 3 temperature site since the canal close to it might attenuate the temperatures. Yet it has a more than 3 decades of TMax reports (which are ongoing).

The other two sites are better located due to a more distant location from buildings and structures.

Gallargues-le-Montueux
https://donneespubliques.meteofrance.fr/metadonnees_publiques/fiches/fiche_30123001.pdf

Villevielle Tmax 45.4°C
https://donneespubliques.meteofrance.fr/metadonnees_publiques/fiches/fiche_30352002.pdf
43.795278N, 4.090833E

Marsillargues 45.1°C

https://donneespubliques.meteofrance.fr/metadonnees_publiques/fiches/fiche_34151005.pdf
43.633889N, 4.168056E

Greg
Reply to  00ced
June 29, 2019 12:31 pm

AUTOROUTE (43°43’30” Nord, 4°10’54” Est, 24 m)
CAVE-COOPERATIVE (43°42’54” Nord, 4°10’17” Est, 17 m)
CAVE-COOPERATIVE (43°42’53” Nord, 4°10’18” Est, 17 m)

None of these from the pdf seem to match the roadside Google in the article.

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.746687,4.2594672,126m/data=!3m1!1e3

TomRude
Reply to  00ced
June 29, 2019 1:37 pm

The roof top one is part of an amateur network StatIC…
https://www.infoclimat.fr/observations-meteo/temps-reel/gallargues-le-montueux/000OZ.html

StatIC, le réseau des stations amateurs en ligne d’Infoclimat : 1547 stations inscrites, et vous ?

The Meteo France one is indeed the wine coop one. You are right.

Reply to  00ced
June 29, 2019 1:39 pm

The station is not next to the road.

The picture and article are wrong.

The station is on a roof !

That’s even worse than next to a road

Roofs are hot.

Even worse the 45.9 degrees C.
was the hottest “feels like” temperature
for the day, not the hottest actual temperature,
which was 44.1 degrees C. at both 5:00pm and 5:30pm

Details and pictures at my blog:
https://elonionbloggle.blogspot.com/2019/06/how-do-you-know-climate-change-cult.html

The 44.1 degrees C. tied the previous 2003 record high.

However on the same day in 2019 there were 10 French weather stations that beat the old 44.1 C. record.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_extreme_temperatures_in_France

I hope they are not all rooftop weather stations !

My important point, now that I have straightened out the errors in this story;

SO WHAT ?

We’ve had intermittent warming on this planet for about 300 years.

Most real-time temperature data were first collected DURING that warming trend.

Therefore, record highs are EXPECTED, until the warming trend ends.

This is not news — there is no logical reason to get all excited and wave your arms around like a crazy person (like Robert Francis O’Rourke when he talks) !

Frequent news highs are EXPECTED, when all records are DURING a warming trend.

When the warming trend ends, we’ll stop seeing new “record highs”.

When will it end ?

Vostok ice core data revealed mild cooling and warming cycles (totally harmless) lasting many hundreds of years.

The correct answer is “No one knows when the 300 years of warming will end and a multi-hundred year cooling trend will begin — it could start next week, or in hundreds of years.”

It doesn’t matter if the world gets a tents of a degree warmer in a decade.

When the Holocene inter-glacial ends, and the world gets a lot colder, THAT will matter … and people will yearn for the good old days with those warmer winter nights in Alaska !

TomRude
Reply to  Richard Greene
June 29, 2019 2:41 pm
Reply to  Richard Greene
June 29, 2019 8:17 pm

“guess where it was measured?”
“The station is on a roof !”
The guessing game goes on.

LdB
Reply to  Nick Stokes
June 29, 2019 10:55 pm

Hey it’s climate science which is a bit like trolling … no need to look under the bridge we found it.

Reply to  Nick Stokes
July 1, 2019 8:17 am

And exactly what additional
information have YOU
provided Mr. Stroker?

Reply to  Richard Greene
July 1, 2019 10:28 am

I did further research and found a nearby French weather station with the same name, and also poor siting, that may have been the one claiming 49.5 degrees C.

It does not have records online that I could find (the other station did, and happened to have a “feels like” temperature of 49.5 degrees C. that day — maybe that 49.5 C. was just a coincidence.

