Sunday 29/09/2019
Please refer back to my first post for site specifications and to No. 92- Logan City for 2018 specifications.
Station: Woolshed 33307
Opened: 1998
Daily Temperature data from: 1998
Data used to adjust Acorn sites at: Charters Towers, Townsville.
Location: Co-ordinates -19.4168 146.5362
30km south-west of Townsville.
The station is less than 10 metres from the treeline and 20 metres from a shed.
This station is non-compliant, with temperatures reported at Latest Weather Observations and used to adjust data at Acorn sites.
FAIL
Percentage of all Australian sites not compliant: 16.44%.
That completes stations in Herbert and Lower Burdekin district. With 6 out of 7 checkable sites not compliant (85.7%) this is the worst region so far. More than 51% of Queensland stations don’t meet specifications. Tomorrow we move to the North Tropical Coast and Tablelands district of FNQ- and stay tuned for worse sites to come.
Tags: Acorn, adjustments, Australia, bom, El Nino, temperature, weather
September 29, 2019 at 10:36 am
Ken I confess I am perplexed by this BOM weather station. It is way out in the bush away from any major town to create UHI effect. There is no major slope to throw the temperature gauge out of wack. There are no irrigated fields. There are no big bodies of water which store heat.
But yes this site has trees very close to the temperature gauge ( 10 meters away ) . And those big trees have an impact of the temperature range shown on the gauge via reducing the effect of winds.
But somehow I feel that the gauge here at Woolshed is actually measuring the ‘natural’ temperature there. Not a human impacted temperature.
So does it deserve a pass in this list rather than a fail ? What do you think ?
September 30, 2019 at 8:36 am
Trees being too close change the temperature, as you say, by reducing wind flow, but also by acting like a blanket or bird feathers by trapping warm air, and by returning IR to the ground from their leaves, and by increased humidity. Which is why Stevenson screens are supposed to be in an open exposed position away from trees and long vegetation.
September 30, 2019 at 2:26 pm
OK Thanks Ken !
October 2, 2019 at 10:36 am
” … That completes stations in Herbert and Lower Burdekin district. With 6 out of 7 checkable sites not compliant (85.7%) this is the worst region so far. … ”
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Great work Ken, this explains a lot. What a shockingly compromised weather service we have in Australia.