In the midst of last week’s record-setting European heat wave, Germany previous record of 40.3 degrees was impressively shattered by the measurement station located in the northwest city of Lingen near the Dutch border, some 50 kilometers from where I live.
Controversial siting
Yet, controversy swirls about the new record setting measurement since it has come to light that the measurement station seems to be fraught with some considerable siting issues.
As the photo published by T-online here shows, the station is located near a DWD office building, is shielded from the wind by trees and is located not far from a public swimming pool.
Meteorologist Michael Theusner told t-online.de: “The monthly average of the daily highs in Lingen has been deviating more and more upwards from the average of the highs in Lower Saxony since 2010.” The station has become increasingly shielded and thus tends to heat up more.
Swiss veteran meteorologist Jörg Kachelmann wrote possibly by 3 degrees!
DWD accepts overheated reading
Germany’s DWD national weather service has even confirmed that the station’s siting is no longer adequate and that a move to new site had been already long planned. But despite the acknowledged poor siting, the DWD went ahead and confirmed the reading as valid. The 42.6°C reading stands as Germany’s new all-time recorded high temperature.
And how does Lingen compare to other temperature stations located nearby? Fifty kilometers to the east of Lingen km where I live (Quakenbrück), my home thermometer showed a high of 38.2°C. So the Lingen reading really does appear suspicious. I decided to compare Lingen to the official stations nearby to see if their readings were as hot.
The surrounding readings confirm meteorologist Kachelmann’s gut suspicion. What follows is a chart depicting the readings recorded by the Lingen station this past week. The DWD itself states that the mercury in fact did reach 42.6°C on Thursday (Do. 25.07)!
Chart: wetter24.de
Now looking at the Nordhorn station located some 20 kilometers away, the mercury climbed to 40.9°C, which is 1.7°C below the Lingen reading.
Chart: wetter24.de
At the Meppen station also located some 20 km away, north of Lingen, the mercury reached 39.2°C, a far cry (3.4°C) from Lingen’s maximum reading:
Chart: wetter24.de
At the military base in Diepholz, some 65 km to the east, the high on Thursday was 38.7 degrees, i.e. almost 4°C below the Lingen reading!
Chart: wetter24.
In Bersenbrück, some 40 km to the east, according to wetterkontor.de, the mercury charged to 39.6°C, yet 3°C below Lingen’s record reading.
Looking at other stations nearby, we see that Emsdetten recorded 40.6°C, and Ahaus saw 39.5°C – significantly below Lingen’s recorded measurement.
More than 2°C hotter than surrounding stations!
A summary of all the temperature readings recorded at Lingen compared to those of 6 nearby stations for the past 5 days, July 23 – July 27:
On every single day, Lingen handily beat its neighbors by at times large margins. Has the climate directed some sort of giant heat ray at Lingen?
2.6°C hotter than adjacent stations
On the record-setting date of Thursday, July 25, 2019, the mean of the 6 neighboring stations was an eyebrow-raising 2.6°C below the Lingen reading. All the stations cited around the Lingen station all share very similar topographical characteristics, and all are located on the north German flatlands, and thus comparable.
No doubt the reading at Lingen is accurate. But it looks like the siting of the Lingen station is causing overheated readings. The DWD should think twice before accepting Lingen’s 42.6°C reading as a valid new record.
In the contest to be the hottest city in Germany, Lingen cheated.
via NoTricksZone
July 28, 2019 at 09:05AM
Iowa Climate Science Education 
Reblogged this on Climate- Science.
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