SouthBuffaloSteve

WU actually stores the PWS data by month, downloaded into a spreadsheet pretty easy and added some color... now that stands out! These are the daily MIN TEMPS at the closest sites to KBUF (<3miles away). KBUF isnt the warmest low every day, but on average it is. One fluke day it was coldest due to PM storms and our low for the day coming at 1159pm. Thing I notice is that on the average days KBUF isn't just a little warmer its like 2-3 full degrees warmers than the other nearby sites. IMO something is likely causing the "overnight low" TEMP to be inflated on a regular basis in comparison to all of these neighboring sites. Thoughts?

No... These represent the lowest overnight low temperature that was observed throughout the entire morning, not just a specific one time reading.

EDIT - OK, so I tossed the 8 closest PWS (by distance from KBUF) into a bookmark and plotted them to the map. The numbers plotted represent the lowest "overnight" LOW TEMP recorded at each site throughout the entire morning today.. Good agreement by nearby stations so have to believe issues is around KBUF reporting site. Will run this again tomorrow morning and see if anomaly repeats?

No. Interesting tidbit. The horizontal and vertical runways your seeing near the ASOS are actually the originals from the 1930s when the airport was constructed. They got beat to sht during WW2 use and rather than rebuild them the 2 new longer crisscross runways were built as aircraft size was increasing going into the 1950s. If you notice the X’s on the pavement indicating aircraft to not use. I believe they use the area for training, storage, etc but your not seeing regular air traffic passing along that area.

Ok… the UHI theory hits a bit of a snag… The KBUF temp is taken at the ASOS which turns out is located in the dead center of the airfield… There is a lot of newer commercial buildup near along the east side of the airport… but also a lot of wide open area as well…

Just love the looks from all the models after this big front rolls through. Not even looking into the details just the consensus we will go into a stormy period with a lot of LER action and I would expect a perfect period for some spout chasin. Canadian low res even popping concentrated convection along Lake Erie on Sunday.

Couldn’t find the zoomed in one that showed the northtowns you mentioned but MC posted this at 7am

You know… now that I’m thinking about it… the real time temp data wouldn’t have had an impact in the morning it should have taken KBUF longer to warm up since it only reports hourly. If we were looking at the PM temps and the cooling impact the real time data would play a difference maker. I’m going to try and track them around sunset and sunrise and see if I can see anything that stands out.

That’s what I was thinking this morning when the question was first brought up but winds overnight into the morning were out of the E and then SE. Still had a “warming downslope” aspect out of the higher elevations but the lake influence would be held to more of the immediate lake shore I would think.

I sent them a message to confirm but I’m 99% sure this is where the temp sensor is located. Can see the snowboards just above it and then a few feet away the massive parking lot.

Lot more to look at that just the runway! Gonna try and do a little research on development in recent years around that area… but here’s something to peak your interest… I strongly believe the UHI could be impacting the temp over time but I think the question is how much additional heating (if any?) can these new developments really add to the general area? Two map grabs the 2D overhead version being the most current on the map app. Need to find the year on the 3D version But its sometime between 2010 and 2013. I marked the NWS office on the map. Two things to look at. The huge parking lot that was put up just south of the NWS office on Holtz Drive. Again need to research it but the main lot was built sometime between 2000 and 2010 with an additional section added on a later date. This area use to be an open field but is now a massive asphalt lot that buys right up to the NWS office. The second area to note is directly across Holtz Drive and the newly built “Airborne Business Park”. Again went from open fields to mass development in last 10 years.

What site were you using to reference the temps? Weather Underground map or …??? Need to be carful with that map as I have been fooled before. KBUF temps only updates on the map on the top of the hour, those other sites update every few minutes. Right at 7am could be tricky is KBUF hadn’t updated yet and was still showing the 6am temp and all those other sites were rapidly warming in real time as the sun rose. Also really don’t know how accurate those other gauges are. If they are not placed properly they can warm up super fast as soon as the sun rises.

Love the hole of despair between BUF and ROC… getting us prepared for the winter time let down!

KBUF is 63 at the 9am update. Looks pretty much in line to me…

Felt awesome out this morning! Love when it’s cool and crisp like that. 52 temp with a 50 dp when I hit the door at 7am.

Sizzle sizzle… too hot for mid September…

Glitchy at the end…

I might have to go take a ride and check this out. The dome came off today to move forward with the pedestal replacement.

Pretty good idea with this chart. Would be representative of pretty much any lower elevation location along the lake here.

Good read… thoughts?

In a normal year I would say the same… but we’re in the covid twilight zone now… now they are trying to block the funding due to vaccine mandates.

Grew up right in that sweet spot on the West Seneca OP boarder. Felt like 95-06 we were always in the mix with a few good lake effect dumps every year. That spot you catch the southern edge of the SW bands, the northern edge of the more W bands and when that WSW flow locks in that’s the sweet spot for the mega rates to set up.

Storms were a bit of a dud last night. Probably for the better my dog has had enough after the past 2 late overnight wake ups from the thunder. Love a good lightning show but these overnight storms are a bit boring in terms of intercepting real severe weather.

Gonna be a late one tonight. Thinking 1-2am time frame. Front just not moving east that fast. See a little squall pushing out ahead over Western Lake Erie. Should be another noisy night.

Here comes tonight round. Been hearing them rumble for a bit now.