As a climate skeptic, always searching for truth, unlike you climate alarmists, Stroker, I mentioned here there were 10 other French station setting new (post 2003) records … but now I have additional information: 50.0 degrees C. was reported in French newspapers in August 1930:

My blog article update, for more information, is here:
http://elonionbloggle.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-june-28-2019-french-heat-record-is.html

MFKBoulder
Reply to  Richard Greene
July 1, 2019 1:14 pm

At. least less wrong information than Anthony Watts.

Robert Coutts
Reply to  00ced
June 29, 2019 4:45 pm

00ced: The coords are not quite accurate (add ‘.23’ to the lat/and coincidentally to the long as well) .. but otherwise they indicate this gauge: https://cutt.ly/BjEZmh seen in the middle of the image. Being 16m to the canal, it seems unlikely that this gauge would be the hottest unless it was not recording accurately.

Kenji
June 29, 2019 10:45 am

Too late. Damage done. The Drudge Report had a BLARING RED-colored headline up all day extolling the EXTREME weather caused by our sins against Gaia. Ohhhhh mammmma … we’re all gonna dieeee.

Which BTW reminds me of the linked Weather Channel article which started a body count of local DEATHS “associated” with the high temps. Funny thing that … I NEVER see ANY article attributing deaths to cold waves, and cold spikes. Every hot day is “PROOF” of global warming. Every cold day is apropos of nothing.

Latitude
Reply to  Kenji
June 29, 2019 12:10 pm

what’s going on with Drudge now…too much silly sex robots and stuff

this is exactly what just happened with Miami’s new heat record too….
it was recorded at the airport…of course….surrounded by miles of asphalt…without a cloud in the sky…and dead calm…
…while at the same time…the station at Virginia Key…a few miles to the east….recorded a almost record low of 85F

Reply to  Latitude
June 29, 2019 9:21 pm

Drudge stepped in the swamp and got stuck.

Chris Heibert
Reply to  Kenji
June 30, 2019 7:23 am

You and your ilk are feeble minded at best and deeply annoyingly cynical at worst. You don’t hear news about cold waves? That’s because in Europe there these things called heaters, furnaces and fireplaces. That society is designed to deal with cold. Heat? Not so much.

Matthew Schilling
Reply to  Chris Heibert
June 30, 2019 5:42 pm

So they don’t have air conditioners in Europe? Got it, thank!

RobH
Reply to  Matthew Schilling
July 1, 2019 3:38 am

In most private homes, no.

R Shearer
June 29, 2019 11:05 am

On top of that, it’s in a greenhouse (according to theory).

PaulH
June 29, 2019 11:05 am

The hottest highway on record? 😉 I think they have some competition for that.

Greg
June 29, 2019 11:08 am

A badly sited Stevenson screen amongst many.

I live in this area, I was also working here in the last “canicule” event in Aug 2003. That went on for 15 days and nights. This one is two / three days. The record were all on one day : yesterday and temps across France are several degrees lower already today.

The WMO defines a heatwave as 5 or more days, not 2/3 , so is this even a heatwave? No.

Andrew F
Reply to  Greg
July 3, 2019 2:15 pm

Actually the full WMO definition?

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) defines a heat wave as a period during which the daily maximum temperature exceeds for more than five consecutive days the maximum normal temperature by 9°F (5°C), the “normal” period being defined as 1961–1990.

James F. Evans
June 29, 2019 11:11 am

Thank you for the analysis.

You won’t get that in the local newspaper.

June 29, 2019 11:15 am

There is a cartoon of a “scientist” in a white smock holding a flame under the bulb of a thermometer.
The concerning part is that so many people want to by hysterical about the Earth “frying”.

Chad Irby
June 29, 2019 11:27 am

The other day, I went out to my car, and the “outside temperature” thermometer read 105 F at 5 PM.

Of course, the car was sitting in a parking lot, surrounded by other cars, downwind of a large convention center, so…

The “shade” temp at that moment, at the nearest actual weather station, was 90 F.

The Reverend Badger
June 29, 2019 11:27 am

I suggest visiting some remote sensor station with a flamethrower and record the event. Wait for the “news” then release the video.
If you do it in winter it will be even better.

