Topic: Dodgy AWS'

[Jeff Brislane]

Hi,

I thought'd start a thread to discuss possible dodgy automatic weather stations. My two picks are homebush and trangie and both of them i've picked for their apparent erratic dew point readings. Homebush was the most obvious recently with dewpoints in the twenty's when everywhere else in Sydney was barely into two figures.

The second, trangie I believe is more subtle but still dodgy. It regulary reports dew points significantly higher than any stations around it like right now!

Jeff.

[Jeff Brislane]

For topography Trangie is as flat as, and as I said stations around it regularly report lower dew point readings. And for fauna sources I don't understand?

I think a more likely cause would be either just a dodgy dew point thermometer or it's an environmental influence such as maybe it is being influenced by the research station, ie: are they regularly irrigating land near the AWS?

Homebush is/was definitely dodgy.

[David C]

I've noticed Gunnedah always seems on the moist side compared to surrounding stations, but perhaps it is near a dam (or dog kennel).

[Jeff Brislane]

You can add Thargomindah to the dodgy list. Temp is 40.8 and dew point is 40.4! The heat index say's that it feels like a whopping 111.0 degees c!

Channel Country Thargomindah Ap  15:00 NW  7 11 40.8 40.4 98 111.0 2.3 (L) 0.0 1006.5

[Matthew Piper]

Horsley Park appears to be dodgy when dewpoints are low. It always seems to report negative dewpoints or those in the low single figures when other stations around it report high single digit figures. It seems to be okay when dewpoints are in the double digits.

[Jeff Brislane]

Here's a classic example from today that shows why I believe Trangie AWS has a dodgy dew point thermometer.

NW Slopes & Plains Coonamble Ap  18:00 NNW 11 18 36.2 7.3 17 34.0 37.7 (VH) 0.0 1006.9
NW Slopes & Plains Gunnedah Ap  18:00 SW  5 9 35.2 9.6 21 33.0 24.5 (VH) 0.0 1008.4
NW Slopes & Plains Moree Ap  18:31 NNE 10 15 33.5 5.2 17 31.0 32.8 (VH) 0.0 1008.8
NW Slopes & Plains Narrabri Ap  18:00 NNW 12 20 34.9 9.4 21 33.0 32.8 (VH) 0.0 1008.3
NW Slopes & Plains Tamworth Ap  18:00 W  10 13 34.9 7.9 19 33.0 32.2 (VH) 0.0 1009.2
NW Slopes & Plains Walgett Ap  18:00 N  11 18 36.8 8.6 18 35.0 37.2 (VH) 0.0 1006.6
CW Slopes & Plains Condobolin Ap  18:00 N  16 25 37.5 6.5 15 35.0 52.4 (Ext) 0.0 1004.5
CW Slopes & Plains Coonabarabran Ap  18:00 N  9 14 31.1 9.4 26 30.0 21.3 (H) 0.0 1011.0
CW Slopes & Plains Cowra Ap  18:00 NW  13 21 36.4 8.3 18 34.0 40.0 (VH) 0.0 1006.1
CW Slopes & Plains Dubbo Ap  18:00 NNW 13 20 35.7 7.7 18 34.0 39.0 (VH) 0.0 1007.5
CW Slopes & Plains Forbes Ap  18:01 N  19 29 36.5 6.6 16 34.0 55.8 (Ext) 0.0 1005.8
CW Slopes & Plains Parkes Ap  18:00 N  18 25 34.8 7.0 18 33.0 47.0 (VH) 0.0 1006.9
CW Slopes & Plains Trangie  18:00 N  14 22 35.2 11.6 24 34.0 32.6 (VH) 0.0 1006.8
Southwest Slopes Albury Ap  18:00 N  13 20 38.3 1.4 10 35.0 56.2 (Ext) 0.0 1001.8
Southwest Slopes Khancoban  18:03 N  18 28 36.4 4.6 14 34.0 57.0 (Ext) 0.0 1004.0
Southwest Slopes Temora Ap  18:01 N  18 28 36.9 2.9 12 34.0 62.1 (Ext) 0.0 1004.9