P4.2
Saving a Historical Weather Station—The Case of the Fort Collins, Colorado, Weather Station Versus the Colorado State University Transit Center
Christopher A. Davey, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO; and N. J. Doesken
The Fort Collins, Colorado, weather station on the campus of Colorado State University has been operated since the early 1870s and has complete and consistent observations with no appreciable change in instrumentation, no change in observation time and only three very minor station moves since the late 1880s. In 2002, however, the weather station came face to face with construction of a nearby federally funded transit center. This paper describes the ensuing "battle" and the challenges of conducting overlap studies and homogeneity checks during a year of extreme heat and drought. The results of these comparisons will be shown. The outcome has been a greater appreciation throughout the Fort Collins community of maintaining climate data continuity. In the end, a portion of the Transit Center funds have been diverted to help preserve a climatically acceptable and representative site for climate observations that will have a minimal impact on long term climate data continuity.
Poster Session 4, Data Reliability, Quality Asssessment and Usability
Wednesday, 14 January 2004, 2:30 PM-4:00 PM, Hall AB
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