Time to Fix the Yakima Airport Temperature Sensor

With all the concerns about global warming and the need for agricultural interests to have reliable temperatures to guide operations, accurate temperature readings at key airport sites are crucial.

That is why continuing problems with the Yakima Airport temperature sensor is so concerning.  So the message to my colleagues in the National Weather Service  is clear:  it is time to swap out the problematic sensor.

The Yakima Airport sensor provides temperatures that are several degrees too warm.  Let me prove this to you.

Here is departure from average of the maximum temperature across Washington State, averaged over the past year.    There is a major hot spot, with temperatures 4-5F above normal.  Nothing like it in the neighborhood.

The hot location?  Yakima.

There is someone who has been documenting the serious issues with the Yakima Airport temperature sensor:  Mark Albright, who was previous State Climatologist and Deputy State Climatologist.  This guy knows the local meteorology as well as anyone.  His hobby is to drive around the State with a temperature sensor checking out the accuracy of the temperature readings at various locations.  A very noble pursuit and appreciated by all of us worried about the integrity of our key observing systems.

Mark Albright

So let me show you some recent documentation he has come up with regarding the Yakima situation.

Consider last August.    Here are the temperature anomalies for normal for stations around the State (look at the TDPTR column).  The greatest departure from normal (6.5F) was at Yakima...with no other station even close.

Want a winter month?  No problem.  Here is the same information for January.  Biggest warm anomaly in the State?  Yakima.

Now, I could show you a dozen more of these monthly summaries--all prepared by Mark, but the story would be the same.  Something is very wrong at Yakima.

I have heard complaints from some agricultural interests that have used Yakima temperatures to make decisions for planting, spraying, and other issues.  Too warm and not representative of the area.

One thing is clear--this warming is not due to local development, since the temperature sensor is found near a secondary runway, with no development going on nearby (see map).

Anyway, the Pendleton office of the NWS is responsible for calibrating and replacing this sensor, which I hope they will do very soon.  This problem has been going on for years and needs to be dealt with.

And if you think this is the only place in the country with a bad temperature sensor....it is not.  Here is the mean departure from average for minimum temperatures over Utah for the last year.  Oh....oh.-- a big warm anomaly southeast of the Great Salt Lake.  And then there is the infamous warm bias at Seattle-Tacoma Airport.

The problem with these failures is that they tend be one sided--generally producing temperatures that are too warm.  Often this warmth  is associated with a failing fan, which brings in cooler environmental air into the sensor enclosure.   And most siting problems (too near roads, buildings, or non-vegetated surface) tend to cause a warm bias as well.   

How much such problems influence trends in the surface temperature record is one of some debate and controversy..and I won't get into it right now.  My vegetable garden needs attention.

from Cliff Mass Weather and Climate Blog https://ift.tt/2rmIWcb