I posted up the list of 289 sites from Peterson 2003 purporting to show that the difference between “urban” and rural sites was negligible. (See related posts here and here.)
As noted before, the definition of “urban” includes such metropolises as Wahpeton ND and Hankinson ND. Cottage Grove 1S OR is classified as “urban”, while Cottage Grove Dam OR is classified as “rural”. Some “clusters” lack rural comparanda. Some clusters lack any locations in the Peterson supporting table. The locations are said to be derived from Gallo and David 1999, which had 28 “urban” stations. While most of the sites recur somewhere in this list, the “urban” sites are blended with rural sites before the comparison. Oddly, one of the “urban” Gallo and David sites (Columbia MO) is classified as “rural” in Peterson 2003.
I’ve collated the urban and rural sites in a long table for your edification. Only about 25% of these sites even occur in the USHCN network or GHCN network (and thus in the gridcell composites). It’s hard to see exactly what a comparison of the left column sites and right column sites has to do with whether the urbanization affects the CRU, NOAA or GISS composites.
| Urban | Rural |
| 35 AL GREENVILLE 35 AL TROY 35 AL MONTGOMERY WSO ARPT |
35 AL MARTIN DAM 35 AL MILSTEAD 35 AL HIGHLAND HOME 35 AL UNION SPRINGS 4 S |
| 34 AR SHERIDAN 34 AR BENTON 34 AR LITTLE ROCK FAA ARPT 34 AR NORTH LITTLE ROCK WS 34 AR PINE BLUFF |
34 AR KEO 34 AR LEOLA |
| 31 AZ TUCSON CAMP AVE EXP 31 AZ TUCSON MAGNETIC OBSY 31 AZ TUCSON WSO AIRPORT 31 AZ TUCSON UNIV OF ARIZO 31 AZ TUCSON U OF ARIZ |
31 AZ ANVIL RANCH 31 AZ ORACLE 2 SE 31 AZ SANTA RITA EXP RANGE 31 AZ TUCSON 17 NW |
| 21 AZ SEDONA RANGER STN 21 AZ FLAGSTAFF 4 SW 21 AZ FORT VALLEY 21 AZ FLAGSTAFF WSO AP |
21 AZ MUNDS PARK 21 AZ OAK CREEK CANYON 21 AZ SUNSET CRATER NATL M 21 AZ BEAVER CREEK RANGER 21 AZ HAPPY JACK RANGER ST 21 AZ WUPATKI NATL MONUMEN |
| 29 CA ALPINE 29 CA LA MESA 29 CA EL CAJON 29 CA CHULA VISTA 29 CA SAN DIEGO WSO AIRPOR |
|
| 40 CA DAVIS 2 WSW EXP FARM 40 CA PLACERVILLE 40 CA LODI 40 CA SACRAMENTO FAA ARPT 40 CA SACRAMENTO WSO CITY 40 CA ANTIOCH PUMP PLANT 40 CA FOLSOM DAM |
40 CA CAMP PARDEE |
| 23 CO FORT CARSON 23 CO PUEBLO RESERVOIR 23 CO PUEBLO WSO AP 23 CO COLORADO SPRINGS WSO |
23 CO RUSH 23 CO TACONY 10 SE |
| 39 FL LAKE ALFRED EXP STN 39 FL MOUNTAIN LAKE 39 FL KISSIMMEE 2 39 FL ORLANDO WSO MCCOY 39 FL SANFORD EXPERIMENT S 39 FL TITUSVILLE |
|
