Ken Stewart rates the Streaky Bay site as one of the worst he has seen This is an influential site because it’s in a remote area, is used to “correct” official ACORN sites, and has been running for a long time. Last October the BOM finally moved it to a completely new (and much better site) — only three decades too late. Strangely, they didn’t give the new site a new station number? Normally the old and new sites would be run concurrently with two different numbers so the data from both could be compared and the differences in temperature between them could be worked out. Is that an accident? Does it hide the terrible quality of the previous site?
The Streaky Bay information (site 018079) tells us it opened in 1865 but the site only has monthly data from 1926 and daily data from an even shorter period. The rest presumably hasn’t been digitized yet. As best as I can tell, the station metadata appear to mark this site as being at the post office from 1865 to 2018, and record the ground cover as becoming asphalt in July 1987. That means for 31 years the Australian Bureau of Meteorology knew the site was sitting on hot bitumen and couldn’t be bothered to move it? The BOM gets more than a million dollars a day, and claims there’s a dire crisis running, and they don’t even care enough to measure climate change properly? They’re not even trying.
According to Stewart, Streaky Bay’s artificially hot data was used to “correct” the Acorn sites at Adelaide, Ceduna, Eucla, Forrest, Kyancutta, and Port Lincoln.
Streaky Bay, Bureau of Meteorology, Screen on Asphalt, SA. | ©2019 Google. Image Capture Mar 2010.
Was any of this infrastructure there in 1865? We all know the answer to that.
The aerial view shows just how much asphalt surrounded the site in the centre of town last year.
There was sea of asphalt surrounding the thermometer. | Imagery ©2019 CNES / Airbus, Map data, Google
The site history: Please check…
The detailed site information here indicates the site moved on 26 OCT 2018: “STATION Changed to Open farmland, grassland or tundra”. See page 31. But how long was it at the Post Office? On 12/JUN/1980 the metadata records “Changed to Town 1000 to 10,000” which possibly just means a category change as the population grew, not a site change. There is no concurrent longitude or latitude change. Am I right?
On 12/JUN/1980 STATION surface_type Changed to bare ground. On the 08/JUL/1987 the STATION surface_type was “Changed to asphalt.”. On the 16/MAR/2000, the STATION soil_type was changed to “unable to determine”. Why? Because the soil was under bitumen and no one knew what was there?
The Bureau of Meteorology needs an independent audit
There are many questions this site raises. It’s very odd that the site number stays the same — even though the site moved to a dramatically different area. I wonder if that means their “secret algorithm” will treat the old hot data here as if it came from the new grassed site? It’s hard to believe that would be useful for them, since the new readings will be cooler. Usually when a site moves to a cooler location it allow the BOM to post hoc “cool” all the previous readings. Site moves are an excuse to cool data from the original good sites in paddocks which slowly became polluted with urban infill as buildings and roads were added around and under it. The UHI and site effects will have gradually increased temperatures in lots of little steps, but the correction for that rising trend is a backwards single “step” adjustment, which rewrites history, and lowers all the decades before the move down in one flat brutal step. Thus are the original old good sites deemed to be reading falsely hot.
How about a Royal Commission?
Ken’s post: The Wacky World of Weather Stations: No. 11- Streaky Bay (SA)
Go and see his work on this and so many other stations.
Rutherglen, | Viewbank | Nuriootpa | Roseworthy | Robe | Ararat Prison | Echuca Airport | Albury Airport | Dartmouth
Why is this important work being left to volunteers if the planet is at stake?
Just throw another shrimp on the thermometer.
220
It’s saturday afternoon with 71 comments posted.
And our own ‘favorite’ trollsters
Are nowhere to be seen here
On this post.
Ummmm ???
Come on Peter & Gee Aye
Don’t be shy !
Step up & tell us all about
The BOM’s sanctity !
30
Apart from Albury Airport, which is in a paddock, all these sites are manual, and only report once a day. I do not see how they can influence the ACORN sites, given that. Also the BOM publishes the method by which it adjusts records, and it is more likely that these sites would be adjusted down than the other way around.
119
They WHY is basically every site ADJUSTED UP to CREATE a warming trend. !!
You are showing your cognitive incontinence, yet again, PF. !!
110
PF:
You very obviously haven’t read Ken’s reports, yet you claim incompetence can’t have affected the reported temperatures.
Firstly the BoM got millions in funding to install automatic stations. If you did some searching you will find that these stations are reporting up to every 10 minutes. By an odd coincidence record highs seem to occur in-between those reports; supplementary manual readings???
Secondly, a lot of their “best” stations are non-compliant with their own specifications.
Thirdly, you haven’t noted that these “unimportant” stations are used to adjust a number of other stations, which in turn can adjust the first station, either directly or through adjusting a third which then adjust the first. Round & round the mulberry bush?
I suggest you remove your head from its current location and let the sun shine on it. If that doesn’t work then watch a real imagination at work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dxAgt9XXPU
Try and locate yourself, early minutes, somewhere in Panel 3.
80
no, they are manual, the 10 minute update is for automatic stations. look at the Albury station and then Streaky Bay to see the difference. As to the effect on ACORN, as I said it is more the other way, look at the BOM’s methods summarised here http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/data-services/content/quality-control.html
02
Gee Aye only works business hours.
20
If global cooling was the scare, the key government temperature sites would all be in the mountains near deep snowdrifts, probably right next to the snowmaking machines.
240
Wrong, they’d be in refrigerators or freezers.
In the US we have a televised drag-racing circuit. The dragsters visit approximately 12 cities during our spring and summer. There are four categories of vehicles: motor cycles, “pro stock cars”, “funny cars” and “top fuel dragsters.” The “funny cars” and especially the “top fuel dragsters” routinely cover a quarter mile in around 3.9 seconds and reach speeds around 320 miles per hour. You ask: How does this relate to global warming records? Well, in each telecast the air temperature and the track temperature are mentioned. Air temperatures vary from the mid seventies to the low hundreds (Fahrenheit). Track temperatures are typically 20F higher and can reach into the mid 130s. The “top fuel dragster” engines generate 10,000 horsepower with flames shooting out the exhaust that would cook a 20 pound turkey in a few seconds. I think the AGW alarmists are letting a golden opportunity slip through their fingers–specifically, locate a temperature monitoring station about 1/2 an inch above the roadway at the starting line and take the temperature measurement immediately after the start of the race.
50
Well written JO
The post is a beauty.
And a big smack in the eye
To the Bureau of Misinformation ( BOM )
220
Only a big smack in the eye if people outside of the faithful see it, and feel inclined to dig further. Otherwise its just a factoid that drifts by.
170
I wonder how many BOM staffers are reading this ?
Perhaps a more than a few !
After all it’s their positions, careers & salaries which are at stake.
And having outsiders expose all these hidden secrets
And dirty BOM washing
Would certainly leave me dispirited
If I was working there.
20
How many automatic stations are not fit for purpose?
160
Better question: are there any, even one…?
300
Am I witnessing ACORN scorn?
120
See below, comment #5. The answer, in short, is a resounding “Yes”.
Worse: with very good reason.
80
Paul Stay warm in the Cold Hills
Of SA this weekend !
50
I made this comment in Ken’s blog about the Streaky bay weather station last week :
“Ken, I have been looking over the BOM’s temperature records for Streaky Bay.
First they start in 1926 not 1957. Much more interesting is that the recorded average Maximum monthly temperature in 1926 was 23.1 degrees. But by 2013 it was 24.7 degrees. And in 2014, it was 24.5 degrees. Subsequent years show a slight decrease to the high 23 degrees with nothing at all for 2018.
I wonder why ?
And I wonder what 2019 will show.
I suspect that BOM knew that it’s Streaky Bay BOM station was recording very high fake readings. That’s why BOM eventually moved it out of Streaky Bay township to the airport.
But this did not stop it using this fake data for it’s ACORN homogenising processes.
And the BOM is not giving the new weather station at Streaky Bat airport a new number. That I suggest is an attempt to conceal it’s own incompetence.
220
More interesting would be to know what adjustments were made to Acorn sites based on these artificially high readings which can be seen to be due to extreme UHI. It would also be interesting to know if the quoted temperatures are actually as recorded or if they have been modified by BOM prior to publication.
150
The main adjustment seems to have been a big chop.
My reply to Bills comment above was…
Pity the record at streaky bay only goes back to 1926 at the site opened in 1865.
Mon 2 Aug 1886 The following correspondence between Mr.
C. Todd, C.M.G., and Mr. Clement L.
Wragge, F.R.G.S., has been handed to us for
publication, with an intimation that Mr.
Wragge s letter was unanimously approved
of at the last meeting of the Meteorological
Society in Adelaide :—
“ In addition to this we
have barometers at Port Augusta and Streaky
Bay; one will be mounted immediately at
Farina, and another shortly at the Peake, all
of which places will be provided also with
thermometers, and completed as stations of
the ‘ second order.’” Todd.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/44571133
Then in 1909 the barometer seems to be observed.
