DC residents are not as hot as they think they are
August 11, 2015 6:32 PM Subscribe
The National Weather Service replaced the temperature sensor at Reagan National Airport this week because it has been running too hot by approximately 2 deg. F since January of 2014. Virgina state climatologist explains by comparing temperatures at Dulles (IAD) with Reagan National (DCA): "Of course DCA is going to be intrinsically warmer than IAD. It’s several hundred feet lower in elevation and its being additionally heated by the bricks, buildings, and the pavement of urban Washington, as well as the waste heat from all your money changing hands. What is interesting is that the departures from normal, or “anomalies,” at DCA were all running hot compared to the departures from normal at IAD". The Capital Weather Gang offers additional temperature analyses of the two airports and questioned 3 years ago if Reagan National should remain DC's official weather station. Meanwhile, recent records, like this past May which was thought to be the hottest May on record at DCA are now called into question.
This post was deleted for the following reason: Poster's Request -- loup
I'm waiting for Pat Collins's dramatic local news report on this.
HOW WILL THIS CITY WEATHER THE WEATHER ERRORS?
posted by sallybrown at 6:42 PM on August 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
HOW WILL THIS CITY WEATHER THE WEATHER ERRORS?
posted by sallybrown at 6:42 PM on August 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
Is Pat Collins still around? I think that guy has been pausing dramatically since I was a toddler.
HOW WILL THE CiTY WEATHER...... [super dramatic pause for effect] THE WEATHER ERRORS?
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:54 PM on August 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
HOW WILL THE CiTY WEATHER...... [super dramatic pause for effect] THE WEATHER ERRORS?
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:54 PM on August 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
Is Pat Collins still around? I think that guy has been pausing dramatically since I was a toddler.
HOW WILL THE CiTY WEATHER...... [super dramatic pause for effect] THE WEATHER ERRORS?
I think he only emerges [long pause] ON SPECIAL OCCASIONS [dramatic cutaway to empty suburban street].
posted by sallybrown at 7:01 PM on August 11, 2015 [4 favorites]
HOW WILL THE CiTY WEATHER...... [super dramatic pause for effect] THE WEATHER ERRORS?
I think he only emerges [long pause] ON SPECIAL OCCASIONS [dramatic cutaway to empty suburban street].
posted by sallybrown at 7:01 PM on August 11, 2015 [4 favorites]
As a DC resident, 2deg makes little difference when my weather app has been showing 10-15deg heat indexes all summer. Oh, 90 feels like 105 was actually 88 feels like 103? Well that makes me feel better.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:19 PM on August 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:19 PM on August 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
Well, once again, we've proven Global Warming is a Liberal Hoax. Everyone get back in your 10 MPG SUVs and crank the A/C up again. Nice try, Elon Musk.
If only these "scientists" would run a series of corrections on weather station data to ensure that these errors don't, on aggregate, distort the measurement of global climate. We would definitely support that in a sane and reasonable manner and not make wild accusations of manipulation based upon wilful scientific illiteracy.
posted by howfar at 7:23 PM on August 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
If only these "scientists" would run a series of corrections on weather station data to ensure that these errors don't, on aggregate, distort the measurement of global climate. We would definitely support that in a sane and reasonable manner and not make wild accusations of manipulation based upon wilful scientific illiteracy.
posted by howfar at 7:23 PM on August 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
Hey, did mods delete my comment? I was being facetious, I swear!
posted by SansPoint at 7:28 PM on August 11, 2015
posted by SansPoint at 7:28 PM on August 11, 2015
They probably did it because your font is running small by two degrees.
posted by srboisvert at 7:30 PM on August 11, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by srboisvert at 7:30 PM on August 11, 2015 [7 favorites]
They think they're so hot, but you know what? They're not.
posted by Pope Guilty at 7:46 PM on August 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Pope Guilty at 7:46 PM on August 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
Is Pat Collins still around?
That guy double parked and trapped my car in at the DC Court one day last summer. When I saw it was Pat Collins(!) I was ready to be rude and call him a over-dramatic vulture. But he was actually a really nice guy and we chatted a few minutes before I gave him my parking space. If you can separate the person from the performance, he struck me as a sincere and thoughtful guy. But his reporting comes from such a weird, sensationalist old man, not quite gonzo world view.
Like appending "in bed" to the wisdom of a fortune cookie, mentally adding "hush hush and on the qt" somewhere in his segments makes them that much better.
posted by peeedro at 7:59 PM on August 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
That guy double parked and trapped my car in at the DC Court one day last summer. When I saw it was Pat Collins(!) I was ready to be rude and call him a over-dramatic vulture. But he was actually a really nice guy and we chatted a few minutes before I gave him my parking space. If you can separate the person from the performance, he struck me as a sincere and thoughtful guy. But his reporting comes from such a weird, sensationalist old man, not quite gonzo world view.