June 29, 2019 11:28 am

It seems that the actual weather station where this record has been set is at Gallargues le Montueux (see the temperatures map from météo France in this tweet :
https://twitter.com/EKMeteo/status/1144664674950111237

This seems to be a fraud from Météo France with respect to the max temperature recorded on the 28th of June at Gallargues-le-Montueux.

Météo claims that the new absolute record in France has been measured on this weather station and is 45,9°C :
https://www.infoclimat.fr/observations-meteo/archives/28/juin/2019/gallargues-le-montueux/000OZ.html

(I made a screen copy of the data, if needed).

The max temperature actually recorded on this station is 44.1°C at 17h and 17h30 the 28th of June, and not 45.9°C at 17h, which is a “feels like temperature” (“biométéo” column) and not a measured temperature.

Furthermore, there are some pictures of this weather station on the web site :
– it is placed directly on a tiled roof …

I wonder what Anthony Watts thinks about this mess …

Greg
Reply to  Petit_Barde
June 29, 2019 11:48 am

Good digging but be careful ( and more importantly READ carefully ) before throwing accusations of fraud !

What you are looking at is private rooftop installation ( obviously falsified by the roof tiles BTW ). You have taken the name of the village and ASSUMED he is referring to this one and not a properly maintained station.

Having said that, I doubt that piss-pot village has an official M.France station and the similarity of figures and alarmist wailing is suspicious.

Greg
Reply to  Petit_Barde
June 29, 2019 11:54 am

Here is the official Meteo France station for that town/village. I don’t know how to get yesterday, they tend to be very cagey with daily data. You have to pay to see it. Like UK met office. It keeps inquiring mind out.

http://www.meteofrance.com/previsions-meteo-france/gallargues-le-montueux/30660

So you are very likely making unfounded accusation for fraud. Not clever.

Reply to  Greg
June 29, 2019 1:14 pm

Greg, here are the temperatures actually measured by Météo France in Occitanie :
http://www.meteofrance.com/climat/france/occitanie/regin11/releves

Seems they use other results from other weather stations than from météo France. The Gallargues le Montueux seems to be one of them :
– If you try to find the max temperature of “Gallargues le Montueux” the 28 of June on the météo France web site, they will answer with the Montpellier station (which measured 43.5°C) :
http://www.meteofrance.com/climat/meteo-date-passee?lieuId=301230&lieuType=VILLE_FRANCE&date=28-06-2019

The only data of this station are at this link :
https://www.infoclimat.fr/observations-meteo/archives/28/juin/2019/gallargues-le-montueux/000OZ.html

And clearly, there is a mismatch between actual and “feels-like” temperatures and Météo France reported a fake temperature.

So after carefully having read and made my own search, I stick with my opinion.

Greg
Reply to  Petit_Barde
June 29, 2019 2:17 pm

Thanks for the link to their archived data, they do not make it obvious how to get it.

http://www.meteofrance.com/climat/france/montpellier/34154001/releves

(*) Les données sont celles de la station de Montpellier, station de référence la plus proche de Gallargues-le-Montueux.

They do indeed seem to substitute Montpellier on that page. That does not refute that pdf in the first comments here which has station metadata for Gallargues.

https://donneespubliques.meteofrance.fr/metadonnees_publiques/fiches/fiche_30123001.pdf

“The only data of this station are at this link :”

What is your basis for concluding that that mickey mouse home station is the “only” one there.

Maybe go on Twatter and ask this “expert” where he got his data from?

I tried to use their contact page but it gives a dumb error and fails to send.

Reply to  Greg
June 29, 2019 4:27 pm

Thank you for the pdf link.

It seems that this station has two parts :
– a rain gauge that is on the roof of the cave-coopérative (the pictures are on my link),
– a temperature station, which pictures are on your pdf link and which is near a canal.

See this abstract of the pdf :
“QUALITE DU SITE
Paramètre Classe(*) Réf. Début Fin Méthode Date du relevé Commentaire
Pluie 2 Nr35B 01/01/1999 2 12/10/2017 Toiture de la cave coopérative
Temperature 3 Nr35B 01/01/1999 1 12/10/2017 Canal à 16 m.”

The two GPS coordinates (of my and your link) give the same address, near a channel. From google we can see the temperature weather station near a canal and some houses of the cave coopérative. The rain gauge must be on the roof (as stated in the météo France document) of one of the coopérative houses (as show the pictures of the infoclimat.fr website) :
https://www.google.com/maps/search/CAVE-COOPERATIVE/@43.7151907,4.1711404,86m/data=!3m1!1e3

The pdf document describes the weather station, its quality, etc. but this does not mean that this station is owned by Météo France. This just means that Météo France knows this station and have qualified it :
– This station is indeed owned by a private member of the Réseau StatIC who’s pseudo is lachenille30 who posted today on :
http://www.veilleurs-du-temps.fr/pages/sys_obsPage.php?id=119369

This site is related to météo France :
“Les veilleurs du temps
Météo-France souhaite mettre à disposition du grand public …”

Here, the Okam’s razor principle must apply :
– it would be indeed incredible that the very same temperature of 45,9°C had been recorded the same day and hour, as a “feels-like” temperature by a station and as an actual temperature by another station that are on exactly the same location, the same property … knowing furthermore that only the data of one station are published (as far as I know).

For me those two stations are actually the two parts (temperature and a rain gauge as stated in the météo France document) of one and the same station, owned by lachenille30 and which belongs to the StatIC network and which data are reported in the infoclimat.fr site (and used by météo France as four of the other record breaking stations …) :
https://www.infoclimat.fr/observations-meteo/archives/28/juin/2019/gallargues-le-montueux/000OZ.html

The data of infoclimat.fr complement the somewhat scarse météo France stations (see https://www.infoclimat.fr/stations/static.php) :
“Infoclimat dispose de données gratuites des stations principales du réseau de Météo-France, ces relevés sont traités de façon à être présentées sur des cartes et des tableaux consultables sur le site.
Comme le réseau principal de Météo-France (stations ‘synoptiques’) est assez peu dense, rapidement la décision est prise de publier sur les mêmes cartes les relevés des stations amateur dont les critères d’implantation respectent au mieux les conditions optimales de mesure. C’est ainsi que naît le réseau ‘semi-professionnel’ d’Infoclimat.”

Météo France qualifies the stations of the StatIC network and the pdf document is such a technical qualification which asserts the the station complies to the météo France criteria so that the data of this station can be published on the infoclimat.fr site :
“Météo-France a rédigé une note technique sur l’implantation des stations chez les passionnées. Nous vous invitons fortement à lire ce document que vous pouvez télécharger ci-dessous.

Télécharger la note technique N°39 de Météo-France”

“Un des objectifs à atteindre serait que d’ici quelques années le réseau statIC, couplé à celui de Météo-France, couvre une surface suffisamment importante du territoire pour que la plupart des internautes puissent consulter les relevés d’une station à moins d’une vingtaine de kilomètres de chez lui, et ce gratuitement bien entendu.”

So, why météo France should use another weather station at exactly the same position, since they have already qualified and accepted one which is referenced in the infoclimat.fr site ?

Greg
Reply to  Greg
June 29, 2019 10:13 pm

Bon travail mon Petit.

It is pretty appalling that Meteo France are presenting these amateur sites with”semi-pro” equipment and sloppy siting rules and then presenting them without warnings and caveats as official data.

The official network does seem thin in the ground 180 stations for the entire country.

Siting rules:
https://www.infoclimat.fr/stations/static.php

Un minimum d’un dégagement de 20m est acceptable, si le site est ventilé de façon naturelle. Si le site est mal ventilé, il peut alors être possible d’installer sa station sur le toit d’un bâtiment. L’abri doit aussi être situé à 1,5m de hauteur sur la faîtière du toit et seulement à cet endroit. Évidemment, aucune cheminée en activité ne doit se trouver à proximité sur ce toit. (Exemple)

In essence the usual 100m is dropped to 20m and they allow rooftop mounting which is ludicrous, since it means 100m becomes zero. You are siting on a large ceramic tiles structure at the apex where thermal conduction will focus the hot air flow off the roof !!
Absolute stupidity, if you want to pretend this has “semi-pro” quality and use the data.

So, yes, with this extra information and research it sadly seems that your initial assumption was correct.

It is scandalous that the national weather bureau is announcing these record temperatures based on poorly sited amateur stations without the slightest indication to the public. Of course they will see new records since they were not using amateur root-top mounted sensors in 1923 !!

