Fake Climate Records

[Glacier]

Here is a thread for discussing likely climate errors.

I'll go first. Castlegar supposedly had a humidex of 53.4 on 1961-07-14 15:00:00 PDT.

I know it can be humid and hot in the Kootenays, but this just seems really unlikely! That would be a Canadian record. We are talking a dew point of 29.4, which would be a Canadian record as well. The temperature was 35.6C.

The highest dew point outside of that summer was on June 6, 1967 at 23.9. Even that value seems suspiciously high. The highest recorded since 1967 was 21.6, set on August 1, 1998.

So what was the highest humidex ever recorded at Castlegar? It would be 44, set July 31, 2009 (dew point was 18.6 and the temperature was actually hot at 37.4C).

This is inline with other southern interior hot spots:
- Trail = 41 (set in July 2006 and July 2013)
- Penticton = 43 (set July 2nd, 2013), with dew point at 19.1 and temperature at 36.2C
- Vernon = 42 (set June 29, 2008), with dew point at 14.1 and temperature at 38.5C
- Salmon Arm = 45 (set July 2, 2013)
- Kamloops = 42 (set July 24, 1994), with dew point at 13.2 and temperature at 38.4C
- Ashcroft = 41 (set July 1, 2013), with a dew point of 10.7 and a temperature of 39.1C
- Osoyoos = 46 (set in both 1998 and 2004). The most recent on June 22, 2004 had a dew point of 16.2 and a temperature of 40.9.
- Lytton = 45 (set in 2006), dew point at 14.0 and temperature at 41.9
- Kelowna = 43, set July 22, 1971 (34.4C with dew point of 21.7 and humidity of 48%).
- Lillooet = 39, set several times since records began in 2013. One example is a temperature of 40.5 and a dew point of 0.9 and a relative humidity of 9%!

- Nakusp = 44, set July 5, 2007, dew point of 19.4, temperature of 37.2
- Nelson = 42, set 2006 and 2007
- Creston = 47, set July 12, 2002 (BC record?)

OTHER LOCATIONS:
- Puntzi Mountain 35, set in 1997, 1998, and 2006. (Temperature 33 to 34.7 with the dew point 7.5 to 12.2)

NOTES:
- The official Kamloops record of 47 is also bunk. In 1957 the temperature was 31.1C and the dew point was 28.3C? In Kamloops? No way in heck!
- Ashcroft, Lillooet, and Puntzi Mountain are the only places in Canada I can find where the extreme max temperature is HIGHER than the extreme high humidex!
- The Kelowna record Humidex is also fake in my view. The data from 1964-65 is crazy. 33 degrees with 68% humidity, and a humidex of 46? I don't think so!

[Glacier]

Pemberton's extreme humidex is also fake. The 2004 data is completely fake, and in fact, we can see this because an error occurs when the humidity is well over 100%. The 52 humidex from 2004 is wrong. The most humid it has been there is 46, set on July 27, 1998. Temperature 39.8 and dew point 17.9.

Abbotsford's record of 46 is also suspect. Set a couple days before Castlegar's fake value. I'm more included to trust the 44 set on July 21, 2006.

[Abby_wx]

Back in the days of wet bulb thermometers and manual measurements... what could go wrong?

[Glacier]

Back in the days of wet bulb thermometers and manual measurements... what could go wrong?

LOL... although, I must say that automated precipitation recording is far less reliable than manual. FOR EXAMPLE: Puntzi Mountain (one of the driest places in BC) has supposedly had precipitation for like 150 days in a row now!... https://climate.weather.gc.ca/climate_d ... ionID=8092

[Abby_wx]

LOL... although, I must say that automated precipitation recording is far less reliable than manual. FOR EXAMPLE: Puntzi Mountain (one of the driest places in BC) has supposedly had precipitation for like 150 days in a row now!... https://climate.weather.gc.ca/climate_d ... ionID=8092

Yup, there's not a lot that can go wrong with a manual rain gauge... no moving parts or electricity, no calibration needed, no math or programming required. Any problems are likely to be caught far more quickly because someone is actually checking the gauge regularly.

Dew point on the other hand is hard to measure at the best of times. Correct use of a wet bulb thermometer is critical, and there is some math required. The more it can be automated, the less room for error.

[Glacier]

The warmest daily low I can find in BC is a 29.4C set at KAMLOOPS CDA on July 13th, 1955. This is CLEARLY an error because the nearby airport shows nothing out of the ordinary that night...

mistakekamloops.png

EDIT: The warmest legitimate values I can find in BC are at Lillooet, Kamloops (the airport, although this station data is merged with the "Kamloops" station), Penticton, Shalalth, and Ashcroft.

Stations NOT making the cut: Osoyoos, Oliver, Spences Bridge, and Lytton.

highestmins.png

[Canada Goose]

EDIT: The warmest legitimate values I can find in BC are at Lillooet, Kamloops (the airport, although this station data is merged with the "Kamloops" station), Penticton, Shalalth, and Ashcroft.

Stations NOT making the cut: Osoyoos, Oliver, Spences Bridge, and Lytton.
highestmins.png

There's a problem with the data of Lillooet in August 2012. I have a Tmin of 19.5C.

Capture d’écran 2020-03-09 à 16.31.22.jpg

The same for Penticton: it's an error.

Capture d’écran 2020-03-09 à 16.37.46.jpg

The same in Kamloops in 2004...