Like appending "in bed" to the wisdom of a fortune cookie, mentally adding "hush hush and on the qt" somewhere in his segments makes them that much better.
posted by peeedro at 7:59 PM on August 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
I wonder how the "should we continue to monitor from this location?" discussion plays out at NWS, if it even does.
Mainly, I wonder this because I live in a city where our official weather is recorded at a location that is several hundred feet higher in elevation (and therefore usually 3-4 degrees fahrenheit cooler) than our downtown and urban core, where most of the people live. Even though it's just 3 miles away, whether ORH gets a certain amount of snow has little bearing on what I will see, and whether it experiences a heat wave has little bearing on whether I will experience one.
posted by rollbiz at 8:06 PM on August 11, 2015
Mainly, I wonder this because I live in a city where our official weather is recorded at a location that is several hundred feet higher in elevation (and therefore usually 3-4 degrees fahrenheit cooler) than our downtown and urban core, where most of the people live. Even though it's just 3 miles away, whether ORH gets a certain amount of snow has little bearing on what I will see, and whether it experiences a heat wave has little bearing on whether I will experience one.
posted by rollbiz at 8:06 PM on August 11, 2015
I just came here to repeat this wonderful phrase:
... its being additionally heated by ... the waste heat from all your money changing hands.
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:37 PM on August 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
... its being additionally heated by ... the waste heat from all your money changing hands.
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:37 PM on August 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
Not to mention all the heat generated by casting light on scandals.
posted by Phssthpok at 9:03 PM on August 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Phssthpok at 9:03 PM on August 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
If only these "scientists" would run a series of corrections on weather station data to ensure that these errors don't, on aggregate, distort the measurement of global climate. We would definitely support that in a sane and reasonable manner and not make wild accusations of manipulation based upon wilful scientific illiteracy.
If anything, I think this should be taken as evidence to support Jon Stewart's claim that the media has a bias toward sensationalism and laziness.
posted by phenylphenol at 9:13 PM on August 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
If anything, I think this should be taken as evidence to support Jon Stewart's claim that the media has a bias toward sensationalism and laziness.
posted by phenylphenol at 9:13 PM on August 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
To quote the great Leslie Knope: "It's a hundred and twenty degrees out with two hundred percent humidity because this is a stupid swamp town".
YAY Pat Collins. He is so dramatic, but I love it
posted by littlesq at 12:12 AM on August 12, 2015 [3 favorites]
YAY Pat Collins. He is so dramatic, but I love it
posted by littlesq at 12:12 AM on August 12, 2015 [3 favorites]
For those of us who live in the city of Washington, the urban heat island effect makes that sensor out at DCA (on the Potomac river and out of town) read low anyway.
posted by exogenous at 5:13 AM on August 12, 2015
posted by exogenous at 5:13 AM on August 12, 2015
OMG They have inadvertently come up with the answer to global warming! Just like Congress fights energy usage by extending Daylight Savings Time rather than actual ways to cut fossil fuel usage, we could fight global warming by just changing our thermometers! But not to that socialist Celsius/Centigrade (make up your mind, commies!) stuff, but something like ... ummm... The Patriotometer! Yes, 1 degree on the Patriotometer is equal to 2 on the Fahrenheit scale. There, it's no longer as warm as it used to be!
posted by terrapin at 6:12 AM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by terrapin at 6:12 AM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Meanwhile, recent records, like this past May which was thought to be the hottest May on record at DCA are now called into question.
Given that it was the hottest May on record at nearly every other weather monitoring station along the Atlantic coast, I think we can let this record stand. Then again, a sitting US Senator actually tried to deny global warming because you can still make snowballs in winter, so I'm sure this one will be a topic debate on your favorite political entertainment channel.
posted by dances with hamsters at 7:19 AM on August 12, 2015
Given that it was the hottest May on record at nearly every other weather monitoring station along the Atlantic coast, I think we can let this record stand. Then again, a sitting US Senator actually tried to deny global warming because you can still make snowballs in winter, so I'm sure this one will be a topic debate on your favorite political entertainment channel.
posted by dances with hamsters at 7:19 AM on August 12, 2015
In Denver, we can have torrential rains (because we are near the mountains so have a peculiar weather system) whereas our official weather station is out on the High Plains where Denver International Airport is located, and might have no rain on that day. A lot of us want a weather station that has some bearing on our actual weather in Denver.
posted by kozad at 10:45 AM on August 12, 2015
posted by kozad at 10:45 AM on August 12, 2015
DC residents are not as hot as they think they are
"Washington is Hollywood for ugly people."
posted by kirkaracha at 9:45 PM on August 12, 2015
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posted by schmod at 6:35 PM on August 11, 2015 [53 favorites]