How are temps measured at official stations

[frankdp23]

I see online:

Air Temperature

USCRN stations are equipped with three independent thermometers which measure air temperature in degrees Celsius. The station's datalogger computes independent 5-minute averages using two-second readings from each thermometer. These multiple measurements are then used to derive the station's official hourly temperature value

How were they measured before computers were doing it like this?  I'd imagine some person in 1910 was looking maybe once per hour (?) and saying it hit 90 today at 1 pm.  But if they had the technology back then, that same station could have hit 92 at 1:30, but it was missed because say at 2 pm when that same guy looked it dropped to 89.  I'm wondering how they account for this now vs the past, or do we just take the temps from the past as at face value and just move on?

Thanks for any answers. 

 

[Chubbs]

On 3/22/2021 at 9:05 AM, frankdp23 said:

I see online:

Air Temperature

USCRN stations are equipped with three independent thermometers which measure air temperature in degrees Celsius. The station's datalogger computes independent 5-minute averages using two-second readings from each thermometer. These multiple measurements are then used to derive the station's official hourly temperature value

How were they measured before computers were doing it like this?  I'd imagine some person in 1910 was looking maybe once per hour (?) and saying it hit 90 today at 1 pm.  But if they had the technology back then, that same station could have hit 92 at 1:30, but it was missed because say at 2 pm when that same guy looked it dropped to 89.  I'm wondering how they account for this now vs the past, or do we just take the temps from the past as at face value and just move on?

Thanks for any answers. 

 

Link below has some info. For high and low temperature records, we use face value and move on. For long-term global or regional temperature series, automated software is used to compare nearby stations to correct for station moves, equipment changes, urbanization, etc.

https://judithcurry.com/2015/02/22/understanding-time-of-observation-bias/

[frankdp23]

16 hours ago, Chubbs said:

Link below has some info. For high and low temperature records, we use face value and move on. For long-term global or regional temperature series, automated software is used to compare nearby stations to correct for station moves, equipment changes, urbanization, etc.

https://judithcurry.com/2015/02/22/understanding-time-of-observation-bias/

Thanks a lot!

[Rainshadow]

On 3/22/2021 at 9:05 AM, frankdp23 said:

I see online:

Air Temperature

USCRN stations are equipped with three independent thermometers which measure air temperature in degrees Celsius. The station's datalogger computes independent 5-minute averages using two-second readings from each thermometer. These multiple measurements are then used to derive the station's official hourly temperature value

How were they measured before computers were doing it like this?  I'd imagine some person in 1910 was looking maybe once per hour (?) and saying it hit 90 today at 1 pm.  But if they had the technology back then, that same station could have hit 92 at 1:30, but it was missed because say at 2 pm when that same guy looked it dropped to 89.  I'm wondering how they account for this now vs the past, or do we just take the temps from the past as at face value and just move on?

Thanks for any answers. 

 

Some thermometers had the ability to “record” max and min temperatures by marking them. You then shook them at the reset time. We had ones that had dials with a marker like a light timer switch which you would then bring to the temperature at the observation time. I don’t know how many stations had these.