“in fact, the –
highest barometer readings in each of the
systems arc 30.04 at Menzies, ‘30.02 at
Streaky Bay, .and 30.03 at Clarence Head.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/177857805
Fri 18 Feb 1910
“The Weather Office reported on
Friday:—”The cool south-easterly wind,
which set in over the coastal
‘districts yesterday morning early,
continued to Blow throughout the
day, and in consequence cool to moderate
temperatures resulted, the maximum reach
ing onlv 87 deg. at Streaky Bay, ..”
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/209899180
110
Any Royal Commission needs to have as part of its core focus, missing data.
Above we see in 1886 the quality of the thermometer site at Streaky Bay was being boastfully and competitively argued over by two of the most fastidious experts the world has ever seen.
But is not just pre BoM data that has gone missing from the record that now starts at the unlikely date for any work to have really been done, January 1926. No Data recorded during the time of the BoM is also missing.
January 1925
“ The Weather Office reported on Mon
day at 9 p.m.:—“
“Maximum shade temperatures ex
ceeded 90 deg. at many stations, the high
est being 102 deg. at Streaky Bay. At
Adelaide the highest reading for the day
was 95.3.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/63731057
1918 “111 deg. at Streaky. Bay,”
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/5612754
Now the argument may be made that these were from a Glaisher stand and not a Stevenson screen but it is okay to use data from a Lawson stand and a corrugated iron and zinc shed from Melbourne. Granted though that shed was possibly more accurate than the current modern Stevenson we have now.
https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-720220424/view?partId=nla.obj-720228657
Lance Pidgeon
100
Yonniestone, where are you ?
Ken’s done the post of BOM’s Maryborough site
And we are waiting for your local knowledge
To fill us in.
So far Ken has done a total of 21 whacky BOM sites
With more to come.
https://kenskingdom.wordpress.com/
110
I just replied Bill, thanks for the heads up.
After conversing with Ken I looked up a few more country Vic sites and found a couple straight away that are suspect for compliance.
I was going to visit them but work kept me away and time poor for a year.
Ken if you want a follow up or help let me know, also well done mate I’ll shout a few beers if we ever meet.
100
Here’s another great thermometer site. Check this out:
Street view:
https://www.google.com/maps/@-33.8606269,151.2050576,3a,75y,182.26h,85.23t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sw2Q-7jF8IU31vuKszB79lg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
https://goo.gl/maps/F2kwr8hhcJPWCdWE9 Aerial view
https://goo.gl/maps/pQjMi54bkefhDAjq6 Aerial, zoomed out. Now you know where it is. Surprised?
Have fun listing the local heat island sources. Apart from the city all around, the massive highway 10 meters away, the Nth-facing stone wall, the constant heavy traffic, the deep road cutting literally surrounding it, there’s… the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Painted in sun-absorbing matt dark gray. That gets extremely hot during summer days, and is so massive it stays warm well into the night. Any slight Northerly breeze and this thermometer will be reading the bridge temperature, day and night.
170
Yes those folks in central Sydney are ‘cooking’
the BOM weather station shows this.
An excellent example of Urban Heat Island Effects.
Meanwhile the planet seems to be cooling
Bloody wet, windy & frreezzing yesterday & today
In the Adelaide Hills of SA.
More more of the same for tomorrow, Sunday & Monday.
But no doubt he Bureau of Misinformation
Will soon announce the hottest August ever.
Ummmmm ?
110
Indeed Terrahertz — Bill Johnston has analyzed that site and you are right, and then some…
The iconic Sydney Observatory is Australia’s longest running weather station. But everything around the site has changed and the BOM have not even bothered to record major and obvious site changes.
This was their headquarters. Experts walked past new walls, construction and highways, yet they didn’t record them? Beggars belief.
http://joannenova.com.au/2018/02/scandal-bom-ignores-major-site-changes-at-iconic-historic-sydney-observatory-sloppy-or-deliberate/
http://joannenova.com.au/2017/01/sydney-observatory-where-warming-is-created-by-site-moves-buildings-freeways/
200
And any agreement between high temperatures at that Site and the one a few hundred metres away (on Fort Jackson in the Harbour) is entirely coincidental. Usually occuring every time a flock of flying pigs is reported.
100
It goes without saying that the Sydney record daily max achieved in 2013 was a scorcher, though the peak was brief and localised compared to deadly 1939’s max, half a degree cooler and now the second highest on record.
However, while the Wedding Cake West temps recorded on the harbour are necessarily lower than those at the Obs, in 2013, when Sydney hit 45.8, the max temp at Wedding Cake was…34.3!
This is a perfect example of a true statistic distorting reality because two critical things are lacking: context and commonsense interpretation. Goes on all the time these days, and it’s fair to call it an intellectual catastrophe.
120
My memory is not perfect anymore but I am sure that there was a site in Melbourne not far from RMIT in Latrobe St which I think was the Melbourne Regional Office which I think dates to 1850 but in official records in 1906 and it was closed in 2015. I am sure I saw it on a trip to Melbourne around the time it was closed (we went to see an AFL St Kilda game for the grandson’s birthday around this time). The Stevenson Screens were only metres in front of a building wall and and also the road (Latrobe St?) Not too good with Google maps. I recall that there was signage about the site. I can not recal any grass. The site was tiny. In my recollection it would be one of the worst sites. Further, I have a feeling that there was a (peer reviewed) paper on a traverse of Melbourne to measure UHI and that the CBD site was upto 3.6 C higher than rural areas to the north (Tullamarine) and west (Laverton)I think this is the paper
Quantification of the Influences of Wind and Cloud on the Nocturnal
Urban Heat Island of a Large City
C. J. G. MORRIS AND I. SIMMONDS
School of Earth Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
N. PLUMMER
National Climate Centre, Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne, Australia
(Manuscript received 16 July 1999, in final form 8 May 2000)
60
wow…i only have a postgraduate degree in life and not physical sciences but this is disgraceful.Please keep up the great work Jo
Australia “is ” the Southern Hemisphere in the global record…how on earth…words fail me.Science it aint
160
Craig Kelly and Joel Fitzgibbon could seek a BoM audit, a bipartisan approach.
100
Joel Fitzgibbon ?
Surely not EG.
his backers & promoters
Would all fall over with heart shocks !
80
And what is your objection to that?
90
None Graeme !
But Fitzgibben may decline to be a party
To avoid this happening.
60
Its a long shot, but I think Kelly can sway him.
‘Labor member for the federal seat of Hunter Joel Fitzgibbon has joined forces with Liberal Party firebrand Craig Kelly to form a Parliamentary Friends group for Coal Exports.’
Mining Monthly
60
That’s because the mining workers in the Hunter
Gave him the hard word.
And because many mining workers gave him the flick in last May’s election.
BOM on the other hand is a SACRED COW
Which cannot be slaughtered.
70
If you want an audit and then a Royal Commission into BoM, we have to visualise a process.
“We have to reconnect with the working-class base which believes, rightly, that it has been deserted,” Fitzgibbon said.
“We need affordable gas to fuel the manufacturing sector to create blue-collar jobs in the region.”
‘His views are shared by many but rarely articulated by a sitting MP.’
MirageNews
40
Thanks EG
Interesting quote.
But I suspect he is
A lone voice
in the Labor Party wilderness
50
Its politically incorrect to cast aspersions on BoM and any attempt at getting an audit has been fobbed off. In a spare moment you may like to look at the efforts of Jo, Jen and Ken to get an audit going.
This time we have Sky to unify the regions and pressure the Auditor-General.
40
A perfect example of a politician who is recovering from a near political death experience in May 2019 when his coal mining community almost dislodged him from his once comfortable seat in Cessnock NSW.
70
He reminds me of the airline chief executive who discovered the climate change hoax when the hoaxers decided to tax the airlines for emissions.
50
For many years Fitzgibbon has been saying that climate change policies are destroying agriculture, so he is more an agrarian socialist.
‘Labor frontbencher Joel Fitzgibbon says the ALP’s self-inflicted defeat at the polls will by necessity shift the centre of gravity in the parliamentary party to the right, including abandoning market-based carbon reduction policies.
‘Mr Fitzgibbon also told The Weekend Australian at a coalmine in his NSW regional electorate of Hunter, west of Newcastle, that Bill Shorten had tragically undermined Labor’s prospects at the election by failing to publicly support the ALP’s pro-coal policy.’
Oz
30
The ALP had a pro coal policy ?
Well bugger me !
I never knew that.
And what’s more I doubt it was true.
The Greenist wing of the ALP
And the Greens would have had heart shocks
If they’d been told.
20
The evidence is over whelming . We need a royal commission or senate enquiry into BOM .
150
We do not need an enquiry. Sell the BOM! If it’s worthless, that’s what it’s worth.
If it’s valuable, why should we be paying the $500Million, $10Million a week to keep it going? The whole concept is out of the 19th century.
What are all those people doing?
After all, who needs to manage all this when the whole data collection system and predictions can be fully automated if not already or run
with a lot fewer people or put out to tender. No one even has time to review all the Stevenson boxes or the old data! It’s all desk work and automatic measurement now.
No one in thirty years has had the time to incorporate the decades of old data, pre concrete from even the 1880s to 1920. All the effort is in
homogenizing real data into fake data. We are paying $6Billion a year, $120Million a week because of global warming based on BOM data and they
are getting wages for saying nothing? At least half of the world’s meterologists do not agree. So where is the $10Million a week going?
