MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... January 25, 2001 January 25, 2001 January 25, 2001 January 25, 2001
What was the Deal at Kenton?
Earlier this week, while most of us in Oklahoma basked in mild afternoon temperatures, a few Ticker users asked about the extreme cold conditions at the Kenton Mesonet site in the far western panhandle.
Specifically, why were the Kenton morning lows so much colder than neighboring Mesonet stations?
M i n i m u m T e m p s Date Kenton Boise City 1/17 10 F 9 F and snow!!! 1/18 -8 F 2 F 1/19 1 F 7 F 1/20 1 F 4 F 1/21 22 F 17 F 1/22 6 F 14 F 1/23 14 F 23 F 1/24 10 F 18 F
The Mesonet Quality Assurance (QA) Manager checked these lows against those from experimental sensors also installed at the Kenton site. When data from the experimental sensors supported the cold observations, he looked for answers beyond the instrument itself.
Most folks saw the snow on the ground in southern Colorado during the media coverage of law enforcement events up there. It just so happens that the western panhandle received snow from the same storm that blanketed the Colorado Springs area.
The Ticker graphics department put together the following image: http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20010125/DEN_vis1.jpg
As late as January 24th (a week after the snowfall), the Kenton Mesonet station is located just within the eastern edge of the snow cover. Overnight temperatures are often significantly lower in areas with snow cover (compared to those without cover), and that's exactly what turned up in the Mesonet data.
The Mesonet's Quality Quality Assurance System
This event is a great example of how the Mesonet QA system works. When Mesonet users, staffers or automated QA routines indicate a potential data problem or irregularity, it is reported to Chris Fiebrich, the Mesonet's QA Manager. Chris then decides how to diagnose things.
Sometimes, the answers are obvious and appropriate action is taken. Sometimes, Chris finds answers in other Mesonet data. Sometimes, he needs to send a Mesonet technician to a site to find answers for him. And sometimes he finds answers in external data sources and his experience.
The Mesonet QA system features a combination of automated processes and human data supervision. This combination is beyond what is seen in real-time at any other operational mesoscale network.
Regardless of whether the answer to a data question is "instrument problem" or "meteorological phenomenon", the Mesonet's QA process is thorough and well-respected (like the Mesonet's QA Manager). You can read more about it in Volume 17, Issue 4 of the Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology.
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