Parking Lot Size Matters

Climate experts tell us that UHI has almost no effect on the temperature record, and USHCN only corrects by 0.1 F .  The real world tells us something completely different.

The weather station at Fort Collins, Colorado is considered a good station because it has not moved, and has used the same equipment for its entire history. But something else has changed – the environment around the weather station. It used to be in the middle of a farm – now it is in the middle of a parking lot.

Over the past 80 years, Fort Collins appears to have warmed at a rate of 1.1ºC/century, while Colorado has not warmed at all. Note the big spike after 1990 in Fort Collins

ScreenHunter_2727 Sep. 13 07.37

In 1937, the station was located in the middle of a farm,

By 1950, the area was starting to get built up.

By 1969, the city had surrounded the weather station.

Now it is in the middle of a parking lot, which was built around the time of the post 1990 spike.

 

ScreenHunter_2728 Sep. 13 07.38

When I was in Fort Collins riding my bike last week, I noticed at least 5-10 degrees F difference between open space temperatures and downtown, where the CSU weather station is located. One evening was beautiful downtown, and frigid along the Spring Creek trail.

People who claim that UHI doesn’t matter – have no idea what they are talking about. The presence of any asphalt (even a single road) in an area makes a huge difference in temperature – as any cyclist can tell you.

About Tony Heller

Just having fun
This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

29 Responses to Parking Lot Size Matters

  1. omanuel says:

    Current world leaders are frankly insane: Out of touch with reality!

    Psychopaths. Egomaniacs, Fools

    Until our leaders stop using science as a tool of propaganda and get honest about the Creator, Destroyer and Sustainer of every atom life and world in the Solar System, they are in danger of destroying both themselves and the rest of life on planet Earth:

    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10640850/Solar_Energy.pdf

  2. Gail Combs says:

    OT/IMPORTANT!

    DAvid Burton put up on his website an audio and Dr Happers slides:
    http://www.sealevel.info/Happer_UNC_2014-09-08/

    SLIDES: http://www.sealevel.info/Happer_UNC_2014-09-08/UNC-9-8-2014.pptx
    Slides 22, 42, 43 and 44 are the critical slides.

    The other associated comments:
    Physicist Peter Malcombe
    http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2014/05/24/whats-up-with-that/#comment-357834

    Physicist Dr. Robert Brown
    http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/05/26/quote-of-the-week-howler-from-the-world-meteorological-organization-what-warming/#comment-1648000

    You can get useful background for these comments from WIKI
    SUBJECTS:
    Mössbauer effect (recoil energy lost during absorption)

    The Pound–Rebka experiment (VERY IMPORTANT because gases are moving randomly and in random directions)

    …The test is based on the following principle: When an atom transits from an excited state to a base state, it emits a photon with a specific frequency and energy. When an atom of the same species in its base state encounters a photon with that same frequency and energy, it will absorb that photon and transit to the excited state. If the photon’s frequency and energy is different by even a little, the atom cannot absorb it (this is the basis of quantum theory). When the photon travels through a gravitational field, its frequency and therefore its energy will change due to the gravitational redshift. As a result, the receiving atom cannot absorb it. But if the emitting atom moves with just the right speed relative to the receiving atom the resulting doppler shift cancels out the gravitational shift and the receiving atom can absorb the photon….

    Motional narrowing

    Voigt effect

    Take note:
    These comments and this information let’s you defeat the Warmist on THEIR GROUND!!!

    Now I return you to your regularly scheduled broadcast.OT/IMPORTANT!

    DAvid Burton put up on his website an audio and Dr Happers slides:
    http://www.sealevel.info/Happer_UNC_2014-09-08/

    SLIDES: http://www.sealevel.info/Happer_UNC_2014-09-08/UNC-9-8-2014.pptx
    Slides 22, 42, 43 and 44 are the critical slides.

