Hot Spots

[I Know Nothing]

Yesterday Heathrow and another village made record tempertures. How is it that tiny spots are hotter then others, I mean does the sun not shine just as hot across the whole area. I know things like buildings will make differences to heat retention but the oposite seems to be true as little villages and the open area of an airports seemed tp be the hotest.

[Eric Mc]

I Know Nothing said:

Yesterday Heathrow and another village made record tempertures. How is it that tiny spots are hotter then others, I mean does the sun not shine just as hot across the whole area. I know things like buildings will make differences to heat retention but the oposite seems to be true as little villages and the open area of an airports seemed tp be the hotest.

It's because they are all airfields and they all have sophisticated and properly calibrated weather recording equipment in use.

ALL of the top three temperatures recorded yesterday were linked to airfields -

Conningsby - RAF Conningsby
Charlwood - London Gatwick Airport
Heathrow - London Heathrow Airport

[mmm-five]

Eric Mc said:

It's because they are all airfields and they all have sophisticated and properly calibrated weather recording equipment in use.

ALL of the top three temperatures recorded yesterday were linked to airfields -

Conningsby - RAF Conningsby
Charlwood - London Gatwick Airport
Heathrow - London Heathrow Airport

...and the masses of concrete absorbs & radiates the heat much better than trees/woodland.

[I Know Nothing]

But are towns not full of concreat too?

Wasn't Luton 38C and that is just up the road really.

[LimaDelta]

mmm-five said:

Eric Mc said:

It's because they are all airfields and they all have sophisticated and properly calibrated weather recording equipment in use.

ALL of the top three temperatures recorded yesterday were linked to airfields -

Conningsby - RAF Conningsby
Charlwood - London Gatwick Airport
Heathrow - London Heathrow Airport

...and the masses of concrete absorbs & radiates the heat much better than trees/woodland.

Not to mention the constant jet efflux.

[Stan the Bat]

Eric Mc said:

I Know Nothing said:

Yesterday Heathrow and another village made record tempertures. How is it that tiny spots are hotter then others, I mean does the sun not shine just as hot across the whole area. I know things like buildings will make differences to heat retention but the oposite seems to be true as little villages and the open area of an airports seemed tp be the hotest.

It's because they are all airfields and they all have sophisticated and properly calibrated weather recording equipment in use.

ALL of the top three temperatures recorded yesterday were linked to airfields -

Conningsby - RAF Conningsby
Charlwood - London Gatwick Airport
Heathrow - London Heathrow Airport

Hawarden for Wales and Eskdalemuir ( not an airfield but observatory) for Scotland.

[WatchfulEye]

mmm-five said:

...and the masses of concrete absorbs & radiates the heat much better than trees/woodland.

The Heathrow station is not optimally placed, and is closer to the concrete than ideal, but still adequate.

Nearby stations such as at Kew Gardens were only 0.1C lower, so the local heating effect of the concrete is minimal at most.

[Eric Mc]

Charlwood itself is quite rural.

I also think the "heat island" effect is being overstated by some. And what really matters is the comparatives with previous readings from the same stations.

[Beati Dogu]

The recent high temps were due to hot air coming up from North Africa. Once the winds changed, it cooled down again. Here in Devon, the warm winds passed mostly to the east and the highest temp I ever saw was 30c.
.

[Simpo Two]

mmm-five said:

Eric Mc said:

It's because they are all airfields and they all have sophisticated and properly calibrated weather recording equipment in use.

ALL of the top three temperatures recorded yesterday were linked to airfields -

Conningsby - RAF Conningsby
Charlwood - London Gatwick Airport
Heathrow - London Heathrow Airport

...and the masses of concrete absorbs & radiates the heat much better than trees/woodland.

One reason why 'records are broken' - in the past the thermometers were not in such concrete jungles. As soon as you move the recording apparatus you've changed a variable.

[kerplunk]

Eric Mc said:

Charlwood itself is quite rural.

I also think the "heat island" effect is being overstated by some. And what really matters is the comparatives with previous readings from the same stations.

Urban heat island mostly affects the daily minimums

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_heat_island#Di...

Edited by kerplunk on Monday 25th July 19:36

[Eric Mc]

Simpo Two said:

mmm-five said:

Eric Mc said:

It's because they are all airfields and they all have sophisticated and properly calibrated weather recording equipment in use.

ALL of the top three temperatures recorded yesterday were linked to airfields -

Conningsby - RAF Conningsby
Charlwood - London Gatwick Airport
Heathrow - London Heathrow Airport

...and the masses of concrete absorbs & radiates the heat much better than trees/woodland.

One reason why 'records are broken' - in the past the thermometers were not in such concrete jungles. As soon as you move the recording apparatus you've changed a variable.

None of the above places are much different to what they were 50 years ago. The records being quoted are more or less comparatives with the same locations. So even if there is some sort of heat island effect, the effect has not changed much for at least 50 years - so the comparatives are genuine.

[kerplunk]

The previous record was cambridge botanical garden and the one before that was the brogdale weather station in kent which is in an orchard nowhere near any 'concrete jungle' - just a single track farm road next to the station.

The number of stations that broke the previous rfecord last week now stands at 46

[Eric Mc]

The "hot spots" all broke their own previous records too - which were set when they were already hot spots.

And isn't the Cambrisge Botanical Garden in the city of Cambridge? I bet it's as much of a hot spot as Charlwood is.