[wxqc] Wrong focus?

[Keith Miller]

I'm just curious, I see a bunch of messages recently
worrying about red checks, and adjusting to be rid of them.

Should not the focus be on verifing correct data, rather
than matching some data set? For example, if I check:
http://www.met.utah.edu/cgi-bin/droman/nearby_stns.cgi?stn=C5250&lat=4
1.18250&lon=-73.81300 for the stations near
me, C(W)5250, every nearby NWS COOP station is tagged with
"caution". I don't know what MADIS is using, but I have a
nearby airport at near the same altitude that I checked
often to tune the barometer. Which now seems to track pretty
well.

For temperature, I'm seeing a consistant pattern. As much as
5* higher during pre-dawn hours, tracks pretty close in the
morning, and often overshoots the high on sunny days. IE:
http://weather.gladstonefamily.net/qchart/C5250?date=20060223
, this day was partly cloudy.

I'll except the Davis 24hr FARS might not be as good as
claimed, and that might explain the early afternoon
overshoot. But why so much higher pre-dawn???

Is this a microclim effect? Any suggestions of an easy way
to verify actual temperatures? I'm not so sure trying to
match the airport temps would be the best path.


Keith
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