    The other associated comments:
    Physicist Peter Malcombe
    http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2014/05/24/whats-up-with-that/#comment-357834

    Physicist Dr. Robert Brown
    http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/05/26/quote-of-the-week-howler-from-the-world-meteorological-organization-what-warming/#comment-1648000

    You can get useful background for these comments from WIKI
    SUBJECTS:
    Mössbauer effect (recoil energy lost during absorption)

    The Pound–Rebka experiment (VERY IMPORTANT because gases are moving randomly and in random directions)

    …The test is based on the following principle: When an atom transits from an excited state to a base state, it emits a photon with a specific frequency and energy. When an atom of the same species in its base state encounters a photon with that same frequency and energy, it will absorb that photon and transit to the excited state. If the photon’s frequency and energy is different by even a little, the atom cannot absorb it (this is the basis of quantum theory). When the photon travels through a gravitational field, its frequency and therefore its energy will change due to the gravitational redshift. As a result, the receiving atom cannot absorb it. But if the emitting atom moves with just the right speed relative to the receiving atom the resulting doppler shift cancels out the gravitational shift and the receiving atom can absorb the photon….

    Motional narrowing

    Voigt effect

    Take note:
    These comments and this information let’s you defeat the Warmist on THEIR GROUND!!!

    Now I return you to your regularly scheduled broadcast.

  3. Gail Combs says:

    Dang, sorry for the double post (I really do hate WordUNIMPressed)

  4. Ron says:

    In my area there is a 3 degrees difference in temps in the day time, and an 8 degree difference on a calm clear night between my properly installed device and the official site at the Memphis airport, which is right next to the run way. My device sits 100 feet away from my house over grassy area. And they say it doesn’t make a difference. My temps mirror the properly installed device at the Jackson tn airport ,a few miles away, which sits well away from the runway away from buildings and roads. I have noticed the temperature trend is up at the Memphis airport, especially since the addition of the Fed Ex hub in the early 80s. Who in their right mind would keep a weather station in the midst of one of the largest concrete runway systems in the world? They easily could use the data observed at the national weather service office closer to the center of the city, but near a very large park where there is a good mix of urban and park land, but this location is not used as an official site. The temperatures there are within a degree or so of my readings , just outside the city in the suburbs.

    • drcrinum says:

      Until a year ago I lived in the country on 16 acres of pasture land and well removed from any city. My electronic weather system was mounted 300 feet behind my house or 900 feet from the small asphalt highway that ran in front of my house. My home was located close to 2 NWS stations, circa 20 miles and 40 miles away, located in the same ecologic region, but both of the NWS stations were situated at airports in urban areas. At night during the winter when the sky was clear, the temps at my home ran from 5 to 13 degrees cooler than the NWS stations.

    • cdquarles says:

      The pilots of the planes would want that data, for that station *is* reporting what the pilots will experience. What shouldn’t happen is imposing that station’s results on the rest of the area or world.

  5. SMS says:

    I believe there was a similar blog posting done on WUWT several years ago comparing the difference between Boulders USHCN station results and those of Ft. Collins. The site in Boulder is much better situated and the temperature comparisons showed how much UHI Ft. Collins has been experiencing.

    This whole CAGW thingy is such a sham. If the paid-off, in-the-pocket-political/enviro climate scientists did a proper accounting for UHI, the PDO and not putting in bogus adjustments; this CAGW panacea would disappear overnight.

  6. Gail Combs says:

    One wonders how much the surface temperatures are really dropping.

  7. kirkmyers says:

    Another reason to rely more on satellite-based temperature measurements (RSS and UAH). RSS shows no warming for almost 18 years.

    The USHCN and GHCN temperature networks are a disaster. They only way GISS and NCDC can get land-based thermometers to show a warming signal is to employ various questionable temperature adjustments involving TOBS, interpolation and homogenization. And they fail to adequately correct for UHI effects.

    By the way, referring to the absence of warming as “a pause” is itself unscientific. How do climate scientists (aka “Warmists”) know it’s simply a pause? Where is the scientific evidence? Show us the repeatable scientific experiments or real-world data that proves temperatures will begin to climb again at some specific point in the near future as the result of man-caused CO2 emissions. Describing the lack of warming as a pause is pure speculation.