Reply to  Greg
June 29, 2019 10:34 pm

“You are siting on a large ceramic tiles structure at the apex where thermal conduction will focus the hot air flow off the roof !!”
I think you misread Petit-barge’s post. The rain gauge is on the roof; the temperature station on the ground.

As for ‘amateur stations’, it seems an equivalent system to the NWS Co-op network.

Reply to  Greg
June 30, 2019 5:14 am

Greg,

I finally found where the Gallergues weather station referenced by infoclimat.fr is :

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.7207877,4.1791905,3a,48.5y,333.41h,89.3t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1spb8xLbFmqd9iJlVmuRbi_w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

In november 2010, the station was not yet installed, but the house matches. the photos on the climatinfo.fr site.

So I can’t affirm anymore that the two stations are one and the same : my bad.
The distance between the two stations is 1.1km, and even if I did not found the rain gauge on a house’s roof of the cave coopérative, nothing allows me to infere that this roof station is the one referenced in the météo France pdf document.

Thus, it remains only one question :
– this StatIC station is on a roof, near an AC, in front of a road, in the Gallergues town, ,
– the météo France station is outside the town, rather surrounded by vegetation and at 16m from a canal.

How can it be that the very poorly placed StatIC station recorded a max of 44.1°C while the météo France station outside the town, surrounded by vegetation and near a water canal recorded a max temperature of 45,9°C ?

MFKBoulder
Reply to  Greg
June 30, 2019 5:29 am

Greg,
your compilation of errors can be be debunked by your statement “The official network does seem thin in the ground 180 stations for the entire country.”

Meteofrance the state owned Meteo Network has 1000 Stations and had in 2012 already approx 450 AWS running (in the Mainland of France alone). And there are other reliable Networks working threre (e.g. MeteoGroup) .

You were pointed to a pdf describing the station where you deduct that the (clearly visible) rain-gauge would be sited on a rooftop (but invisible on the pictures).
In fact the rating of the rain gauge is class 2, since the roof of the vinery is obstructing the horizon with less than 19° slope taking the doubeled hight of the vinery building) Nobody stated that the gauge is on top of the vinery.
OMG what a waist of time.

David S
Reply to  Petit_Barde
June 29, 2019 12:01 pm

That’s a good catch on using “feels like” temperature instead of the actual temperature. It certainly looks like a deliberate attempt to deceive. Certainly Météo France should know the difference. Is there any way of calling them out on it?

Vuk
Reply to  David S
June 29, 2019 12:55 pm

Meteo France is fine with all versions of data, it’s media reports that get it wrong
https://www.meteo-nice.org/station-meteo

Greg
Reply to  Vuk
June 29, 2019 2:24 pm

What you link to apparently has nothing to do with Meteo France.

Vuk
Reply to  Greg
June 29, 2019 2:43 pm

meteo Nice is one of number of local outposts of meteo France as are:
METEO PARIS
METEO MARSEILLE
METEO LYON
METEO TOULOUSE
METEO NICE
METEO NANTES
METEO STRASBOURG
METEO MONTPELLIER
METEO BORDEAUX
METEO LILLE
METEO RENNES
METEO REIMS
METEO LE HAVRE
METEO SAINT-ETIENNE
METEO TOULON
METEO GRENOBLE
METEO ANGERS
METEO BREST

Greg
Reply to  Greg
June 29, 2019 10:29 pm

The credits at the bottom the page show that it is a private company run by a TV meteorologist. Nowhere on the site do I see any mention of Meteo France.

SARL Météo-villes – Réalisation Innorun
Guillaume Séchet, météorologiste, créateur du site et présentateur météo sur BFMTV.

Nice is a principal town, it may well have a real M. France meteo station.

It is now being revealed that Meteo France is fine with all data which break records even if they come from mom and pop weather stations which they accept even if mounted on a tiles roof !!

It’s worse than we thought.

Leo Norekens
Reply to  Petit_Barde
June 29, 2019 12:44 pm

comment image

comment image

Chm
Reply to  Petit_Barde
June 29, 2019 2:43 pm

Hi, may be you could have right about source station !

I found that 45.9°C was not recorded on a primary météo france station but from a secondary station (réseau secondaire).

Here it is written:
http://www.meteo-paris.com/actualites/canicule-exceptionnelle-vigilance-previsions-meteo-suivi-25-juin-2019.html

extract:
| Les 45,9°C relevés à Gallargues-le-Montueux (30) sur la station du réseau secondaire de Météo-France
| établissent un nouveau record absolu en France.

