Jump to content
  • Member Statistics

    17,609
    Total Members
    7,904
    Most Online
    NH8550
    Newest Member
    NH8550
    Joined

E PA/NJ/DE/Okle: Banter/Non Storm OBS thread


Recommended Posts

Ray,

Actually that 62 was not the high on 12/22/71 it was actually 12/21/71 - for  a number of years the Coatesville reports made a mistake in reporting by actually reporting one observation for the previous 24 hours from the time of reporting for that date it was 730am (if you look at the manual form from that date you will see what happened) I found this out about 15 years ago when I first analyzed the data - that was the period when the Philadelphia Electric Company took over the obs they would simply report with the AM report the previous 24 hours high and low precip/snow etc. The US Dept of Commerce Weather Bureau seemed to recognize the problem for the first 2 months of reports (Feb/Mar 1946) from the Electric Company and made up arrow notes to reflect the actual was a day in arrears. If you want to see the best example of the reporting issue (although many others are clear) take a look at the famous Christmas Eve snowstorm at OBS from 1966. The Electric Company reported 20.0" of snow falling on Christmas day....when as we all know the actual snow occurred on Christmas eve. This was eventually corrected so I had to go back and painfully adjust all the "post day" reports in my database when I discovered the error....not sure if the NWS database has ever corrected for this error?

Paul

Coatesville 1 SW was 62 on 12/22/1971. 

 

Also, Phoenixville 1E was 63 on 12/22/1998.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 1k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Ray,

Actually that 62 was not the high on 12/22/71 it was actually 12/21/71 - for  a number of years the Coatesville reports made a mistake in reporting by actually reporting one observation for the previous 24 hours from the time of reporting for that date it was 730am (if you look at the manual form from that date you will see what happened) I found this out about 15 years ago when I first analyzed the data - that was the period when the Philadelphia Electric Company took over the obs they would simply report with the AM report the previous 24 hours high and low precip/snow etc.. If you need the best example (although many others are clear) take a look at the famous Christmas Eve snowstorm at OBS from 1966. They reported 20.0" of snow falling on Christmas day....when as we all know the actual snow occurred on Christmas eve. This was eventually corrected so I had to go back and painfully adjust all the "post day" reports in my database when I discovered the error....not sure if the NWS database has ever corrected for this error?

Paul

 

That's not a mistake; that's how COOP's are supposed to report. If a COOP is scheduled to report at 7AM, then that's when their 24-hour observation is.  A majority of COOPs remain morning reporters, so most still have this "discrepancy" with the reported highs actually occurring on the previous calendar day. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually most of the data in my dataset had for the most part multiple and at least 2 obs per day - and this was the actual day of record. That said I found the "problem" with COOP reports and adjusted all of those taken to truly reflect records for that actual calendar day....it was not easy to do but I wanted to be as complete as possible. I do try to be accurate!!

That's not a mistake; that's how COOP's are supposed to report. If a COOP is scheduled to report at 7AM, then that's when their 24-hour observation is.  A majority of COOPs remain morning reporters, so most still have this "discrepancy" with the reported highs actually occurring on the previous calendar day. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually most of the data in my dataset had for the most part multiple and at least 2 obs per day - and this was the actual day of record. That said I found the "problem" with COOP reports and adjusted all of those taken to truly reflect records for that actual calendar day....it was not easy to do but I wanted to be as complete as possible. I do try to be accurate!!

Yes, I see that on the Coatesville forms.  However, that was not necessary after the specific hour temps were removed from the forms; COOP instructions specifically state:

 

"Time of making observatoins - But one observation in each 24 hours is necessary on the part of cooperative observers"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...