There are some dumb things weather stations do...

[Archae]

And this looks really dumb.

http://www.norcalblogs.com/watts/weather_stations/

[uppityperson]

1. That is a funny blog. I do like the internets, thank you.

[Matsubara]

2. This was used by Drudge yesterday to try to discredit global warming theory...

...with the contention being that these stations' placement is designed to make temperature trends look warmer than they are in reality.


By DU's standards, I would probably qualify as a global-warming skeptic. (human-produced CO2 as the primary cause for warming, and worldwide disaster as the autmoatic result are pretty much the default position here, if not the orthodoxy) I do think that the heat island effect is probably being underplayed in climate modelling, and I tend to be a lot less worried about the effects of warming than a lot of people here -

BUT-

I think this is pretty disingenuous. The stations in the pictures, for the most part, are NOT close enough to AC exhaust or other heat sinks to be affected by them. Even the "jet blast" (assuming that is a working jet and not a mockup) would only be momentary and would not translate into gradually rising temperature trends as shown on the graphs. Same goes for the AC's. The graphs go back to the 1920s, becore air-conditioning. If the AC's were a factor, you'd see and abrupt rise and plateau from the year that they were installed, not a gradual rise as shown in the graphs!

There are thousands of weather stations in the US and the world, and they pretty much all show a gradual warming trend.

As much as I balk at fearmongering by global warming activists, I despise disingenuous "debunking" of climate science like this even more. How tragic that this issue has become so politicized, when it should be an area of genuine concern for all of us.

[trotsky]

3. Can't say anything more than "ditto."

Armchair "debunking" of global warming will do far more harm than good.