And they are so sure Australia is warming and thus the whole planet, even if 350 full time scientists at the CSIRO could not prove it. Another few hundred million for nothing.
Plus a desire to sensationalize the weather, even to the point of upgrading Tropical storms to hurricane status, just for effect and without explanation, no matter how much cost there is the pointless evacuations (two years ago, North Queensland)
So sell it all. It’s an expensive dinosaur. Just put a price on it or go to tender for the service. The ancient siting for the Stevenson boxes is just an obvious sign that no one cares.
What’s wrong with an acre of concrete? The data’s good.
Weather is a popular commodity in profitable news broadcasts. Everyone pays for the weather. Except that we the public have to pay for the BOM and they get the income. Like the SBS.
There is a new world out there. Satellites. We can have a satellite instead of the BOM from one year’s cost. For the NBN, we could have 100 satellites. Who needs cables? It’s all 19th century boxes in 19th century locations and fake data.
Sell the lot. It’s an antique. Or replace it all with computers, like most other 19th century jobs.
141
I suspect the use of satellites to replace the BOM is like using video conferences instead of climate junkets, the idea is way too sensible and it reduces the bureaucracy.
120
But Yonnie what exactly are the satellites measuring ?
The point of having temperature gauges locally is to be able to tell folks what is happening locally.
Yes BOM has wacky local weather stations that are faulty
But this can be fixed and sorted
The eye in the sky can’t do that.
30
Without checking Bill I believe the satellites can adjust the penetration of measurement for different altitudes, as in surface to 100m etc…
I’m currently fixing a car (its 6C outside) so I’ll follow up later, cheers.
Oh forgot to say I’ll have a beer with you also. 🙂
10
Ok back in warmed up with fermented barley and rye so I found this on Dr Roy Spencer’s site, http://www.drroyspencer.com/latest-global-temperatures/
Abstract:
Since 1979, NOAA satellites have been carrying instruments which measure the natural microwave thermal emissions from oxygen in the atmosphere. The intensity of the signals these microwave radiometers measure at different microwave frequencies is directly proportional to the temperature of different, deep layers of the atmosphere.
Contrary to some reports, the satellite measurements are not calibrated in any way with the global surface-based thermometer records of temperature. They instead use their own on-board precision redundant platinum resistance thermometers (PRTs) calibrated to a laboratory reference standard before launch.
Also back in 1997 NASA had this to say,
The temperature measurements from space are verified by two direct and independent methods. The first involves actual in-situ measurements of the lower atmosphere made by balloon-borne observations around the world. The second uses intercalibration and comparison among identical experiments on different orbiting platforms. The result is that the satellite temperature measurements are accurate to within three one-hundredths of a degree Centigrade (0.03 C) when compared to ground-launched balloons taking measurements of the same region of the atmosphere at the same time.
First, the influence of a man-made doubling of the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is small compared to the Earth’s natural cooling rate, on the order of only a percent.
Second, there is a much more important greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, namely water vapor. Water vapor over the Earth is extremely variable, both in space and in time.
Third, the ways in which clouds and water vapor feed back and ultimately influence the temperature of the Earth are, at best, poorly understood.
Interesting admissions back then, https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/1997/essd06oct97_1/
40
“a man-made doubling of the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere”. It’s amazing how so many real scientist accept this as fact when it is not proven and absolutely fundamental. It is the greatest fr*ud in a gigantic scam. Especially as you can prove trivially it is not true.
“there is a much more important greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, namely water vapor. Water vapor over the Earth is extremely variable, both in space and in time. ..the ways in which clouds and water vapor feed back and ultimately influence the temperature of the Earth are, at best, poorly understood.”
Yes. So obvious it is almost breathtaking.
90
Its revealing to see the language used back then compared to now, in 1997 they are pushing the idea of CAGW with some caution thrown in but today its a “settled science”
The water vapour line made me LOL, if they didn’t know about atmospheric water vapours effects then they had to wait 10 years for Henrik Svensmark’s The Cloud Mystery to come out.
40
Yonnie
The problem is that hardly anyone wants to know ” the temperature of different, deep layers of the atmosphere.”
They want to know what the temperature is at their town suburb or city.
That’s why the whole BOM weather station network was created over the past 170 years..
That’s why it still exists…
Even though those weather station thermometers are affected by UHIE
They are still measuring a local temperature
But now the temperatures measured by the temperature gauges are being used not for this purpose but to bolster the Gore Bull warming scam…. Via the whole ‘mix & match’ non science homogenisation process.
20
TdeF;
Just get rid of the Climate “Scientists” and let the BoM do its job.
Saves money and improves accuracy.
Similarly we don’t need 300 CSIRO Climate “Scientists” or the 30 (out of 37) Climate “Scientists” at the Uni of NSW (remember The Ship of Fools? Where the only discovery was a peanut butter smoothie).
110
Sell.
Sell.
Sell!!
41
The bad news is the bom has a very serious real job to do. Supply accurate wind and weather obs for aviation. Even this job appears to be suffering from what seems to be risk minimisation. Area forcasts and aerodrome forcasts are becoming vague compared to even ten years ago. Cloud forcasts look like a crayon drawing from an early learning class. Quite pathetic.
50
BOM are a bunch of racketeers.
60
You can explain all the behaviour by considering that might be absolutely nothing. Like so many in the CSIRO or ABC or SBS. Everything you see is a failure to do any meaningful work, fix anything and just get paid for reporting. In the internet age, how many people does that take, really? What does the BOM do? Data collection is probably fully automatic.
However the BOM weather does have a link to virtue signalling “Indigenous Weather Knowledge”. I would warrant no ab*rigine knew they lived in Australia or that it was an island or had any idea where it was or how big it was. Now we have to invest in ab*riginal meteorology? Like ab*riginal mathematics? Really, we have only had mathematics ourselves for the last thousand years. We didn’t even have the words before that. Most languages ran out at 1000. Infinity was 1000+1, so the thousand and one tales.
So just sell it. It’s so 19th century. It exists because no one has closed it down. The BOM would have been worth every cent if they had stood up to the IPCC, not sell out. I can predict the title of the first expose on the BOM. “I could have told you so (but I needed my job)”
170
time will tell:
LAST CHANCE: Forecaster ‘confident’ of Stanthorpe snow
Warwick Daily News – 4 hours ago
PUT your weekend plans on ice because the chance of snow falling in Stanthorpe over the next couple of days is rising…
LET IT SNOW: Weekend brings chance of snow and tourism
Warwick Daily News – 7 Aug 2019
BABY, it’s cold outside, so get the fireplace roaring and break out your beanies because Stanthorpe could soon be transformed into a winter wonderland…
8 Aug: WSFM: Snow Predicted For Parts Of NSW This Weekend
By Olivia Esveld
According to a post to Facebook by SNOWSEARCH Australia, snow is predicted to fall on Saturday in multiple low-lying areas including Orange, Lithgow, Oberon, Blayney, Katoomba, Jenolan Caves, Shooters Hill, Crookwell, Yass, Taralga and Goulburn.
MAP
In even more shocking news, snow has also been forecast for Queensland on Saturday and Sunday in Stanthorpe! The forecast says that there is a “slight chance of sleet or snow” in the Granite Belt district…READ ON
https://www.wsfm.com.au/newsroom/snow-predicted-for-parts-of-nsw-this-weekend/
50
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/396380/heavy-snow-closes-roads-in-canterbury-more-on-the-way
Oi, stop exporting your
gobull moaningfreezing cold thundersnow blizzardclimateweather over to us:“UPDATE 9:10AM Due to snow, SH73 from Springfield to Arthurs Pass ((Porter’s Pass) is now CLOSED”.
Yeehaah, just like 30 years ago,
unprecedentedoops!“heavy snow could be enough to damage powerlines and trees, and could disrupt many roads and highways”.
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow… 🙂
60
“Snow, heavy at times. Easterlies”. Brrrr!!!
Update 12.50pm – access road is CLOSED.
https://www.metservice.com/skifields/mt-hutt
“25 cm of super dry snow (on top of 1.6 metre snow base) -5˚C max temp, -14˚C wind chill”.
Maybe Chch police should’ve strapped the arrested Extinction Rebellion eedjits to the chairlift pylons then enquired how they ‘felt about direct action now’.
50
Sounds like you’ve sent some back this way Greg.
…
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-10/bom-warns-nsw-brace-for-antarctic-winds-over-weekend/11402042
…
Snow at Blackheath is not unusual, but it is at Wentworth Falls.
I even drove through a flurry on my place this morning on the way to cut some wood. But don’t come expecting to ski. Any measurement would be in flakes per square metre of windscreen, rather than metres of drift. Not something I’ve experienced before in 27 years. (I’m at about 600 metres altitude.)
Keep warm.
Dave B
40
Wish I could claim responsibility for that but nah, it’s all in the hands of Greta –
http://squall.sfsu.edu/gif/jetstream_sohem_00.gif
Straight-line southerly out of Antarctica (where it’s -71˚C up on the plateau) to your place while Greenland’s “on fire!” on -23˚C. Huh? Did that heat wave runaway again? Sure is hard finding a ‘committed’ heat wave these days. Enjoy your real fire…
60
After Jo’s first post on this I tried to find our local weather station at Strath Creek Victoria – couldn’t see it on aerials then tried to plot their coordinates and came up with a point in the forest at Toolangi – around 30 km further east! That cant be right. When I find it – I will report on its state of play….
