JoNova (Australia)
Friday April 19th set more records than anyone realized. Not only was it the earliest recorded snowfall at Bluff Knoll
and WA, but it was also the coldest ever April day in Albany and many
other towns in south-west Western Australia. It may also be the largest
single day temperature mystery I’ve ever seen in the official “raw”
data.
Days like the 19th are extremely unusual in Western Australia — it’s a state that often doesn’t get any snow all year and
when it does, the length of the entire snow season is measured in
hours. So you might think the million-dollar-a-day Bureau of Meteorology
would be paying extra attention. Instead it appears they have lost that
day’s data in Albany, despite having two thermometers there to record
it. One station is in the city itself and there’s an official “expert”
ACORN station at the airport about 10km away.
Luckily Chris Gillham, unpaid volunteer, was watching the live half
hour observations roll in at and saw that thermometers at the airport
recorded a maximum of only 10.4°C at 11am that day, which he remarks is
the lowest April maximum the BOM has ever recorded there. Strangely, the
10.4°C seems to have disappeared. Somehow, the BOM has estimated that
April 19th in the city of Albany was 25.1°C on Friday April 19th, which
is what is now entered as “raw data” in their Climate Data Online. This
is despite temperatures in almost all the surrounding towns being
similarly low, and often lowest ever records (for April) as well."
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