Will a television news magazine like "60 Minutes," "20/20," or "Dateline" ever devote an entire segment exclusively to the horrid state of America's weather stations?
Given the incessant reports of rising temperatures threatening to kill us all, wouldn’t a lengthy exposé into the accuracy of the devices at the heart of the matter be of interest to a population frightened to drive their cars, heat their homes, and – God forbid – exhale?
Consider the following information shared by weather station analyst extraordinaire Anthony Watts, published Sunday at Steve McIntyre’s Climate Audit, and try to figure out why this isn't one of the hottest stories in town (emphasis added throughout, h/t NBer dscott):
I decided to survey one of the hottest and most remote USHCN weather stations in the USA, Death Valley.
[...]
The day started out in Baker, California, at the southern entrance to Death Valley. Appropriately, they have a Starbuck’s there, as well as what was once billed as “the worlds tallest thermometer” which has sadly been converted from a desert information center into the “worlds tallest mini-market”.
Given that it’s over concrete, asphalt, and the roof of a mini-mart, I’ve going to give it a CRN rating of “5″. Of course that’s what they want here, hotter temperatures, because that’s part of the tourist attraction.
[…]
I’ve never seen a pint sized “Stevenson Screen” mounted on a rooftop tower before. It was on an adobe building that looked like it was once a motel. You can see the shadow of the tower on the southernmost rooftop in the Google Earth link. I guess they Like it hot here, and will go to lengths to make new highs. What better way than to put a station on a roof in Death Valley?
Imagine that: the weather station in the hottest part of America is actually on a roof. Shouldn’t this be a wonderful feature in a potentially award-winning television exposé?
I guess like an inebriated Britney Spears, this would expose too much.
Readers are highly encouraged to review the entire piece while they envision Katie Couric traveling around the country uncovering the farce that is our nation’s weather stations…or not.
—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters.















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One has to think that the
November 19, 2007 - 22:04 ET by SMGalbraithOne has to think that the weather/temperature recording stations elsewhere - in poorer countries - are in even worse "shape" than the ones maintained here in the US. And, from that, their records are even of more questionable accuracy.
I've read where the scientists "adjust" the data for phenomena such as "heat island" effect and other factors but how much "adjustment" can be done before the data is worthless?
As you stated Noel, this issue - the accuracy and condition of weather stations - should be near the top of the news media's list of questions on the issue of AGW.
OTOH, haven't the measurements by balloons and satellites also shown warming over the past half century? It's not that the scientists are relying solely on weather station data.
SMG
I was over at ABC a few
November 19, 2007 - 23:54 ET by alamojbI was over at ABC a few days ago and tried to point out that you could not adjust for effects if you did not know what they are. I tried pointing out that there is just now an effort to document this stuff and there is no way you could go back an accurately remove artificial things like cars parked near thermometers, etc. Garbage Data in, Garbage Data out. I even linked to the site doing the surveys that Noel has pointed out before. I got all kinds of harrasment for this. After all "thousands of scientist" are sure of AGW and I should not "embarass" myself by questioning them.
It is a cult I tell you, and you must never question the leadership!!!
KaBoom!
November 19, 2007 - 22:07 ET by dboDateline is never going to cover this story. They're too busy rigging explosives in GM trucks.
Noel. I saw this, this
November 19, 2007 - 22:16 ET by danboNoel. I saw this, this morning. I found this most important.
The link to the old John Daily post, prior to his death is most revealing.
It discusses misleading information on a plaque at Badwater., by NASA and the NPS.
They have to prove something. Even if they have to lie to do it.
"There is a clear attempt to establish truth not by scientific methods but by perpetual repetition."
- Richard S. Lindzen, Ph.D. Professor of Meteorology, MIT
Good post
November 20, 2007 - 19:14 ET by JohnMBut I like the last line more! "They have to prove something. Even if they have to lie to do it."
OK with you if I use it as a tagline?
LOL Be my
November 20, 2007 - 19:26 ET by danboLOL Be my guest...
"There is a clear attempt to establish truth not by scientific methods but by perpetual repetition."
- Richard S. Lindzen, Ph.D. Professor of Meteorology, MIT
That's because when it
November 19, 2007 - 23:05 ET by motherbeltThat's because when it comes to global warming, they know all they need to know.
They don't need no stinking weather stations!
It is time for the various
November 20, 2007 - 00:02 ET by alamojbIt is time for the various skeptical climatoligist, meteroligist, geologists, etc to write a hard copy book on this. Each one write his own chapter. I am sure many would dismiss it, but it would be harder to dismisss it if it were hard copy, volume 1 thru X.
Of course, there would be the "meterologist are not climatologists" comment by many of the true believers. I have ran into that comment before.
You could even have a
November 20, 2007 - 00:05 ET by alamojbYou could even have a special portion for skeptical members of the first IPCC report on AGW.
This issue needs more than
November 20, 2007 - 04:09 ET by jdhawkThis issue needs more than just prodding on the part of conservatives to goad our drive by media to highlight this obvious bias in the gathering of temperature data.
It seems to me that the most advanced nation on the earth, could devise a weather recording station that could be operated completley independent of human intervention and be sited only when strict criteria were met to minimize temperature bias.
Then, a concerted effort be put in place over the next several years to remove all the old stations and replace them with independent stations that are properly sited.
Most importantly, have a moratorium on the present AGW nonsense while the new data is being gathered over the next 50 years.
Meanwhile, you all are free to move about the cabin and exhale if you must.
Russian Weather Stations
November 20, 2007 - 19:39 ET by celatorHere's one of the issues that "drove up" measured earth temperatures in the 1990's: The Soviets,who were undergoing their own revolution at the time, closed hundreds of their weather stations in the northern areas of their country because they could no longer fund them. With none of these cold temperatures now being factored into the computation of the "average temperature" of the earth's climate, the average temperature, obviously, became much higher.
Just another aspect of the Gore scam.