70
Try near the Pretty Sally fire watch tower Kilmore Gap.
Details
http://www.bom.gov.au/clim_data/cdio/metadata/pdf/siteinfo/IDCJMD0040.088162.SiteInfo.pdf
Map
https://www.google.com/maps/@-37.3807,144.9654,37m/data=!3m1!1e3
30
Found one near you,
BROADFORD GOLF COURSE 1902 .. -37.2169 145.0448 GPS VIC
also near by,
GLENBURN 1936 .. -37.3811 145.4719 GPS VIC 250.0
HEATHCOTE 1858 .. -36.9579 144.6935 GPS VIC (very old)
30
unattributed, garbled piece from ABC.
can’t help feeling our media’s hearts are not in these stories of cold weather – especially given it coincides with the IPCC meat report! lol:
9 Aug: ABC: BOM weather warning for Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia as winds and snow hit
Parts of Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales were experiencing the dangerous winds as a deep polar low moved across the region, seeing flights cancelled and prompting warnings of traffic chaos and blizzards.
“This is the coldest outbreak the south-east has seen this year,” Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) duty forecaster Rohan Smyth said…
The “worst of the cold air” was expected to reach NSW on Saturday, Mr Smyth said…
Snow dump increases avalanche risk
A blizzard warning for Victoria and NSW’s alpine areas remained in place, with winds peaking at 120 kph
The Great Alpine Road in Victoria was closed between Harrietville and Mount Hotham due to heavy snow.
Just before 5:30am, the apparent temperature at Thredbo top station was ***-22 degrees Celsius…
PIC: Snow fields in Victoria and NSW experienced heavy snowfall from Thursday night into Friday morning. (Supplied: Mt Baw Baw Alpine Resort)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-09/bom-warning-for-wild-weather-in-australias-south-east/11398428
9 Aug: news.com.au: Why the temperature feels so much colder than you expected
by Charis Chang; with AAP
You checked the temperature before you left the house this morning but it’s not always accurate. This is why.
If you have been shocked by how cold it is today you might have checked the wrong temperature measure.
Wild winds are wreaking havoc in Victoria and NSW, bringing down trees and even snapping off the end of a pier, and they have also brought temperatures lower than many were expecting.
Those who checked the temperature this morning before leaving the house may have thought they were prepared for the icy temperatures outside but only if they had checked the “apparent” temperature.
If you had gone by the temperature reading, it showed that it was 6.6 degrees at 8am at Melbourne Airport this morning. But the apparent temperature showed it actually felt like -5.2C — more than 11 degrees lower…
When the BOM measures the actual temperature of the air, it uses thermometers ***sheltered from the sun and wind, so if you are in direct sunlight at noon, this can also increase the apparent temperature by about 8C…
https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/why-the-temperature-feels-so-much-colder-than-you-expected/news-story/2ebbb50eaa843bb194c263e94fe3f3d1
VIDEO: 1min56sec: 9 Aug: 7News: Severe weather warning as winter storm lashes southern states
A super cell storm is currently tracking across the south-east of the country, with parts of Adelaide already receiving a lashing.
Thousands of homes and businesses lost power in the wild storm (LINK), with some fearing a state-wide blackout…
Blizzard conditions are expected across the Snowy Mountain, extending all the way to Victoria’s Mount Buller.
Thredbo is expecting over a metre of fresh snow.
But make sure you pack a few extra layers, the wind chill is set to make temperatures feel like ***minus 15 degrees…
https://7news.com.au/news/severe-weather/severe-weather-warning-as-winter-storm-lashes-southern-states-c-390546
50
Pat I watched one youngish ABC reporter in Newcastle today
He was reporting on the wind & cold there
And looked positively embarressed
At having to report the real cold doings of mother nature.
Wasn’t dressed for it either
Poor cold frog !
70
Eisenhower’s Less Famous Warning: Government-Controlled Science
Nothing cold about that puff piece of an amphibian. He’s been in the slowly warming ideological water for so long he doesn’t realise he’s about to be boiled to a standstill.
The BoM is beyond farce. Frankly, it appears as disheartening as it does kriminal. Scientific integrity has become as Eisenhower presciently warned (above), meaningless in bureaucracies with political masters.
80
On it’s observations website, the BOM shows both temperature and apparent temperature and normally the apparent temperature is lower than the temperature, mostly due to windspeed. It’s why, while in theory, if the temperature at the Arctic Circle or the Antarctic Circle goes above 0°C the ice will melt, as predicted by the Climate Change Believers, if the windspeed is 50kph, the apparent temperature will be about -20°C and the ice won’t melt.
20
unattributed:
9 Aug: ABC: What is thundersnow and how does it happen?
VIDEO: 1min44sec: Weather presenter’s thundersnow excitement goes viral (ABC News)
Snow and thunder storms are forecast for parts of south-east Australia as a deep polar low moves across the region.
When the two weather conditions happen together, it can cause a phenomenon called thundersnow.
It’s similar to a regular thunderstorm, except instead of rainfall you see snow.
Here’s what you need to know…
As with a perfectly formed souffle, the ingredients have to be just right.
According to Bureau of Meteorology extreme weather desk meteorologist Diana Eadie, it’s not often that all the conditions align to create thundersnow.
“Essentially what we’re seeing is a large cloud band moving across producing snow with some embedded thunderstorms within it, so we observe both lightning and snow at the same time,” she said.
“It’s similar to a normal thunderstorm — you need the combination of both a stratiform or broad-scale ascent, which would normally see rain or snow — with some instability as well.
“So the conditions need to be quite ideal for this sort of occurrence.”…
VIDEO: 4min27sec: Ask BoM: What is a severe thunderstorm?
YouTube: The BOM explains what classifies as a severe thunderstorm
“[Thundersnow is] essentially the same as a regular thunderstorm, except instead of any rainfall coming out of the thunderstorm you see snow instead,” Ms Eadie said.
“Because the whole atmosphere and the depth — which the thunderstorm is extending through — is frozen.”
According to Science News, to create thundersnow air travels up in a slant pattern rather than the purely vertical pattern of most thunderstorms…
PIC: Snow can be a peaceful sight, but not once it gets stormy. (Supplied: Will Hudson)
But hearing the thunder through the snow can be difficult even if it is happening up there.
According to AccuWeather, snow muffles the thunder crack, meaning you’re a good chance of hearing it if you’re within about five kilometres of the lightning…
Ms Eadie said thundersnow was not particularly dangerous, aside from the obvious.
“Of course the risk that we see with any thunderstorm in terms of lightning, but also the risks you see with snow as well — potentially reduced visibility associated with the snow, as well as that lightning,” she said…
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-09/what-is-thundersnow-and-how-does-it-happen/11399030
50
***ABC seeing the negative, as usual:
9 Aug: ABC: Mixed blessings for Channel Country graziers as floodwater brings strong season for some but ***leaves others desperate
Landline By Ollie Wykeham
While some are experiencing the best season in decades, neighbouring properties not touched by the floodwaters are still gripped by drought…
The scale of water that’s moved across the landscape is mind-boggling, with the Channel Country receiving twice as much water as Townsville when it flooded…
Mr Mitchell said it had sparked growth in country he thought was barren, and attracted huge flocks of birds to breed.
“This place is booming,” he said.
“I would say that you won’t get wildlife better anywhere else in the Channel Country than here at the moment.
“You don’t have to have the rain and you can still get large amounts of vegetation occurring, and the ground cover this year is just enormous.”…
“People won’t see this country look like this in the living future, it’s pretty unique at the moment,” Mr Mitchell said…
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-09/mixed-blessings-for-channel-country-graziers-after-floodwater/11399038
60
Even though it has happened
Quite often over the past 150 years
If unpredictably and erratically…
ABC ? Ummmmm ?
80
As always, the people thought to be responsible did not take that responsibility seriously. They thought all they needed to do was to record the temperature as they saw it. To them, that fulfilled their responsibility be cause each line for temperature had a number in it.
The thought that they also were responsible for the quality of the data and the accuracy and completeness for the metadata that supported data quality was easy to forget. Forget they did. They also forgot they were responsible for maintaining that record in perpetuity. That was held to be the responsibility of the next guy. The next guy thought exactly the same. After all, he recorded the temperature. That was enough to continue is paycheck.
Continue to today, the surface temperature is so corrupt that it cannot be corrected and any attempt to do so does nothing but change the values in a list of numbers that have no connection to anything real. It was only a pretense of developing a temperature record.
Only the name of the list had any connection to any original reason for developing the record. A name does NOT make the thing. It simply labels it and nothing else.
Yet the myth continues that the so called temperature records have real meaning and tells us about the state of the globe. If we really had global warming or cooling, we could not prove it by ANY government record of historical numbers falsely called The Temperature Record. They are nothing more than lists of meaningless (not connected to reality) numbers.
90
Feast your eyes on Canberra’s global warming thermometer …
ANU students stage walk out to protest climate inaction –
“Despite the cold and winds buffeting the university’s Kambri Precinct, student Cluny Gilmour joined the crowd.”