| 13 IA BELLE PLAINE 13 IA OELWEIN 2 S 13 IA TOLEDO 13 IA VINTON 13 IA WATERLOO WSO AP |
13 IA INDEPENDENCE 5 ENE |
| 8 ID BOISE 7 N 8 ID BOISE LUCKY PEAK DAM 8 ID EMMETT 2 E 8 ID IDAHO CITY 8 ID MOUNTAIN HOME 8 ID BOISE WSFO AIRPORT 8 ID NAMPA SUGAR FACTORY |
8 ID ARROWROCK DAM 8 ID GRAND VIEW 2 W 8 ID SWAN FALLS POWER HOU |
| 24 KS WINFIELD NO. 1 24 KS EL DORADO 24 KS WICHITA WSO ARPT |
24 KS WELLINGTON 2 S |
| 38 LA ST BERNARD 38 LA SLIDELL WSFO 38 MS BAY ST LOUIS NASA 38 LA NEW ORLEANS WSCMO AR 38 LA NEW ORLEANS AUDUBON |
38 LA LSU CITRUS RESEARCH |
| 17 CT WEST THOMPSON LAKE 17 MA MIDDLETON 17 MA WALPOLE 2 17 MA WEST MEDWAY 17 MA BEDFORD 17 MA BLUE HILL 17 MA BROCKTON 17 MA LOWELL 17 MA READING 17 MA TAUNTON 17 MA WORCESTER WSO AP 17 RI PROVIDENCE WSO AIRPO 17 MA BOSTON WSFO AP |
17 MA BUFFUMVILLE LAKE 17 RI NORTH FOSTER 1 E |
| 18 ME ELLSWORTH 18 ME ORONO 18 ME BANGOR AIRPORT |
18 ME ACADIA NATIONAL PARK |
| 15 MI DEARBORN 15 MI DETROIT CITY AIRPORT 15 MI DETROIT METRO WSO AP 15 MI MONROE 15 MI PONTIAC STATE HOSPIT 15 MI GROSSE POINTE FARMS |
|
| 25 MO CALIFORNIA 25 MO ELDON 25 MO LAKESIDE 25 MO FULTON 25 MO JEFFERSON CITY WTR P |
25 MO FREEDOM 25 MO VIENNA 2 WNW 25 MO COLUMBIA WSO AP |
| 12 IA HARLAN 12 IA RED OAK 12 IA SHENANDOAH 12 IA SIDNEY 12 NE NEBRASKA CITY 12 NE OMAHA EPPLEY AIRFIEL 12 NE OMAHA (NORTH) WSFO A |
12 IA GLENWOOD 3 SW 12 IA LOGAN 12 IA OAKLAND 4 WSW |
| 5 ND HANKINSON 5 ND WAHPETON 3 N 5 MN FERGUS FALLS 5 ND FARGO WSO AP |
5 MN CAMPBELL 1 SSW |
| 4 ND LINTON 4 ND MANDAN EXPERIMENT ST 4 ND BISMARCK WSFO AP 4 ND FORT YATES |
4 ND BREIEN 4 ND MOFFIT 3 SE |
| 22 NM CORRALES 22 NM LOS LUNAS 3 SSW 22 NM SANDIA PARK 22 NM ALBUQUERQUE WSFO AIR |
22 NM ESTANCIA 22 NM STANLEY 1 NNE |
| 20 NV RED ROCK CANYON ST P 20 NV BOULDER CITY 20 NV LAS VEGAS WSO AIRPOR |
20 AZ WILLOW BEACH 20 NV DESERT NATL WL RANGE |
| 27 OH FRANKLIN 27 OH WILMINGTON 3 N 27 OH CINCINNATI LUNKEN FA 27 OH MILFORD WATER WORKS 27 KY COVINGTON WSO AIRPOR 27 OH CHEVIOT 27 OH CINCINNATI FERNBANK 27 OH FAIRFIELD |
27 OH CHILO MELDAHL L&D 27 KY FALMOUTH 27 KY WILLIAMSTOWN 3 W |
| 7 OR COTTAGE GROVE 1 S 7 OR FOSTER DAM 7 OR EUGENE WSO AIRPORT 7 OR FERN RIDGE DAM |
7 OR CORVALLIS WATER BURE 7 OR COTTAGE GROVE DAM 7 OR DORENA DAM 7 OR DRAIN 7 OR LEABURG 1 SW 7 OR LOOKOUT POINT DAM |
| 16 PA GRATERFORD 1 E 16 NJ MOORESTOWN 16 PA ALLENTOWN WSO AIRPOR 16 PA NESHAMINY FALLS 16 PA PHILADELPHIA WSCMO A 16 PA PHOENIXVILLE 1 E |
16 NJ BELVIDERE BRIDGE 16 NJ FLEMINGTON 5 NNW 16 NJ LAMBERTVILLE 16 PA BELTZVILLE DAM 16 PA HOPEWELL FURNACE NHS 16 PA PALMERTON 16 PA RODALE RESEARCH CENT |
| 36 SC WEDGEFIELD 36 SC WINNSBORO 36 SC CAMDEN 3 W 36 SC SANDHILL EXPERIMENT 36 SC COLUMBIA WSFO AP 36 SC COLUMBIA UNIV OF SC |
36 SC LITTLE MOUNTAIN 36 SC PARR 36 SC PELION 4 NW |
| 11 SD KENNEBEC 11 SD PIERRE FAA AIRPORT 11 SD OAHE DAM |
11 SD FORT PIERRE 17 WSW 11 SD HARROLD 12 SSW 11 SD PRESHO 7 NW |
| 26 TN MURFREESBORO 5 N 26 TN FRANKLIN SEWAGE PLAN 26 TN LAFAYETTE 26 TN LEBANON 3 W 26 TN NEAPOLIS EXP STN 26 TN PORTLAND SEWAGE PLAN 26 TN WOODBURY 1 WNW 26 TN NASHVILLE NWSCMO AP 26 TN SPRINGFIELD EXP STN |
|
| 37 TX FLORESVILLE 37 TX KARNES CITY 37 TX SAN ANTONIO WSFO 37 TX SAN ANTONIO SEAWORLD |
37 TX CHARLOTTE 5 NNW 37 TX POTEET |
| 32 TX CROSBYTON 32 TX TAHOKA 32 TX POST 3 ENE 32 TX LUBBOCK WSFO AIRPORT 33 TX WILLS POINT 33 TX DALLAS FAA AP 33 TX CORSICANA 33 TX WAXAHACHIE |
33 TX KAUFMAN 3 SE 33 TX BARDWELL DAM 33 TX FERRIS |
| 9 UT ALTA 9 UT KAMAS 3 NW 9 UT PLEASANT GROVE 9 UT SILVER LAKE BRIGHTON 9 UT SNAKE CREEK POWERHOU 9 UT SPANISH FORK PWR HOU 9 UT TIMPANOGOS CAVE 9 UT BOUNTIFUL-VAL VERDA 9 UT COTTONWOOD WEIR 9 UT DRAPER POINT OF THE 9 UT OLMSTEAD POWERHOUSE 9 UT OREM TREATMENT PLANT 9 UT PROVO BYU 9 UT SALT LAKE CITY NWSFO 9 UT SALT LAKE TRIAD CENT 9 UT UTAH LAKE LEHI |
9 UT DEER CREEK DAM 9 UT SANTAQUIN CHLORINATO 9 UT WANSHIP DAM |
| 28 VA ASHLAND 28 VA RICHMOND WSO AIRPORT 28 VA HOPEWELL |
28 VA WALKERTON 2 NW 28 VA WEST POINT 2 SW |
| 1 WA BUCKLEY 1 NE 1 WA LANDSBURG 1 WA MC MILLIN RESERVOIR 1 WA MONROE 1 WA SNOQUALMIE FALLS 1 WA PUYALLUP 2 W EXP STN 1 WA SEATTLE TACOMA WSO A 1 WA BREMERTON 1 WA SEATTLE URBAN SITE 1 WA TACOMA 1 |
1 WA CEDAR LAKE 1 WA MUD MOUNTAIN DAM 1 WA PALMER 3 ESE |
| 2 WA SPOKANE WSO AIRPORT | 2 ID PLUMMER 3 WSW 2 ID POTLATCH 3 NNE 2 WA ROSALIA 2 WA SAINT JOHN |
| 14 WI MILWAUKEE MT MARY CO 14 WI MILWAUKEE WSO AIRPOR 14 WI PORT WASHINGTON 14 WI KENOSHA 14 WI RACINE |
|
| 6 WI DANBURY 6 WI SOLON SPRINGS 6 MN CLOQUET 6 MN DULUTH WSO AP 6 MN DULUTH HARBOR STN 6 WI SUPERIOR |
6 WI FOXBORO 6 WI GORDON |
| 10 WY GLENROCK 5 ESE 10 WY CASPER WSO AP |
10 WY BATES CREEK 2 10 WY SHIRLEY BASIN STN |
Climate Audit 
27 Comments
I’ve posted up a script for extracting monthly averages from the Peterson daily data. You can extract the read function using the first line below and then extract a data set of monthly information using the second line.
