OLD newspapers hold a lot of information, some of it very valuable. I’m not only referring to last week’s The Land, but clippings that date back to editions published one hundred or more years ago.
Last week's The Land
For example, in the Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday 5th January 1909 it was reported that Bourke was experiencing a heat wave with temperatures ranging between 103 and 125 degree Fahrenheit (39 to 51.7 degree Celsius). It’s perhaps the hottest temperature ever recorded anywhere in Australia.
The recording of 125 degree Fahrenheit on 3rd January 1909 was taken from a new Stevenson screen installed in the yard at the Bourke post office in August 1908.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology there are no reliable records before 1910 because there were few Stevenson screens.
Well maybe just one in Bourke?
No.
Again, if you check the old newspapers, well, according to the Rockhampton Morning Bulletin on Saturday 28th September 1889 government meteorologist Clement Wragge was fitting a Stevenson screen at the telegraphic office before travelling on to Boulia and Cloncurry in western Queensland to do the same.
How pesky are these written reports when the Bureau would have us believe there is no such thing as a reliable temperature record before 1910.
It is interesting that the record hot day in Bourke on 3rd January 1909 was also written into the Meteorological Observation book that was kept in the Bourke post office back then, and can now be found in the national archive at Chester Hill in western Sydney.
I went and checked not only the old newspapers but also the book in the national archive, because, guess what? The Bureau of Meteorology is claiming it was all a clerical error. They have scratched this record made on 3rd January 1909 from the official record for Bourke, which means it’s also scratched from the NSW and national temperature record.
Yep. It never happened. No heatwave back in 1909.
They have also wiped the heatwave of January 1896. This was probably the hottest January on record, not just for Bourke, but Australia-wide. Yet according to the rules dictated by the Bureau, if it was recorded before 1910, it doesn’t count.
In ignoring the old records the Bureau is denying the Australian public valuable information. Its dangerous and its irresponsible.
We need to know both how hot and also how dry it was in the past if we are to adequately prepare for the future, whether or not the theory of anthropogenic global warming is ever proven.
So rather than working to make the data fit the theory, the Bureau should focus on keeping an accurate record.
This could start with them reinstating that record hot day in Bourke on 3rd January 1909. After all if it was published in the press, and in the official book at the Bourke post office it must be true. Not to mention that it was also very hot in Brewarrina that day, a warm 123 degree Fahrenheit according to the old newspapers.
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This article was first published in last week's The Land newspaper.
Found the Willis island one. It seems that neither the text search or map search will find the station number but if you find the number some other how and enter it here it works. http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/data/?ref=ftr
The number for Willis island is 200283. Finding the other numbers could be fun.
It may not be just old temperature records that go missing and can be exposed using newspapers.
There seems to be at least three records from the measurements taken on the Ashmore reef or Ashmore Cartier islands.
http://www.accuweather.com/en/au/at/ashmore-and-cartier-islands-weather
At least one record goes back before 1971.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/110456635?zoomLevel=6
While the BoM seems to be able to afford to build lovely Willis island getaway accomidation and offices etc,( http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/97d2aee3-741d-4269-ad64-0ccfbf6908ef/files/e2011-0057-attachment-mown-area-map.pdf ) it does not seem to be able to afford to put data from any of these four on the website.
By a remarkable coincidence 1949 and 1907 also had above average temperatures for September at Observatory Hill.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/15848700
Continuing my quest at Observatory Hill, last year Sydney had a warm September.
'September was the warmest on record for Sydney, with a substantial number of records broken at Observatory Hill. Mean temperatures broke records at all six major temperature stations in the city, a consequence of widespread maximum temperatures more than 3 °C above normal and minimum temperatures more than 1 °C above normal, and persistent warm weather during the month.'
Its only weather, that's a relief.
Following Ian George's lead, I checked the BOM's explanation on temperature adjustments I noted that an "irrigating a lawn" can lead to a temperature anomaly.
Logic would suggest that this would be a cooling effect. This could be the scientific breakthrough of the decade. Imagine if the 1600GL of Environmental water now held by the Government was used to grow 160,000Ha of Rice. A significant natural cooling effect on Australia's apparently warming climate!
There would also be the fringe benefits of providing food for around 60 million of the World's most needy people, a few self generated dollars for struggling rural communities here, and a huge feeding ground for endangered water birds.
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Cheers, D Mac.