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6320773/uni-students-protest-worlds-inaction-on-climate-change/
“POLAR BLAST” RAVAGES LARGE PARTS OF AUSTRALIA BRINGING EXTREME GUSTS, PLUNGING TEMPERATURES AND LOW-LEVEL SNOW
https://electroverse.net/polar-blast-ravages-large-parts-of-australia-bringing-extreme-gusts-plunging-temperatures-and-low-level-snow/
Perhaps one of them is called Stevenson and they screamed really loudly.
50
‘The unsettled conditions are forecast to continue until the end of August as the long-lasting high pressure finally breaks down allowing antarctic weather north.’
The collapse of the subtropical ridge, illustrated by blocking high pressure, is a global cooling signal.
70
The local chapter of the
Extinction Emergency church of
Gore Bulll Warming
In full song in Canberra
Seeking more converts.
Gosh in my days as a student
It was the Hare Krisha’s
Parading around
More entertaining singing
And drums even.
We all woke up to the Hare Krishna’s
Quick enough.
It was a cult.
So too will students now
To this E M cult.
50
The Electroverse web site is a great link Travis
40
Another killer weather station.
False claims of anthropogenic global warming kill people due to energy poverty and “low carbon” agricultural methods (low productivity leading to food shortages).
Imagine what would happen with any other engineered item that caused so many deaths.
50
2 taxpayer-funded writers, yet not a single temperature mentioned. oh, but it is “extreme”:
10 Aug: ABC: Snow falls in Blue Mountains as NSW warns ‘Antarctic winds’ will bring extreme weather
By Kevin Nguyen and Michelle Brown
Residents just 90 minutes out of Sydney have woken up to fresh snowfall this morning, and the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) is forecasting a weekend of extreme winter conditions…
PIC: Snowfall on a street in Leura, near Katoomba, this morning. (ABC News: Craig McMurtrie)
Erica Mann, who moved to Blackheath in the Blue Mountains from the sandy shores of Coogee in Sydney’s eastern beaches, was ecstatic to find fresh white powder falling in her garden.
She said it was the most snow she had seen there yet…
She said the snow was deep enough for her dog Missy to leave paw prints.
“The funny thing is she came back really briskly,” she said…
The BOM has warned NSW to brace itself for “Antarctic winds”, blowing from south of Tasmania, bringing damaging winds and plummeting temperatures…
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-10/bom-warns-nsw-brace-for-antarctic-winds-over-weekend/11402042
30
From the BOM’s history on line.
“1 January 1908, nearly 120 years after William Dawes built his famous observatory at Sydney Cove, that the country gained its first national weather agency: the Bureau of Meteorology.”
“The Bureau was created to consolidate the meteorological services of Australia’s States which had developed extensive records of their regional weather during the 19th century.
We should have the best records in the world and certainly the southern half of the planet.
However 110 years later, the original task of consolidating the ‘extensive records’ over perhaps 100,000 man years is not done.
Or it has.
“We have a staff of 1,800, over 50 field offices across Australia and Antarctica, and a national network of 300 cooperative observers and 6,000 voluntary rainfall observers.”
With a budget of $280 million (2015-16) and in an internet and satellite world, why are there observers at all?
And what do 1,800 people do, or has the organization simply kept growing because it can?
With the range of automatic instruments from companies like http://www.instrumentchoice.com.au, the BOM could have thousands of weather stations which also measure rainfall and report back by internet. I bought a wireless weather station with raingauge and forecasting for only $170 solar powered. It is brilliant and reports into the house with Wifi. There are professional systems for $1,000. Perhaps if the BOM bought these things, they could get the numbers right without so many people? With three hundred million to spend every year, you would think they could get the numbers right.
70
Or just stick with 19th century weather stations in 18th century locations in what are now cities with concrete parking lots and fiddling the raw data.
Surely we can do better for $300Million a year?
90
What is the point of sticking with the ancient site for the weather stations if you are going to homogenize away the raw data? What has been measured is how much the site has warmed in 100-200 years, not the planet. For this dodgy data we are paying at least $120Million a week in our electricity bills.
100
time to celebrate:
10 Aug: Blue Mountains Gazette: Winter wonderland as snow falls in Blue Mountains
Blue Mountains residents woke up to a winter wonderland today (Saturday) as cold weather saw snow fall overnight.
Blackheath Weather reported a dumping 5cm deep about 7am while Katooomba was also covered in snow.
The Bureau of Meteorology was predicting a maximum temperature of 5 degrees Celsius for Katoomba on Saturday, with the temperature expected to climb only one degree higher for Sunday’s maximum…
“Seriously heavy snowfall in Katoomba, 2-3 inches & still going. A few hardy souls were out & about from 6am with me. Everyone’s so happy!” tweeted Mark Dickson.
In Blackheath, toboggans were the must-have accessory as every slope from the oval to the Memorial Park and all points in between became a place to slide.
TWEETS VIDEOS
https://www.bluemountainsgazette.com.au/story/6320958/winter-wonderland-as-snow-falls-in-blue-mountains/
50
❄❄ Everyone’s so happy! ❄❄
August 1983 a buddy and I spent a few enjoyable hours in the Katoomba Hotel, sitting in massive leather chairs sipping whisky by a raging fire, waiting for the snow-covered roads to clear. We’d driven up the Blue Mountains for a day trip; started out a clear winter’s day but then climate change – even way back then!
* I’d planned to ride my Suzuki 550 (2-stroke triple-cylinder suicide machine) from QLD to Sydney to visit my brother and his wife but wrote it off the week before (slid on wet railway lines crossing the Mudjimba Bridge) so bought a $300 VW Beetle in the interim. Thanks to Mr Porsche’s engineering skills, that Dubbie got me up and down the Blue Mountains (in the snow), around The Great Ocean Road (Torquay to Warrnambool), up and down the Snowy Mtns (Thredbo) and safely back to Maroochydore in QLD where I traded it in for an EH Holden station wagon (which got me to Margaret River, WA the following year). Do THAT in an EV p.o.s.! 🙂
90
10 Aug: SBS: Weather warnings in place across south-eastern Australian states
By Adam Marsters; with additional reporting from AAP
Plenty of powder
A Thredbo spokesperson said there had been 15cm of snowfall on Friday night.
“Snowfalls overnight of 15cms took the #slamminSAM storm tally to 117cms with more in the forecast today and Sunday,” she said…
“It is super cold, -8 this morning with a wind-chill of -20, so lots of layers a must today.
“The snow quality is exceptional, thanks to low overnight and day temps…
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/weather-warnings-in-place-across-south-eastern-australian-states
all bad, except for the pic:
10 Aug: SMH: Snow and ice close Blue Mountains highway, affects train services
By Jacob Saulwick
PIC: Parliament House with snow-dusted mountains surrounding the ACT after a blizzard delivered snow overnight in Canberra and parts of NSW.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/snow-and-ice-close-blue-mountains-highway-affects-train-services-20190810-p52fse.html
40
For all of us who are freezing
In our unheated homes
With high power tarrifs
“WHAT DO WE WANT ?
GLOBAL WARMING !
WHEN DO WE WNT IT ?
NOW !”
🙂
60
PICS: 10 Aug: news.com.au: ‘Insane’ weather, including snow and 113km winds hits south east Australia
“Dangerous” snowfall shut roads to the Blue Mountains, causing emergency services to set up refuge stations for those stranded.
by Rebekah Scanlan
The State Emergency Service NSW Blue Mountains Unit set up refuge stations earlier for people stuck on the highway.
“Because of heavy snowfall there were very dangerous conditions and some motorists were stuck on the highway,” SES Public Affairs Officer, Ilana Render-rose told news.com.au
Thick snow has also been falling in parts of Victoria too, as the south eastern coast continues to battle severe winds…
“We’re seeing snowfall in Katoomba, Goulburn, all across the Central Tablelands,” BOM spokesperson, Craigh Ryam, told news.com.au.
While there’s no weather warnings in place regarding the snow, the “reasonable totals” are causing many locals to share images of it blanketing their backyards on social media…
On Instagram, one resident in Orange shared a snap of their garden covered in a thick frost, while another in Blackheath shared their delight at waking up to snow this morning.
TV presenter Grant Denyer — who lives in Bathurst — shared videos of his property covered in “insane” snow falling on him and his two daughters.
His followers couldn’t believe how heavy the snow was, describing it as “crazy”, adding it must be “freezing”…
Victoria has also been given a coating of snow, with a BOM Victoria spokesperson telling news.com.au the cold blast had brought snow to “low levels” of the state.
“We’ve had snowfall in Mount Dandenong, Eastern Melbourne and are currently experiencing a temperature of just under 7C,” Dean Stewart said…
Yesterday, warnings of a “deadly polar blast” hit Australia’s east coast and bringing extreme gusts and plunging temperatures…
Across most of New South Wales and Victoria, the extent of extreme winter weather could be the worst seen in at least three years.
“This could be the strongest cold outbreak so far this winter,” the Bureau of Meterology’s Michael Logan said.