source (“http://data.climateaudit.org/scripts/station/read.ghcnd.txt”)
usid=”051778″; test=read.ghcnd(paste(“42500″,usid,sep=””))
I have done a study of Australian temperatures which
appear to have UHI added to UHI leading to a claim that
the the temperature is now 2 degrees warmer than it was
100 years ago.
There are rural stations that show no overall temperature
rise at all.
There is one “rural” station that was in an aboriginal settlement
in 1880 which has now developed into a small town with a main road.
and a railway line running through it.It has shown considerable warming.
The station has recently been moved out of town where no doubt it will indicate more warming as the town encroaches upon it.
#2 I had a similar experience a few years ago when I read a paper purporting to “link” the recent Australian drought with global warming. I didn’t think the argument presented was very convincing, but it did prompt me to look at the data for as many rural/inland sites that I could find. I couldn’t find a rising trend in any of them.
This led me to email one of the authors (a climate scientist in Melbourne) who responded that they got their temperature series from the Aust. Bureau of Meteorology. Of course this was long before Climate Audit, otherwise I would have persisted in identifying the source of the data. It may have been CRU, reticulated back by the BoM, who knows?
I apologise for not having citations, Iost all this stuff years ago in a computer theft. However I was stuck by the fact that it was asserted that rural Australia was warming, while there is no evidence of warming in Alice Springs, Kalgoorlie, Esperance, Albany, Giles, Geraldton, Mt Isa or Tennant Creek. Regarding the last two, the late John Daly has a CRU plot of Australian warming, with the greatest warming adjacent to Mt Isa and Tennant Creek:
And CRU’s version:
That must have taken some adustment, as there are very few other possible candidate stations, possibly Weipa (bauxite mine) and possibly Gove. (All are remote and all except Gove are mining towns).
(Note – all data I’m talking about only go up to 1999/2000). Someone mentioned there’s site where you can click on a map of Australia and see the temperature record. Could you post the link?)
Interesting. For my area (six sites in Colorado), the rural sites seem well chosen, two urban sites are “OK”, two are rather questionable. And I’d add a different rural site (Ruxton Park) that brings a different flavor to the mix.
Reasonable selection:
– Rush and Tacony are quite rural (more than 25 miles east of Colorado Springs and Pueblo, respectively)
– Pueblo WSO (airport). Site is east of the city, with generally prevailaing winds from the west. Less urban than many (miles of open farmland to north and east) but I’d give this an “OK” for Urban. (Don’t imagine its in the middle of a city though!)
– Colorado Springs WSO (airport). Site is SE of the city, again with prevailing winds from the west. Like Pueblo, to the east is open space for many many miles, but this is reasonably urban.
Questionable selection:
– Fort Carson should be rural not urban. Site is in the middle of a huge open space, with miles of prairie all around. (Fort Carson is mostly a huge military exercise area.) Yes, there are microsite issues, but that seems common these days. (If the siting is accurate, the station is on grass between a parking lot and a small private air strip.)
– Pueblo Reservoir should be discarded or rural, not urban. Yes, near a city. West of the city, downwind from a lonnng rural stretch of the Arkansas River valley through the mountains. If it weren’t for other confounding factors, I’d call it decidedly rural. (Other factors: 1/2mi east of a reservoir with highly variable water level; station (GE siting) is in the corner of a paved parking lot.) Either this is rural, or (my preference) simply a poor site to choose.
