Please refer back to my first post for site specifications.
Station: Echuca Airport 80015
Opened: 1859
Daily Temperature data from: 1957
Data used to adjust Acorn sites at: Deniliquin, Kerang, Mildura
Location: Co-ordinates -36.1647 144.7642
About 170km north of Melbourne.
Not all airports have good screen siting. This one is right on the edge of an extensive gravel driveway, and 30 to 40 metres from large tarmac aircraft parking and movement areas.
This station is not compliant. Its temperatures are reported at Latest Weather Observations, and are used to make adjustments at Acorn stations, but are unlikely to be reliable.
FAIL
Tags: Acorn, adjustments, Australia, bom, temperature, weather
August 8, 2019 at 8:39 am
Yes Ken, I agree completely.
There is lots of land, at the Echuca airport so much better sites are immediately available. But it seems that the BOM weather station was sited for the ‘convenience’ rather than accuracy.
And I wonder about the impact of that big irrigated vine block just to the East over the road.In Summer these vines would be irrigated thus raising significantly the moisture levels in the air.
Does this have an impact on temperature readings ?
August 8, 2019 at 8:54 am
So the Echuca Airport station opened in 1859 – really!! Or was it closer to town then? Apart from the sub-standard sittings of most present-day stations, I am concerned that many stations have experienced multiple relocations over their lifetime.
Stations located at Post Offices are particularly subject to changes in surroundings over the decades. But I must admit that the Ararat Prison station is the all-time loser as a poor site.
So are there any long-term (say >100 years) records where the station is correctly sited and has not been relocated over the years? Maybe Giles(WA), Marble Bar, or Richmond (Qld) are okay (???). Also possibly some of the lighthouse or pilot stations, such as Gabo, Cape Leeuwin, Moruya Heads, etc ??? I am becoming most frustrated trying to find any long-term station whose records I have any confidence in.
Keep up the good work Ken.
August 9, 2019 at 8:01 am
Airport stations are sited for use by pilots, and reflect the weather conditions near the runway at a point in time – barometric pressure, temperature, wind speed and direction. They should never have been used for longer term climate data.