“We’ll see temperatures really plummet and snow levels down to 500m in Victoria and NSW and blizzard conditions in Alpine areas. It certainly is a real cold snap, now is the time to prepare.”…
It’s likely to only reach 11 degrees in Melbourne on Saturday and Sunday…
https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/damaging-winds-hit-south-east-coast-of-australia/news-story/1370ef8ae2ce0355ccc38d9fa0b69c6b
30
Sleet this morning! Take that, warmists.
60
October 2, 2014
Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s chief business advisor has called for an independent inquiry into the Bureau of Meteorology, alleging it manipulates data and is “caught up in global warming politics”.
In an opinion piece in The Australian, Maurice Newman alleges the BoM’s records are “error-ridden”, citing claims the bureau fudges temperature records to support a warming trend.
• Thousands march in global climate rallies
• Australia without climate policy
“Trust in our national climate records is critical. Yet the more we see, the more we question. Now is not the time for a tame review,” Mr Newman wrote.
“No supporting documentary evidence, algorithms or methodology have been produced, leaving the unfortunate impression that temperature records were falsified.”
Mr Newman’s piece follows a series of articles published by The Australian questioning the validity of weather data collected by the BoM.
“As a member of the World Meteorological Organisation, the BoM is inevitably caught up in global warming politics,” he said.
Mr Newman, a former chairperson of the ABC and the ASX, said the bureau had to dispel suspicions it had a bias toward warming temperatures.
“The BoM is a large and expensive agency, employing 1700 people and costing more than $300 million a year to run,” he wrote.
“The importance of its database and the reliability of its forecasts go well beyond direct operating costs and daily bulletins.”
“Nothing short of a thorough government-funded review and audit, conducted by independent professionals, will do.”
60
O/T
Note that the purpose of nuclear energy in Australia is not to combat non-existent anthropogenic global warming but it could be economical in locations away from coal or gas and the cheap energy might encourage development in the Outback
Not much time left to make submissions to Australian Government re nuclear energy. Naturally, nothing much will come of it because Australia is mostly anti-development (at least for useful projects), but at least you can know you’ve contributed.
https://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/one-month-for-nuclear-inquiry-submissions/news-story/50cdda8762cd616650dde4f662c065da
60
10 Aug: Bloomberg: London Blackout Blamed on Drop in Wind and Natural-Gas Power
By Will Mathis and Mathew Carr
London and surrounding areas suffered a widespread power outage Friday during the evening rush hour after windpower and natural gas generation levels dropped, according to data from network manager National Grid Plc.
“Today what happened is a major offshore wind generation site and a gas turbine failed at the same time,” said Devrim Celal, chief executive officer of Upside Energy in London, which contracts with National Grid to help balance electricity. “There was a significant shortage of generation, and that sudden drop created ripple effects across the country.”
National Grid ascribed the power failure to an “unexpected and unusual event”, the loss of two generators connected to the U.K. transmission system, which then led to a “fall in the frequency of the electricity system,” it said in an e-mailed statement…
Power went out in London and the southeast of England about 4:50 p.m. local time
National Grid said at about 6:30 p.m. that electricity supplies were restored…
CHARTS
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-09/london-blackout-occurred-amid-drop-in-wind-and-natural-gas-power
40
10 Aug: Daily Mail: Embarrassment for Chancellor Sajid Javid after he visited the National Grid just hours before a huge power cut as energy regulator Ofgem demand answers over blackout chaos
By James Wood
The National Grid Electricity System Operator has blamed the cuts on an issue with two generators, with experts believing them to be located at a gas-fired power station in Little Barford, Bedfordshire – and at a wind farm off the coast of Yorkshire…
MAP Large swathes of the country were affected by power cuts today including Bristol, Exeter and Newport. The capital was particularly badly affected, with the Victoria Line closed and King’s Cross evacuated.
Professor Tim Green, co-director of the Energy Futures Laboratory, Imperial College London, believes the two generators disconnected were at Little Barford and Hornsea.
He said: ‘The first generator to disconnect was a gas fired plant at Little Barford at 16:58. Two minutes later Hornsea Offshore wind farm seems to have disconnected.
‘This might be linked to disturbance caused by first generator failing; might not.
‘We will need to wait for National Grid’s full technical investigation to get to bottom of that.’…
Harriet Jackson described an ‘apocalyptic’ scene when she witnessed the power outage causing traffic lights to cut out on Northcote Road in Battersea, south London, after leaving Clapham Junction train station at around 5pm…
‘It was like witnessing something out of an apocalyptic film.”…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7343135/Embarrassment-Sajid-Javid-visited-National-Grid-just-hours-huge-power-cut.html
40
10 Aug: UK Sun: BLACK FRIDAY Power cut plunges Britain into chaos as thousands stranded on trains in pitch dark for six hours and desperate passengers ‘pee from windows’
by Molly Rose Pike & Felix Allen
A million people across the UK were plunged into darkness after two National Grid generators spectacularly failed, with large parts of London, the South East, Liverpool, Glasgow, Wales, Gloucestershire and Manchester all without power…
Commuters described “apocalyptic” scenes when power failed around 5pm – even knocking out traffic lights in some areas…
Christopher Lovell tweeted: “Been sat on a train outside Hatfield for 4.5 hours now.
“People have been p*****g out of the drivers door as there are no toilets.
“Completely unacceptable, multiple opportunities to evacuate the train while it was still daylight.”…
One traveller on board told The Sun Online: “It was pitch black, toilets were overflowing, people were shouting and children crying.
“It was pandemonium. After about five hours the police came to break up fights.”…
“Passengers were on the point of revolt.”…
He said a diesel train was eventually brought alongside and workers helped them across the track…
Last night there were reports the outage was caused by a failure of one gas power station and a ***major wind farm at the same time.
National Grid confirmed at around 6.40pm that the issue had been “resolved” – but the knock-on disruption lasted hours…
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9691385/power-cut-uk-trains-tubes-power-lights-outage/
50
check this twitter thread with charts:
TWEET: Devrim Celal
A significant drop in generation this afternoon caused a major drop in frequency leading to power cuts across the country. Our fleet responded as expected helping stabilise the grid. Upside Energy Ltd #powercut @upsideenergy
***CHARTS
Devrim Celal
Looks like it was an offshore wind and a gas turbine…
Lord Haw-Haw #thebrexitparty
Should have kept those coal fired power stations.
Devrim Celal
Better to have supported more renewables.
Harry Calvin
Does this data suggest that wind power was suddenly cut off? Perhaps wind turbines stopped due to ***high winds? #powercut
CHART
https://twitter.com/dcelal/status/1159865162263928832
lots of stuff about “high winds” in UK and not just forecasted, as some of this might be:
***9 Aug:BBC: UK weather: Heavy rain and winds set to hit parts of the country
Heavy rain and strong winds are set to cause more disruption across the UK, with the risk of localised flooding and train delays.
Weather warnings are in place for much of the country on Friday and Saturday…
The Met Office forecasts winds of up to 60mph for parts of the Channel coast, south-west England and west Wales…
The yellow warning for wind, covering parts of Wales and south-west and southern England, lasts from 15:00 BST until midnight…
“In high winds, there’s a particular risk to lorries, caravans and motorbikes so we’d advise drivers of these vehicles to slow down and avoid using exposed sections of road if possible,” (Richard Leonard, head of road safety at Highways England) said…
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-49287473
30
love how the wind farm isn’t front and centre of any reports. mentioned about half-way down by The Guardian:
10 Aug: Guardian; Transport chaos across England and Wales after major power cuts
Energy watchdog Ofgem warns it could take ‘enforcement action’ over the outage
by Kevin Rawlinson and Jillian Ambrose
EnAppSys, an energy consultancy, said the blackout may have been caused by the unexpected shutdowns of the Hornsea offshore wind farm, which is owned by the Danish wind farm company Orsted, and the Little Barford gas-fired power plant, owned by German utility giant RWE.
National Grid data showed both of the generators dropped from the grid at around the same time. The twin outages caused a sudden loss of frequency of the electricity grid, to below 49Hz, which would have caused certain parts of the network to disconnect automatically, causing the power cuts.
“We would have expected the system to cope with this size of loss of generation,” an EnAppSys spokesman said. “This implies that there may have been [other] issues at the time of the trips.”…
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/aug/09/power-cut-hits-london-and-south-east-england
50
9 Aug: Grimsby Telegraph: Huge UK power cut involved Grimsby’s newest wind farm suddenly dropping off grid
Airports, roads and railways across the country were affected by the blackout from around 5pm
By David Laister
A huge power cut that brought disruption to hundreds of thousands of people as the working week came to an end involved Grimsby’s newest wind farm suddenly dropping off the grid.
Power from Hornsea One, which has unofficially taken the title as the world’s largest in recent weeks, fell off the UK network just before 5pm.
It was one of at least two generators lost in as yet unexplained circumstances, with the Little Barford gas-fired station in Cambridgeshire also going down, amplifying the issue…
Still being built out from Hull, with operations teams deployed from owner Orsted’s new £14 million East Coast Hub at Grimsby’s Royal Dock, Hornsea One’s Siemens Gamesa turbines have been powered up as the work has progressed.
There are now less than 50 turbines still to be installed off the Yorkshire coast.