The selections make sense for South Carolina as well. Though Pelion in the last 10 years has been turned into a burb for the greater metropolitan Columbia area.
Re: 5 I think Camden being classified as urban is a bit of a stretch, though. The site loc for the longest duration (1950-1995) was 34.25,-80.65 per the MMS, which is now a cluster of shopping centers a considerable distance to the west of the town. The remarks in the MMS indicate that the site was the observer’s residence. I’ve driven past those businesses and most of them appear to have been built post 1995. After ’95 to ’01, the loc is given as 34.24291, -80.65652, which shows up on the other side of the river. The latter loc might be more accurate, as there is an abandoned property there which I’ve seen. It’s quite wooded right there. There is very little else nearby besides woods and the Wateree river, although that nylon plant is to the southwest. Does this area qualify as urban in the opinion of folks here? I have to admit, though, that the MMS locs and actual siting rarely match from my experience, so far.
I doubt Wedgefield as a urban site, as a posted before I suspect its about the same as Little Mountain.
SteveM
from the Oke article, Anthony has posted it
For what it is worth, there seem to be other factors mixed in as well. For example, for the state of Maine, the rural site, 18 ME ACADIA NATIONAL PARK, is on an island surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. For the “urban” sites, 18 ME ELLSWORTH is not too far from the water, however,18 ME ORONO and 18 ME BANGOR AIRPORT are each of the order of 30 to 40 km. from the closest ocean water. I would think that any comparisons would have to be affected by this.
I’ll second MrPete’s comments about Colorado, especially Pueblo Reservoir. I been there several times; it is not even close to being urban.
My curiosity was put on alert by Peterson’s seemingly hurry to attribute that choice of rural and urban sites to Gallo and David. One would think that the author’s firm assurance of the validity these selections would be part of detailed discussion in his paper, since these choices are the very basis of his conclusions. As Parker did in his paper discussed here, it is rather easy to find no correlation between occurrences. The difficult part is showing why there should be a connection between the occurrences.
By the way, while I find Peterson, like Parker, seeming to be a very nice gentleman, I see no point in offering a special thanks to either one of them for providing the information that they have. It is the way it should be all the time — not the exception. Do not think you need to go out of your way to thank me for stopping at all stop signs and lights — I’ll stop anyway.
#6, #7 Until we have a photo record for SC sites, I would accept that the urban/rural of Peterson is better than lights=0 of others.
Re #4, are these sites you have visited personally or just known to be in generally rural areas. I ask because we’ve seen sites that otherwise have the potential to be rural are rendered somewhat urban as a result of the exact placement of the site.
Lights = whatever is an indirect measure of UHI. IR surface temperatures, one hour or so after sunset, should show interesting information. Does anyone have a site that would show LST instead of SST for the nighttime US? I would love to watch a loop of nightly temperature changes on land at near sea level. Then compare urban and rural sites.
If this has been addressed, my apologies.
Steve,
You say
I think you meant to say that Cottage Grove Dam OR is classified as “rural”; that would agree with your table.
Steve, the story keeps getting better … you say:
Here’s the aerial view of the “urban” Wahpeton site per the USHCN information (USHCN ID 329100; GHCN ID 72753002) …
Looks like it’s a quarter mile from any habitation, in the middle of the fields …
w.
Willis,
The farm buildings are likely well illuminated all night, leading to the designation of “urban.”
Dano keeps trying to convince people that pictures don’t show anything. Can’t understand this. I have always felt that pictures, like in your post, were very convincing.
#13 — I’ve been to these places, but not searched out the exact station placement. OTOH, these places are not towns and don’t have three story brick walls like found at Ft Morgan. Rural Colorado is truly rural… don’t blink when you go by, you’ll miss the house 🙂
As noted, it’s still possible to have microsite issues, but that’s not enough to make a site urban.
For my (tax) money, my sense is retaining rural “purity” is more important than urban… just a sense but I think “pollution” of UHI with rural sites is less significant than pollution of rural sites with UHI.
