More Australia Bureau of Meteorology dishonesty

"Main points: 
Record temperatures 
at Bourke (Australia)
are due to site 
and instrument changes 
not the climate. 

Maximum temperature (Tmax) 
is higher after 1996 
because the weather station
moved to the airport 
where daily temperatures 
... are up to + 0.5 degrees C. warmer; 
extremes are even hotter. 

Minimum temperatures (Tmin) 
... are up to 2 degrees C. cooler 
at the airport ... .

So while summer days 
are warmer after 1996,
winter nights are cooler. 

Poor site control affects 
day-to-day measurements 
and temperature extremes." 



Starting in 1871 Bourke
has one of the longest 
continuous weather records 
in Australia and one of the 
longer datasets in the
Southern Hemisphere. 

The environment 
surrounding the site 
has frequently changed.

November 8, 1874 
Thermometer moved

1889 
Second story added
to building near thermometer.

1908
Large Stevenson screen (box) 
installed -- later moved at least once.

Late 1950's:
Thermometer now shaded 
and surrounded by watered lawns. 

1964:
New thermometer in new location.

1994:
Thermometers moved
to another large box 
beside a dusty track, 
at the second airport 
north of town.

August 1996:
Observations ceased
due to continuing 
“vegetation problems”.

1999:
New automatic weather station (AWS) 
located 700 meters away, 
housed in a small box,
and reported only 
whole-degrees 
before 2002. 

The AWS rapid-sampling probe 
operating in a small box
records temporary spikes 
of warm air that would not
affect regular thermometers 
housed in large boxes.

2013:
Green vegetation around 
the AWS probe site 
was plowed -- the surrounding
brown dirt was hotter than
the green vegetation.


Bourke temperatures 
are hotter now than in the past 
because of site changes, 
not the climate.

The AWS-site 
is currently neglected
-- out-of-range temperatures 
are selectively deleted 
because electronic thermometers 
housed in small, dusty boxes
spike randomly on warm days.

Across the network 
site-changes are not 
rigorously documented, 
some are ignored 
and some that 
make no difference 
are adjusted 
as though they did. 

Australia’s ACORN-SAT 
temperature datasets 
are riddled with problems. 

Replacing thermometers
located in large boxes,
with AWS probes in small boxes
has warmed Australia’s climate.

full report:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/jo.nova/guest/aust/bom-audit/johnston-bill/2018/bourke/back-of-bourke-v1.3_10.pdf