It was back generating at a UK record level as the evening became night, sending 848MW to the grid at 9pm…
The National Grid Electricity System Operator confirmed there had been issues with two generators, though sources close to the Danish giant’s operations said it could potentially have been more…
Orsted’s team were looking into the issue, when approached for a comment, with the loss of Hornsea potentially triggered by another event on the system National Grid delicately balances.
A spokesperson said: ”The UK’s power network is a complex system that works together. We are currently working with the National Grid System Operator to establish the facts and sequence of events that have occurred in relation to this evening’s outages.”
It will undoubtedly prompt major investigations.
It comes as the major investor in Grimsby leads the world in rapidly ramping up renewables, with 400 jobs being created in the town.
However, in the half yearly results published earlier this week, president and chief executive Henrik Poulsen did sound a note of caution, stating how the company was “not fully satisfied with generation in the first half year where the number of outages and curtailments across the portfolio has been higher than normal”. Availability of the wind farm fleet dropped two per cent over like-for-like periods.
Supply was not impacted in northern Lincolnshire, where the connection is made.
Power is brought onshore at Horseshoe Point, skirting around North East Lincolnshire to North Killingholme, where a £25 million substation has been built to connect to the National Grid.
It isn’t the first issue with what is still a relatively fledgling technology. Humber Gateway, the E.on wind farm visible from Cleethorpes, the closest to the Humber bases, had its capability restricted by a cable fault…
https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/news/grimsby-news/huge-uk-power-cut-involved-3195918
20
If they don’t have the LARGE synchronous coal-fired power station holding FAIR bulk of the power, OF COURSE they are going to get frequency fluctuations.
This has been said MANY times. !
40
Maybe a rat chewed through the cable.
10
A SINGLE MENTION OF WIND AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIECE, IN ANALYSIS:
10 Aug: BBC: Major power failure affects homes and transport
National Grid said it was caused by issues with two power generators but the problem was now resolved…
Analysis
By Ben Ando, BBC News correspondent
The enormous impact of this power failure is likely to lead to questions about the strength and robustness of the system.
The BBC understands that two power supply plants – one a traditional gas and steam-fired power station in Cambridgeshire, the other a huge wind-turbine farm in the North Sea – failed at about 16:00 BST.
National Grid described it as an “unexpected, and unusual event”.
An additional factor may have been capacity problems at Britain’s largest single power station in Yorkshire.
The sudden drop in available power caused protective measures to kick in that immediately cut electricity supply to a section of the National Grid network…
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-49300025
A SINGLE MENTION OF WIND IN THE ENTIRE LIVE COVERAGE – AND THAT IS WHEN THEY POST BEN ANDO’S ANALYSIS ABOVE:
BBC Live: LiveUK power outage: Live updates
Summary
Major power failures have been reported across large areas of the UK, affecting homes and transport networks.
National Grid said it was caused by issues with two power generators but the problem was now resolved.
Blackouts were reported across the South East, Midlands, South West, North East and Wales.
Posted at 8:24
Goodnight…
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-england-kent-49198575
9 Aug: BBC: Ipswich Hospital loses power across site
Power was lost across Ipswich Hospital amid a national power failure after the back-up generator failed to work.
The site was hit by a 30-minute power cut and staff are looking into why the back-up generators did not kick in.
People at the hospital said “sirens went off” as power was lost
A spokeswoman for Ipswich Hospital said it was “too early” to say whether there was a fault but assured staff “helped keep patients safe” during the power outage…
Vikki Irwin, a journalist with BBC Radio Suffolk, said her mother was at Ipswich Hospital at about 17:00 BST on a hydraulic lift being moved up to a scanner when the power cut happened.
“My mum was being lifted up and was near the top when all these sirens went off in the hospital and the lift stopped,” she said.
“They said the power had gone out across the site. Lots of parts of the hospital were completely dark. We had to get my mum down manually.”
Ms Irwin said the incident lasted at least 20 minutes…
(BBC’S HAPPY ENDING)
A hospital employee told the BBC the power cut did not last long on the ward she was working on.
“It was just a few seconds, definitely no more than 10,” she said.
“There was never any danger.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-suffolk-49299837
20
This is the Guardian perspective, looks like it was intelligently designed.
‘EnAppSys, an energy consultancy, said the blackout may have been caused by the unexpected shutdowns of the Hornsea offshore wind farm, which is owned by the Danish wind farm company Orsted, and the Little Barford gas-fired power plant, owned by German utility giant RWE.
‘National Grid data showed both of the generators dropped from the grid at around the same time. The twin outages caused a sudden loss of frequency of the electricity grid, to below 49Hz, which would have caused certain parts of the network to disconnect automatically, causing the power cuts.’
20
Snow at Manuka Oval Canberra
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/live-afl-round-21-gws-giants-v-hawthorn/news-story/ef65c8dbc7afb4ed5c61623b63f5382c
50
Snow in Canberra on Saturday as well
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6320965/canberra-wakes-to-more-snow-after-falls-at-manuka-mark-first-for-afl/
50
Uncommon, but has happened before. 😉
50
Sky has one mention way down, and it’s once again Tim Green claiming the gas fired plant went down first:
10 Aug: Sky News: Energy watchdog demands answers after major UK power cut
The National Grid outage hit during Friday rush-hour and caused widespread disruption to train services across the country.
Professor Tim Green, co-director of the Energy Futures Laboratory, Imperial College London, believes the two generators disconnected were at Little Barford and Hornsea.
He said: “The first generator to disconnect was a gas fired plant at Little Barford at 16.58. Two minutes later Hornsea Offshore wind farm seems to have disconnected…
https://news.sky.com/story/energy-watchdog-demands-answers-after-major-uk-power-cut-11781651
behind paywall:
9 Aug: UK Times: Offshore wind developer Orsted powers ahead
by Emily Gosden
The world’s largest offshore wind company has seen a rise in half-year profit, boosted by increased power generation from two new UK wind farms.
Orsted reported a 2 per cent increase in group earnings to 8.8 billion Danish kroner (£1.1 billion), driven by an 18 per cent rise in income from operational wind farms.
The Danish company said this reflected “the ramp-up of output” from Borkum Riffgrund 2 off Germany, Walney Extension in the Irish Sea and Hornsea One off the coast of East Yorkshire.
However, it said it was not “fully satisfied” with its wind power output in the first six months of the year due to higher-than-normal outages and curtailments.
This was primarily due to a platform fire at a wind farm off Denmark but it also had downtime due to cable repairs at the London Array wind farm …
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/offshore-wind-developer-orsted-powers-ahead-svwmvrqz2
20
It is irrelevant which went down first.
The fact that losing 2 inputs to the grid, the gas fired one being a piddling 120MW, while the offshore wind has a nameplate of 1.2GW (10 times the amount of the gas plant0, shows just how knife-edge they are running the grid.
MORE SYNCHRONOUS DESPATCHABLE electricity needed.
GO COAL
80
It was only a little over two years ago the Grauniad was, on behalf of the entire country, taking pride in having achieved its first coal free day.
They’re so much deeper into the fantasy than Australia is that no number of continuing failures will undo their fervour for renewables.
Will our policy makers learn from this?
Some ambitious young journalist could get Audrey Zibelman and Alan Finkel to explain how we are immune from such failures.
40
9 Aug: Energy Reporters: Orsted eyes Scottish wind expansion amid rising profits
By Energy Reporters
Danish wind giant Orsted has said it is “looking forward” to the next Scottish offshore wind leasing round as revenues rise from the sector.
Of the 5.3 terawatt-hours generated by its offshore wind farms in the first six months of 2019, 3.1 terawatt-hours came from the UK.
The UK’s largest wind developer reported a rise in half-year profits, boosted by rising generation from two new UK wind farms.
It reported a 2-per-cent increase in group earnings to 8.8 billion Danish kroner (€1.18 billion) because of “the ramp-up of output” from Borkum Riffgrund 2 off Germany, Walney Extension and Hornsea One. Orsted owns or has shared ownership with 11 completed wind farms in UK waters.
The renewables firm has reported an 18-per-cent increase in offshore wind revenues.
Construction began at the Orsted’s 175-turbine, 1.2-gigawatt Hornsea One project off the East Yorkshire coast last year, which is set to overtake 657-megawatt Walney as the world’s largest offshore wind farm when it is due to be completed next year. Hornsea One generated power from its first turbine in February. Hornsea Two is also due to overtake Walney in the Irish Sea.
Hornsea One was expected to power more than 1 million homes, the world’s largest offshore wind company added…
***There was a platform fire at a wind farm off Denmark and delays because of cable repairs at the London Array wind farm off the coast of Kent in southern England and outages at Race Bank, west of Duddon Sands and Burbo Bank, which are both in the UK.
Orsted has transformed itself from the Danish Oil and Natural Gas company into the world’s biggest offshore wind developer. It is majority-owned by the Danish authorities.
https://www.energy-reporters.com/environment/orsted-eyes-scottish-wind-expansion-amid-rising-profits/
10
8 Aug: S&P Global: Danish Orsted’s H1 offshore wind output dented by outages
by Henry Edwardes Evans
Highlights
300 GWh non-compensated shortfall
New capacity boosts overall output
Heat and power output down
London — Curtailment and operational issues hit Danish energy company Orsted’s first-half offshore wind performance, with some problems expected to continue into the third quarter, the company said in interim results Thursday.
