NWS Thermometer at PBI (West Palm Beach)

[gatorcane]

I have noticed there is usually about a 4-5 degree difference than my thermometer here at my house (which is more west than West Palm Beach so you would think during cold spells it would be colder here away from the ocea). When I look at observations around Palm Beach County...they all seem to read higher than PBI (so does Ft. Lauderale airport). I've checked a couple of other readings using different thermometers and they all agree....

I'm wondering if it needs to be recalibrated? Some of the observation histories have been strange also. For example, last night the temp dropped 5 degrees one hour and rose back 3 degrees the next

Personally I think it needs to be checked.

Look at this from yesteday evening when all obs were steadily dropping around Palm Beach County..hmmm

21 19:53 W 6 10.00 Fair CLR 47 24 30.22 1023.1
21 18:53 W 7 9.00 Fair CLR 44 24 56 44 30.20 1022.6
21 17:53 NW 8 10.00 Fair CLR 49 20 30.19 1022.2

Link:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/data/obhistory/KPBI.html

[Tampa Bay Hurricane]

possibly...sounds like it might be too close to the ground....

[gatorcane]

possibly...sounds like it might be too close to the ground....

I actually think it reads 4-5 degees cooler than it should during cool spells.

[Tampa Bay Hurricane]

that's true...it might have a 5 degree misplacement error...

[Ed Mahmoud]

No idea on the local area, but temps on calm clear nights do vary.


They moved the airport in Austin from Mueller field to the old Bergstrom AFB. Bergstrom sits in a valley near the Colorado, and on calm nights is consistently 3 to 5 degrees cooler than other stations around it.

[boca]

On the 21st which was the coldest night of our cold spell my low was 37.6°F at West palm it was 35°F. The airport is alot closer to the ocean than I am at Glades and 441 about 7 or 8 miles inland.I agree the theremometer needs to be recalibrated.

[gatorcane]

I doubt it got as low as 35F at PBI for Wed. night --- more like 38F-39F. Like I said, I'm out west away from the water on the border of West Palm and Wellington zip codes...and I dipped down to 36-37F like Boca who is west.

Just take a drive around West Palm Beach. I see little, if any damage to any tropical plants. Even banana plants with sensitive leaves saw virtually zero damage. A 35F temp would brown some leaves of sensitive plants.

I hope NWS looks at the PBI thermometer.

[Aslkahuna]

Ordinarily in FL nighttime breezes under low wind situations should be blowing from the land so inland distance should not be a factor. A 2.6 degree difference over 7 miles is insignificant for nighttime low wind situations ESPECIALLY when cold air is involved. This does not necessarily imply that recalibration is not needed just indicating that temperature differences over distance do not necessarily mean that it is either. Add terrain like we have have in Arizona and one can have temperature differences of far more than 3 degrees over distances way less than 7 miles-in fact, in winter in Sierra Vista one can have 32F at Fort Huachuca and 10 miles away along the river it can be 10F. Low areas, even small streams or ditches will be much colder. Airports are generally removed from the main urban areas and thus may run colder than built up areas.

Steve

[MGC]

On a dead calm night, the temp at my place one block from the beach is a good 5 degrees warmer than at Gulfport airport located about 5 miles inland. Since WPB airport is closer to the water then it too should read a bit warmer than inland locations. Perhaps the instrument is not at the correct placement or perhaps the instruments away from WPB are too low to the ground.....MGC

[wall_cloud]

I would hope that the instruments are at the proper height since the ASOS has to pass inspections.

the thermometer could be in a location that radiates very well. a sandy soil far removed from any pavement could result in cooler temps.