I searched than where the secondary station is located and here is what I found using secondary station as arguments:
http://meteocentre.com/archive/archive.php?type=meteoalerte_fr_html&DAY=28&MONTH=06&YEAR=2019&lang=fr

This only found secondary station has the link you provided !
Of course, it is not very far from the official météo france station and this one is located in the city.

Chm
Reply to  Chm
June 30, 2019 1:45 am

Location of all secondary stations and as you can seet it, not only France uses private stations in they published datas…

https://www.infoclimat.fr/cartes/stations-amateurs.php

Greg Goodman
June 29, 2019 11:32 am

The Guadian have been declaring this an “historic heatwave” since last Friday: 21st June 2019. They don’t seem to realise that for something to be “historic” it needs to have ACTUALLY happened. Weather forecasts don’t count as “historic” weather events.

I reality the Thurday was the first really hot day , it peaked yesterday and dropped about 5deg today. Further cooling expected tomorrow. In short a 3 day hotspell which does not even qualify WMO definition of heatwave.

This is in French but I guess you all know how to find a translator. Historical facts from the national weather bureau in France.

http://www.meteofrance.fr/climat-passe-et-futur/evenements-remarquables/retour-sur-la-canicule-daot-2003-

days over 35 deg C
http://www.meteofrance.fr/documents/10192/35608/4524-43.gif/

days over 40 deg. C
http://www.meteofrance.fr/documents/10192/35608/4526-43.gif/

So is the new French absolute all time high temperature record valid? I’m surmising it is not. There’s just too many influences to consider.

Well, I live about 40km from that site. That area was a couple of degrees warmer from all the figures I’ve seen. I measure a max of 40 deg C yesterday in the built-up area around my house: stone houses and black bitumen roads all around.

The Meteo France readings for all towns around that region were similar, so NO, it’s not one rogue station near a road. Are others equally poorly sited, very possible, I often see Stevenson screens from the road.

Were that stations any better in 2003, unlikely.

45,9 °C à Gallargues-le-Montueux (30)
45,4 °C à Villevieille (30)
45,1 °C à Marsillargues (34)
44,6 °C à Saint-Chamas (13)
44,5 °C à Varages (83)
44,4 °C à Nîmes-Courbessac (30), battant de très loin son ancien record absolu historique (41,6 °C le 4 août 2017 et le 9 août 1923).
44,4 °C à Peyrolles-en-Provence (13)
44,3 °C à Moules-et-Baucels (34)
44,3 °C à Vinon-sur-Verdon (83)
44,3 °C à Carpentras (84)
44,3 °C à Istres (13)
44,3 °C à Moules-et-Baucels (34)

ref:
http://www.meteofrance.fr/actualites/73726667-record-absolu-de-chaleur-battu-45-9-c-dans-le-gard-du-jamais-vu-en-france

Also from that page is one of the longest station records in the regions : Mont Aigual at 1567m

29,9 °C au Mont Aigoual (30, 1567m), ouverte en 1896. Ancien record : 29,4 °C le 09/08/1923;

Well heck , it was just as hot almost a century ago. I guess it can’t be “globull warming ” then.

29,9 °C au Mont Aigoual (30, 1567m), ouverte en 1896. Ancien record : 29,4 °C le 09/08/1923;

Greg
Reply to  Greg Goodman
June 29, 2019 1:06 pm

What looks like the only long record in the list above Nimes. This is now a very large, sprawling city in a geographic hole. In still summer weather it is unbearable any year. It has Roman collesium at its centre but the expansion it has seen in recent decades make it prime candidate for growing UHI problem.

44,4 °C à Nîmes-Courbessac (30), battant de très loin son ancien record absolu historique (41,6 °C le 4 août 2017 et le 9 août 1923).

Along with Mt Aigoual above, this also shows record temps in 1923.

Mont Aigoual is still in south of France but quite a way from Nimes and almost a mile in altitude. Nimes is close to Gallargues cited in this article.

Greg
Reply to  Greg
June 30, 2019 4:28 am

PS The offical site at Nîmes-Courbessac is an old military airfield, a few km away from the new small-scale commercial airport Nîmes-Gardon.