The problems related to Horns Rev 1 in Denmark following a platform fire in October 2018 (all 79 wind turbines were back in operation as of end-June2019), converter station outages at Borkum Riffgrund 2, array cable repairs at London Array and various array cable and export system outages at Race Bank, West of Duddon Sands and Burbo Bank in the UK.
“In addition, we have had higher than expected non-compensated curtailments at our German wind farms in H1 2019,” the company said.
The issues resulted in a total non-compensated generation shortfall of 300 GWh. Fully-compensated curtailments came to 200 GWh, it said…
Wind speeds were slightly higher than last year at an average of 9.2 meters per second (9.1 m/s in H1 18). Availability of the offshore fleet was down to 92% from 94% in H1 2018…ETC
https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/electric-power/080819-danish-orsteds-h1-offshore-wind-output-dented-by-outages
10
More BOM incompetence !!
Someone needs to wake up to all this rubbish in the name of science . .
GeoffW
30
there are really bad stations when you want to separate natural signal from “environmental” signal..but in fact a rural station is not free from environnemental change, culture, tree falling, and so on..they are more subtile..
the problem is deeper..signification of surface temperature first.
at a global scale wht is the impact of environmental change in rural areas on surface temperatures?
we change local wind partern moisture of the soil, albedo…
10
9 Aug: TheEnergyst: National Grid: Two generators cause big frequency drop
by Brendan Coyne
Two generators tripping caused the biggest frequency drop for years, with widespread power outages as National Grid disconnected demand in order to limit the impact.
RWE’s 740MW Little Barford gas-fired power station tripped first, followed by some units at Ørsted’s Hornsea offshore wind farm.
Strong winds led to exceptional volumes of renewable power on the system, and fewer thermal plant generating as a result. That reduced inertia on the system, reducing the available resources to manage the outages, resulting in frequency quickly dropping to 48.9hz – well below tolerance boundaries.
National Grid ESO said it took action to cut demand in some areas to protect the rest of the system. That led to outages across the country. The system operator said all areas were restored by 18:30, though transport networks and commuters were feeling the effects for the rest of the evening.
National Grid has to maintain the power system close to 50hz to keep it stable. In the past, it has relied on inertia in the system in order to regulate frequency.
However, inertia has been provided by the large spinning turbines of big power stations. As coal plant shuts down and gas load factors reduce as more wind and solar comes on stream, there is less available inertia.
National Grid is therefore more reliant on ‘synthetic inertia’ provided by companies responding very quickly using batteries, or turning large plant on or off, or fast acting forms of generation such as pumped storage, to balance frequency.
It pays companies to deliver frequency response – which usually helps to prevent large-scale outages.
National Grid aims to be able to operate the system entirely on renewable sources when practicable by 2025 and will therefore require greater sources of flexibility to keep the system balanced.
The incident will also have given businesses and critical infrastructure providers – such as hospitals, banks, airports and data centres – a clearer picture of the state of their back-up power systems.
https://theenergyst.com/national-grid-two-generators-cause-big-frequency-drop/
20
9 Aug: Financial Times: Power outage hits large parts of England and Wales
by FT reporters; Reporting by Anjli Raval, Donato Mancini, Daniel Thomas, Janina Conboye, Nathalie Thomas and David Sheppard
The National Grid electricity system operator said: “This evening we had an unexpected and unusual event, the loss of two generators that connect to the GB transmission system, which led to a fall in the frequency of the electricity system
…
One source at a local energy network said: “I’ve never heard of anything like this in 20 years.”…
EnAppSys, a company that monitors and analyses electricity grid data, had earlier suggested that the problems were caused by generation stopping at two locations at the same time. They were the Little Barford gas-fired station in Cambridgeshire, owned by German utility RWE, and the Hornsea offshore wind farm, off the coast of Yorkshire, owned by Orsted.
..
Patrick Verwer, chief executive of Govia Thameslink Railway, said: “The widescale failure of the power grid that has brought our Thameslink and many of our Great Northern trains to a stand(still?) north of London continues to cause major disruption …We will not be able to run trains between London and Bedford, Cambridge and Peterborough and therefore advise customers they will not be able to travel on these routes for the rest of the day.”
Later on Friday evening, the company added: “We have put on as many buses as we can source, arranged for our tickets to be accepted by other transport providers and organised taxis wherever possible.”
…
***
Earlier on Friday National Grid, the electricity system operator, had said that wind-power generation was providing the highest ever proportion of UK electricity. It was rising to around 50 per cent while parts of the country were being buffeted by storms.
https://www.ft.com/content/d0feb744-bac5-11e9-8a88-aa6628ac896c
30
“Earlier on Friday National Grid, the electricity system operator, had said that wind-power generation was providing the highest ever proportion of UK electricity. It was rising to around 50 per cent while parts of the country were being buffeted by storms.”
said they, bursting with the pride that comes before a fall.
20
Thanks. Posted this on a new thread. Cheers!
Jo
40
Whether temperature is rising or falling on average is in itself meaningless. Most of us know there are many driving forces, long and short term. The Sun of course is the main one and swamps all others. We also know for a fact that man has a trivial influence on global temperatures. So what’s all the fuss? How about we focus on avoiding an economic catastrophe due to a lack of reliable, sustainable and affordable power and water. Soon food will join the fold in a big way. Why are we so blind to the crisis that’s on our doorstep? Why do governments listen so much to the crap coming from the alarmists regarding cutting emissions when we know for a fact that we could cut them to zero very simply by using nuclear and yet at the same time we know it will not have any impact on the climate. These are indisputable facts. Yet virtually all politicians and business leaders carry on as though the end of the world is coming unless we cut our emissions significantly by using the least reliable, least sustainable and least affordable source of power – renewables. Go figure. Are we stupid or are we stupid? I challenge them including PM Morrison to find a better way to wreck our economy.
40
‘Are we stupid or are we stupid?’
Politicians are wilfully ignorant, terrified of the chattering classes, but the klimatariat pushing AGW at every opportunity are misguided opportunists.
‘We also show that with higher concentrations of greenhouse gases we expect there to be less blocking, particularly to the south of Australia and over New Zealand during winter.’
Patterson et al 2019
40
Voters elect those politicians so the real fault rests with the voters not the politicians.
30
The voters have limited choices, but at the recent federal election they chose wisely.
The centre of gravity in the ALP is moving in the direction of the Unity faction and a coal renaissance. As both majors scrape off the green slime our democracy should become stable and give the electorate a clearer picture without the additive of cultural Marxism clouding the issues.
30
We had a major power cut in Britain yesterday due to a gas-fired power station failing then two minutes later a wind farm disconnecting from the grid.
50
Yes we know all about that here in SA
The wind farms shut down in September 2016
And we went ‘ystem black’
For about 7 hours.
But some folks were black for 3-4 days
Wonderful what wind farms can do to bring us to our knees !
30
The gas fired station was a piddling 120MW Capacity
If losing that can cause a grid problem, they need more synchronous dispatchable power
The offshore windfarm has a nameplate capacity of 10 times that amount, but is TOTALLY INCAPABLE of frequency control.
70
Anton:
No way could a gas fired plant drive a wind farm off grid. Especially as the gas fired plant was back up running in 25 minutes.
30
TRAIN TRAVEL With SNOW
Today I returned from Sydney to Melbourne on the XPT Train (“Introduced to service in 1982 the XPT, short for “express passenger train”, has an aerodynamic design and travels between Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Dubbo, Grafton and Casino.”)
The term EXPRESS is a misnomer. The train has an aerodynamic design, but does not go very fast. The 960km trip took 11 hours which is the same time as the old Southern Aurora train 1962-1986. We trundled along at a steady 90-100kph. On the few sections adjacent to the Hume Highway it could be seen that the cars were faster!
The problem seems to be the track, which is pretty rough most of the time. There was a short section south of Yass where there was actually banked track on the curves. That part was noticeably smoother and we seemed to be going faster (train staff said 150kph). Most of the time it was hard to walk in the train without hanging on to something because it was sooo bouncy. In Victoristan we had to slow down even more, because of track work, which lost us about 10 minutes time in just 200km.
We saw a lot of snow on the paddocks and low hills from Goulbourn to Yass. This was the result of the ICY ANTARCTIC BLAST which caused many aeroplane delays out of Melbourne and Sydney on Friday (hence my train trip) The young conductress said she has never seen snow before. I said I also thought it was exciting, because I have only seen snow on higher mountains of the Victorian Alps, never before on farming paddocks.
A Cooling Signal?
80
Otherwise known as the Streaky Bay con.
10
Or “Formerly” known as the Streaky Bay Con.’
The BOM site was moved late last year.
00
So this is how they based the over all reference for global warming temperature? I’ve been bombarded with info regarding global warmings, rise of the temperatures, and everything that is related to the overall rise of the worlds temperature, yet there’s very little info on how they was able to do that, to monitor the temperature, or that technology that does the job with precision.
To calculate a global average temperature, scientists begin with temperature measurements taken at locations around the globe. … Each value is then used to calculate a global temperature average. This process provides a consistent, reliable method for monitoring changes in Earth’s surface temperature over time. That’s all folks!
10