Capture d’écran 2020-03-09 à 16.41.23.jpg

With GarbageEC, you need to control each data...

[Glacier]

Nice work.

I only investigated the first value. I wonder how far down the list I'd have to get before hitting a real one?

[Glacier]

There's a problem with the data of Lillooet in August 2012. I have a Tmin of 19.5C.

Weird, i downloaded it from another site, which supposedly scraped it off of EC. Maybe EC updated that one. Anyway, the other Lillooet records from 1924 are probably fake as well. One night above 24C, okay, but three, and at different times of the month? I don't think so! https://climate.weather.gc.ca/climate_d ... &Year=1924

So that leaves us with Shalalth (near Lillooet) and Ashcroft. Shalalth's numbers seem very high in 1998. 26C while it's 22C in Lillooet and Lillooet and 23C in Spences Bridge? We are talking days well in excess of 40C in Lillooet during one of the hottest months on record, so possible I guess. It might be on a hillside so maybe the nighest are very warm, but still, nights get much cooler as you head west from Lillooet as a rule (see how cold Pemberton or Gates Station is at night). I'll give a 55% chance of being an actual value.

https://climate.weather.gc.ca/climate_d ... 98&Month=7#

July 1979 is also in a similar boat. A very warm 40C day followed by an extremely warm night (or do I have that backwards). Anyway, the year before there were a massive number of days over 20, including one at 25, so maybe. At first I was going to give this one the odds of 10% of actually happening since Lillooet, Lytton, etc. were not even 20 that day, and then 20 the next or not even, but then I notice that Pemerton really shot up that day, going from 12 (+/-) the other days to 19 that day, which is probably record warm for Pemberton, so maybe this actually did happen. I'll say the odds are 75% of it actually happening.

The station was closed in 2004.

Finally, that brings us to Ashcroft, which I'm over 90% sure is a legitimate record because the hourly data backs it up.
https://climate.weather.gc.ca/climate_d ... &Year=2013

It's interesting that many of the other stations you'd expect to be over 20 were not like Kamloops and Lillooet, and in fact, the night before was warmer. That goes to show you how much the weather can change from one location to another.

With that in mind, I'm willing to let the Shalalth temperatures stand as the all time records (unless I find another location).

[Glacier]

I'm inclined to say the 1924 temperatures in Lillooet are legit because a lot of other places had very warm nights that month.

Here is my list so far of legitimate records (I have not verified all of them nor have I done a complete search). Notice that the amazingly warm night in September 2017 at Malahat made the list).

WARMESTNIGHTSINBC.png

[Glacier]

One of the most fake records of all time is Kamloops in January and February 1895. My belief is that this data is actually supposed to be Bella Coola (or some such place). It's wetter and slightly cooler than Agassiz. I'm sorry, but Kamloops is never going to have 150 mm of rain in January, nor is it ever going to be that warm.

[Glacier]

Apparently the deepest snow depth ever recorded in Canada was at Grouse Mountain in 1999.

Could very well be true, although the nearby snowpack station showed 150 cm less snow depth at the time.

Anyway, on June 30th the snow depth was 465 cm deep. And the very next day it was 0 cm... https://climate.weather.gc.ca/climate_d ... &Year=1999

[Typeing3]

On this topic... one of my posts from a while back:

The 1897 May heatwave was right up there too. Spences Bridge hit 40.6c.

Edit: In fact May 1897 as a whole was really warm. Month average high was 25.4c in Agassiz! I think there was something wrong with that station in 1897-1898 though, as the summer temps were much warmer than surrounding stations (even though both summers were very hot). In the same month, Chilliwack recorded an average high of 21.9c. Still quite warm for May but more than 4 degrees cooler than Agassiz.

[SouthSardiswx]

Apparently the deepest snow depth ever recorded in Canada was at Grouse Mountain in 1999.

Could very well be true, although the nearby snowpack station showed 150 cm less snow depth at the time.

Anyway, on June 30th the snow depth was 465 cm deep. And the very next day it was 0 cm... https://climate.weather.gc.ca/climate_d ... &Year=1999

WOW! this is absolutely insane but it figures good work guy's unfortunately we will never know the actual value for these many many errors oh well at least we know the record setting high temperatures and precip records for the summer and fall of 2021 is correct.

[Glacier]

Snow depth is really a crude approximation. I'm inclined to go with the Snow-Water Equivalent (SWE) using the snow courses because it more accurately represents the amount of moisture on the ground in the form of snow.

The deepest snow packs ever recorded in BC occurred in 1999 (records began in 1935).

On May 1st, 1999 Grouse had a snow depth of 564 cm, and a SWE of 2870! That's 2.87 m of water!

BUT that wasn't even the craziest spot!

Stave Lake (1250 m) had 600cm and 3120mm at the same time. And on June 1st, it was even higher (563 cm and 3150 mm).

And that wasn't even close to the craziest spot!

The Grand Winner was Orchid Lake north of Vancouver (see map below). Elevation 1190m. On May 1st the snow depth was 712 cm with a SWE of 3845 mm!

Two stations on Vancouver Island were close behind, Margaret Lake (1040m elevation) was 699 cm with 3840 mm of SWE, and Sproat Lake (1220m) was 719 cm with 3810 mm.

The other big snowpack years were 1946, 1967, 1972, 1974, and 1976.

SNOWCOURSES.png

snowpacka1total.png