It has light concrete run-ways and very little traffic. Its situation now touches the urban sprawl of Nimes city.

Bindidon
Reply to  Greg Goodman
June 29, 2019 2:48 pm

Greg Goodman

Merci pour vos excellentes infos.

Regards,
J.-P. D.

Walter Sobchak
June 29, 2019 11:32 am

Anthony: Who tipped you off to the station location?

Flight Level
June 29, 2019 11:32 am

So much for that hot-o-phobia already !

Would be humanitarian green hypocrites, take this: Anyone with a serviceable brain prefers “hot” summer operations to winter ones. Yes, heat has an effect on air density. Add 5 or 15 knots here and there, endure a few tons of payload penalty. Heat effects are known and predictable. Free bonus, superior braking action on sticky dry runways. Most modern liners will gladly take +50 to +55C ground temperature with a few keystrokes.

Not so much in winter operations. Cold, snow, winter storms, icing, sleet and other cold niceties have claimed and still do, infinitely more lives than hot air.

Think of it next time you board an aircraft while on your way to that global warming crazed climate junket.

Paul, Bedfordshire UK
June 29, 2019 11:43 am

It is fake news. Highest recorded temperature in France was in the Loire on 28th August 1930 and was reported worldwide by newspapers at the time.

https://mobile.twitter.com/drwaheeduddin/status/1144865573131694080

rbabcock
Reply to  Paul, Bedfordshire UK
June 29, 2019 3:17 pm

Sorry Paul, since it was before 1950, this temperature has been decreased 12 times to the current value of 36C /s

Did anyone ever think there WOULDN”T be a record high? Everything was set, the forecast, the screaming headlines the “bubble of hot air from Africa” was coming and every site, newspaper and “climate scientist” had the story written ready to go. You could have bet your house there would be a record high and have a 100% chance you would win.

P Malone
Reply to  rbabcock
June 29, 2019 4:08 pm

I agree you could see this coming, viewing the news in days before this “record” it was looking like the UN’s WMO was pushing something right across the EU. All the national weather organizations where vomiting propaganda from WMO.
For news reports putting the felt like temperature out is more BS fake news, they know there lying but all they want in EU citizens mindsets is RECORD HEAT, even if it is fake, from an awful station. No one will care if they recant it later.

Alan
June 29, 2019 11:44 am

In a country the size of France, did only on station record a record high? I’d think one record high, out of how many across the country? Would be statisticlly insignificant.

Greg
Reply to  Alan
June 29, 2019 12:58 pm

No, see my post a bit above. Not one badly sited station.

RobH
Reply to  Greg
July 1, 2019 4:08 am
Vuk
June 29, 2019 11:46 am

How about the UK’s max (no records broken) announced by BBC ad mid afternoon
BBC quoted UK’s ‘extreme’ recorded at Charlwood, Surrey, a small village which is bordering the Gatwick airport where aircraft are landing or taking off every 30 sec
https://www.flightradar24.com/51.15,-0.2/14
I doubt that this village has a proper weather station, and reading is most likely from the airport’s station, but the BBC editors prefer not to quote the airport as the source for ‘scientific’ reasons.

Gerry, England
Reply to  Vuk
June 29, 2019 1:30 pm

Aha, my neck of the woods. Well my outside thermometer reached 84F just after 1300 when it was still in the shade and out of any breeze. Got up to 90F later on. I was shocked to find a winter or two back that from my house to the edge of Gatwick 8 miles away was a difference of 4C in the evening. I went to a bit that was built up than Charlwood but I would expect that village to see some heat from the airport.

Actually, Gatwick is nowhere near as busy as Heathrow as it has a single runway. There are busy periods morning and evening but at times it goes quiet. But the buildings and hard surfaces are there absorbing heat all the time ready to give out in the evening.

Reacher51
Reply to  Vuk
June 29, 2019 2:52 pm

From the NY Times, July 12, 1901:

“Intense Heat in London: Several Deaths – Other European Cities Suffering
LONDON, July 11.- This was the hottest day as yet recorded this year in London. At noon, the thermometer registered 85 degrees in the shade and the temperature was 123 in the sun….”

What a difference some sun makes. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1901/07/12/101076981.pdf

Phillip Bratby
June 29, 2019 11:48 am

Well I admit that I was wrong. I predicted that they would announce a new record temperature but that it would be measured at an airport.