#16: This is from the MMS “Location” tab for the most recent site of Wahpeton 3 N:
[1998-12-23] 1999-11-01 46.323330 (46°19’23″N) -96.610830 (96°36’38″W) GROUND: 956 FEET
Location Description: WATER TREATMENT PLANT OUTSIDE AND 3.4 MI N OF PO AT WAHPETON, ND
Topographic Details: TOPO-LEVEL SOUTH RED RIVER VALLEY FARMLAND.
Temp was taken daily at 1800 – site appears to have been discontinued in 1999.
RE16,19
“Water Treatment Plant” aka Sewage Treatment Plant from my experiences thus far would have essentially a UHI effect due to the significant waste heat that is released by the processes. From the aerial pix above, it’s clear that the marker should be to the NW about 1/4 mile.
One thing is becoming clear from my survey; no matter how “rural” the site is, you’ll almost always find (there are a few exceptions) the sensor in direct proximity to human habitation. This is because no matter if it is a max/min mercury thermometer or a MMTS, there needs to be a “body” assigned to reading it daily. Those “bodies” won’t walk or drive a 1/4 mile or more to take a reading and NWS doesn’t want the shelters out of eyesight due to vandalism concerns. In the case of MMTS, cable length issues (I suspect it’s actually trench length issues – i.e. easier to dig a short trench than long one) have almost without exception forced the sensor closer to buildings because the MMTS display console must be inside as its not weatherproof and needs AC power.
Automated sites can be located anywhere, yet for some reason still get stuck next to habitation. Perhaps it’s just easier rather than acquiring a new land use agreement. For example the USHCN in Ojai, CA at the fire station there.
I have recently surveyed a COOP site (not HCN or GISS) in NE California that was pointed out to me by former state climatologist Jim Goodridge as being exceptionally rural, but having a positive trend of .06-.08 degrees per year. It didn’t make any sense. Jim surmised they’d placed it next to an air conditioner or some other heat source. When I got there, I found no such bias. But I found something else that speaks to the heart of the matter on MMTS -vs- Stevenson Screens and siting.
I have to do a little more work before I can post this, but I’ll try to post in the next week.
Chris D, thanks for the more accurate information on Wahpeton, which puts it in the middle of the sewage treatment plant. What is the source of the more precise location you gave?
w.
Re21 Willis, it is from the Multi Metadata System at NCDC which gives metadata for each COOP station in the USA
They don’t allow direct links, but go here:
http://mi3.ncdc.noaa.gov/mi3qry/login.cfm
Press “Guest Login” button
Then enter “Wahpeton” in the search box
Select from list, then you’ll (via popup) be at the station metadata, choose tabs to look at different info.
Yeah, even the MMS coordinates listed to five or six digits are almost always off by 0.1 mile or more. Only ONCE have I driven right up to a site using my GPS.
Others require advanced CSI skills. (btw, whatever happened to the CSI t-shirts?)
Did Peterson design this experiment with agenda aforethought? “Let’s see …. if I pick a few podunk cities, annnnnd, mwahhahhhahhaaaa, some suburbanized or concretized “rural” sites….. I can really tell a story …. mwaaaahaaaahaaahaaa!” 👿
It seems to be more and more clear that there’s a reason some folks are rather upset by the fact we’re actually finding out what the sites are like.
But of course, we don’t need to check, only the rural sites are used for the anomaly readings, and they’re all high quality. These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.
At some point in the future it is inevitble that a few reporters with solid AGW credentials will realize what has been going on and run some expose stories. They will realize that the “denier” lable is a straw man used to silence constructive criticism. They will become angry when they realize that they have believed distorted science. They will realize that the distortions have been greatly benefitting the distorters.
Interesting. I always wondered what the difference between urban and rural was. Most of Williamson County TN, where I live is rural. Where I work Cool Springs, is rural and urban depending on where you are. Franklin is more rural and Brentwood is more urban.
Bill Felk
Brentwood TN
2 Trackbacks
[…] Though the basis for selection of these comparisons seems very unclear. See related posts here and […]
[…] (Lead-in posts are here and here.) […]