NOAA closes 600 poorly-sited weather stations

I did a study of the thousands of weather stations here in the U.S. and around the inhabited world in 2000. The results were 'surprising' to say the least.

I compared the 60-year periods from 1880 to 1940 and 1940 to 2000 and found virtually no difference in global temperatures, except in the urban 'heat islands' of concrete and asphalt, which did show rather significant warming, especially in Asia.

Well, my friend of nearly 30 years, Anthony Watts - the man who said, "It's the SUN, stupid" - recently reported that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has finally closed some 600 'heat island' weather stations around the country.

Watts, a well-known meteorologist and blogger, has been highly critical in recent years for the National Weather Service's "usage of extremely unreliable data."

NOAA says that the closures will help them improve the nation's ability of gathering accurate U.S. weather data in the future. But, Watts claims that it's "too little, too late."

Watts recently told Fox News, "the question remains why NOAA continues to use a strange mix of both well-sited and poorly-sited weather stations."

Watts points to a still open poorly-sited station in California's Yosemite Park. This particular weather station sits directly above a 'heat sink.' This stored heat is released at night after being accumulated during the day, therefore giving the station much warmer overnight lows than if the station were located in a well-sited spot. The heat sinks are composed of a road, a building, wooden beams and stacked metal pipes surrounding the station.

Have you ever noticed that most banks and other businesses tend to have weather signs that report much warmer than actual temperatures, because their instruments are poorly-sited in areas that store up heat, especially during the hot summer months.

Watts says that the closures of many poorly-sited weather stations nationwide is "something of a vindication of a years-long project to identify stations with stored heat problems linked to the 'heat island effect.'

As previously reported, some of the first official Watts' temperature findings were leaked more than four years ago in 2009 in so-called 'CLIMATE-GATE' emails.

The Director of NOAA, Scott Smullen, told his people to "take Watts' findings seriously and act upon them." That's what NOAA has done in recent months.

I say, IT'S ABOUT TIME!

In answering another question related to my 2000 climate study of weather stations around the world and here in the U.S. since 1880, I found that the Depression-wracked decade of the 1930s was the warmest period in at least 120 years, even surpassing the blistering 1990s or the recent decades of the early 2000s.

The coldest decade since 1880 was the 1970s worldwide, a time when many respected climatologists thought that we were heading into a new 'Little Ice Age' or worse. The second coldest decade was the 1940s, which included World War II and my birth in 1942.

North Idaho weather review

I thoroughly enjoyed talking with dozens of weather fans at the Fair this past Thursday afternoon. They gave me some great ideas on possible future 'Gems' columns during my two hours in the Coeur d'Alene Press booth.

I agree with Mike Patrick, Maureen Dolan and others that this year's edition of the Fair gets a "Thumbs Up." The entertainment was fabulous, the food was delicious and there were far more places to sit comfortably and eat than during the past fair events. And, the weather Thursday evening was perfect.

As far as our long-range weather outlooks are concerned, both Meteorologist Randy Mann and I still see a rather dry September and early October with only a few scattered showers and thunderstorms at times like we've seen in July and August.

The November through early to mid February winter season, however, looks a bit snowier and colder than usual, especially if the cooler 'La Nina' sea-surface temperature event holds together in the eastern Pacific waters. I'll have more details next week in my Labor Day, Sept. 2, article.

Cliff Harris is a climatologist who writes a weekly column for The Press. His opinions are his own. Email sfharris@roadrunner.com

CliffHarris

Weather Gems

Weekly Weather Almanac

n Week's warmest temperature: 92 degrees on Aug. 22

n Week's coldest temperature: 50 degrees on Aug. 21

n Weekly precipitation: 0.12 inches

n Precipitation month to date: 1.51 inches

n Normal precipitation month to date: 0.99 inches

n Precipitation month to date last year: 0.23 inches

n Precipitation year to date: 16.67 inches

n Normal precipitation year to date: 15.86 inches

n Precipitation last year to date: 29.32 inches

n Normal annual precipitation: 26.77 inches

n Total precipitation last year: 43.27 inches

n Precipitation predicted this year: 28.40 inches

n Wettest month on record (since 1895): 9.91 inches in December 1933

n Record annual precipitation: 43.27 inches in 2012

n All-time least annual precipitation: 15.18 inches in 1929

Readings taken week ending Sunday, 3 p.m., Aug. 25