More Weather Station Shenanigans Media Won’t Report

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.