Chris
June 29, 2019 11:50 am

So what? Did the station move in the last week? If not, why is station location relevant? The temperature record set in the past in THAT EXACT SAME LOCATION in the past has now been exceeded with these measurements.

Jared
Reply to  Chris
June 29, 2019 12:52 pm

Did the station even exist in 20 years ago? How old is the station? If the station is 500 years old then a record would be something. If the station is 5 years old then not so much

Chris
Reply to  Jared
June 30, 2019 10:29 am

Do your own homework.

Rhys Jaggar
June 29, 2019 11:53 am

We are just having a hot spell over here in Europe. Spring was nothing exceptional, so five days of heat is just weather. Here in NW London I measured air temperatures of 32C in the shade (grass underfoot in a vegetated garden) at 2pm, with maximum temperatures predicted to be at 4pm, so it is certainly quite hot by our standards (8-10C hotter than normal). We are missing the worst of the heat and things will return to normal this week (21-24C maxima, 12-14C minima).

June 29, 2019 11:56 am

They would measure and use the temperature inside a black dust-bin at San Tropez if the thought that they could get away with it!

Geoff Sherrington
June 29, 2019 12:00 pm

While everyone here bickers about whether or not this particular station is poorly sited, they are ignoring what is happening all over Europe: http://coolwx.com/record/

You all are ignoring the forest for this tree

tty
Reply to  Geoff Sherrington
June 29, 2019 1:26 pm

Not all of Europe “Parts of southwestern Europe” you mean. In Northern Europe it is if anything colder than usual. Though we will (maybe) have one warm (possibly almost 90 F) day tomorrow, before the cold comes back.

TeaPartyGeezer
Reply to  Geoff Sherrington
June 29, 2019 2:27 pm

I fail to see what has you so excited.

Geoff Sherrington
Reply to  Geoff Sherrington
June 29, 2019 6:02 pm

ALERT. ALERT,

THIS WAS NOT WRITTEN BY ME, The ORIGINAL GEOFF SHERRINGTON. I HAVE BEEN USING MY REAL NAME SINCE WUWT BEGAN.

UNLESS A GENUINE ERROR AS BY A MODERATOR, THIS WAS WRITTEN BY AN IMPOSTER, WITHOUT MY KNOWLEDGE OR PERMISSION. BEWARE. BE WARNED. THIS HAS NOT HAPPENED TO ME BEFORE THIS. Geoff

Reply to  Geoff Sherrington
June 30, 2019 1:09 pm

Perhaps someone got your email password?
Change it.
One of my security/identity theft things indicated my email might have been compromised. I changed my password to something I had to print out to remember!
(I also have a “password manager” so rarely rarely have to refer to the paper.)

Patrick MJD
Reply to  Geoff Sherrington
June 29, 2019 10:00 pm

That’s what Mann did with one tree, YAD061.

Greg
Reply to  Geoff Sherrington
June 29, 2019 11:04 pm

Hey fake Geoff Sherrington, what is happening all over Europe is a brief hot spell caused by hot air drawn up from Africa.

If everyone is shouting about the tallest tree in the forest I want to know if they are measuring it with a lazer or a piece of string. If Meteo France is declaring a bunch of “never seen in France” records when using amateur stations mounted on a roof and comparing to the historical record of official stations then we need to know.

June 29, 2019 12:10 pm

The potential for confusion with ‘feels like’ temperatures is getting out of hand. I noticed a prediction for today’s max for my location on my iPhone over 30C (can’t recall the precise figure) with no mention of the ‘feels like’ proviso but when I went to the appropriate page the actual prediction was 26C.

Greg
June 29, 2019 12:26 pm

Kapikian cites a record temperature at Montpellier aeroport.

Sadly this does not seem to be known to MeteoFrance on line site. It has 3 sites including that name, two are nearby villages , none are the aeroport.

The aeroport is situated at Fréjorgues, which does not show up either. Clearly this is not a qualified weather station. Not that would stop a good alarmist in his Twatting spree.

Greg
June 29, 2019 12:28 pm

MODS, I’ve made several posts here with pertinent links to local data and Meteo France pages.

Possibly too many links for your spam filter , please dig them out of the bit bin. Thanks.

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