    Today’s “climate science” has become somewhat akin to crystal ball gazing. The perpetrators of the AGW fraud (and that’s what it is) will stoop to any subterfuge to keep the research grants flowing and their political bosses happy. The damage they’ve done to science is incalculable.

    • Gail Combs says:

      “….The damage they’ve done to science is incalculable.”

      AMEN!

      After this anyone who trusts government science is either a fool or a turnip.

      • docfjs says:

        You are absolutely correct. When the warmist bubble finally breaks real science will be the big loser.

      • bit chilly says:

        i have a good friend whose wife is a scientist involved in medical research ,i have a feeling she would not entertain the notion of climate science as it currently exists. the one lasting difference between images of climate scientists and those involved in the hard sciences that make a difference to peoples every day quality of life is the guys and gals doing the hard work always look they have been working themselves into the ground every minute,of every day.

        i really hope when the house of climate cards comes crashing down these people do not get caught in the backlash ,they really do deserve the respect they currently receive ,their measurable results ensure that.

        • Gail Combs says:

          I just hope they take the scientists off the pedestal and judge them as individuals.

          There are a lot of scientists who deserve our respect and there are others who deserve a boot in the rear and employment at McDonalds flipping burgers for a few years. I have met both kinds.

        • mjc says:

          Flipping burgers?

          You’d actually trust them to work with food?

          How about something useful, like scrubbing grout lines in the Grand Central Station restrooms…with toothbrushes.

        • Gail Combs says:

          And I though my attitude towards psycientists was bad…

      • nielszoo says:

        Well that explains how Obama got elected… we’re up to our ears in turnips.

    • cdquarles says:

      There’s one slight problem with that. Grant Petty’s Intro book brings it up. How do you go from brightness temps (which is what the sat sensors transduce) to thermo temps. It is not necessarily easy, straightforward, or meaningful. The satellites are calibrated against balloons and surface stations. Both of those systems have their own issues and biases.

    • Jl says:

      That’s why they’re climate astrologers.

  8. Gail Combs says:

    UPDATE:
    Bárðarbunga Pollution at Record Level – Residents Warned

    The latest up date on earthquakes (since yesterday) is NOT GOOD a couple more ~4.9 to 5.0 quakes and now added warnings.

    Warning: Fissure eruption in Holuhraun (north of Vatnajökull).
    Warning: Dispersion forecasts indicate risk of high concentration of sulphur dioxide (SO2) in the northern part of Eastfjords and in Fljotsdalsherad-valley today and in the Myvatn-area tomorrow. A larger area cannot be ruled out. (Valid until noon tomorrow, Sunday.) More [Air Quality Measurements in Iceland]

    http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/vatnajokull/

    • aeroguy48 says:

      The article says Icelanders should close up their house and turn up the heat, to keep the air pressure high, those poor Icelanders are going to die from asphyxia because heating a closed house will deprive them of oxygen.

  9. aeroguy48 says:

    Pushing this AGW scam sideways, got me to thinking and pondering about my own Dallas Fort Worth airport and their temperature readings. I don’t know if any trend of higher temps there have been spotted or noted. DFW I believe sits on about 13,000 acres, lots of greenery IOW. Now segueing to horizontal fracking.~ The modern Fracking movement combined horizontal drilling with fracking to unlock vast amounts of oil and gas. The Barnett shale is where the modern horizontal fracking began in earnest. DFW airport is situated in the Barnett shale, and signed contracts to exploit said oil and gas. Boatloads of wells were drilled on DFW land. Did all this drilling cause any temperature rise? I suspect not.
    I would rather have an oil well in my backyard than a wind turbine.

  10. rachase says:

    The NWS station at Univ of Az in Tucson is worse — when established many decades ago it was in an open field. Over the years they have slowlly paved a parking lot around it so it now resides in a very narrow island surrounded by asphalt.

  11. DEJEBEE says:

    Steve, seems to me that your general thesis is correct, but am not sure of the focus on the 1990s. From about mid 20th century, Fort Collins started leaving the reservation. The spike of the 90s seems to be there in the Colorado average too. Perhaps a graph of Fort Collins subtracted from Colorado average might make the UHI effect more obvious

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *