Missing News: What temperatures are BOM recording?

The Australian have been covering and interesting and newsworthy story concerning problems BOM have in recording temperatures (eg Push for probe into weather stations failures). This is their basic role, you'd think by now they could get it right.
Given the importance of temperature in the land of droughts and flooding rains we are astounded that the ABC has failed to provide any coverage.

Jennifer Marohasy has an important series of articles on her blog that outline the problem. See...

Two Decades of Temperature Data from Australia – Not Fit for Purpose

Are Recordings from Electronic Devices Comparable – or Not?

Vindicated: Bureau acknowledges limits set on how cold temperatures can be recorded

Vindicated: Bureau not following WMO guidelines

Bureau Management Rewrites the Rules – Again

Delusions of climate

ABC once again uncritically report on some BOM figures that show "record" temperatures for the NT.
Here's the script...

Duty forecaster at the BOM in Darwin, Peter Markworth, said during the weekend Borroloola and the Tiwi Islands both experienced their hottest recorded August days.

Borroloola reached 37.7 degrees Celsius, beating its previous record of 37.3C, Mr Markworth said.

Batchelor, about 70 kilometres south of Darwin, hit 37C on Friday, beating its previous record of 36.8C.

On Saturday it hit 37.2C, breaking the record again.

The article ends by claiming: 

Mr Browning (BOM regional manager of climate services) said the NT had experienced a different weather pattern to normal. "We seem to have been seeing more of the winds coming from the east than the south-east," Mr Browning said. "The south-easterlies really bring the cool temperatures from down south, but we're just not seeing that as much." He said the warmer-than-expected weather seen in July and so far this month were "consistent with global warming signals".

Now there are quite a number of definitions of climate. One used by the WMO is as follows:

What is Climate?

Climate in a narrow sense is usually defined as the "average weather," or more rigorously, as the statistical description in terms of the mean and variability of relevant quantities over a period of time ranging from months to thousands or millions of years. The classical period is 30 years, as defined by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). 

The "records" claimed for both Borroloola and Batchelor are from weather stations with less than 30 years of data!!!Unfortunately for the BOM these stations are unable to say anything about climate change as they have not measured more than one "Climate Cycle". Seriously bad science!

Why so hot: another lesson in lost history

ABC have a thing for climate catastrophe asking the question "Why so hot?" in this article reporting on recent above average August temperatures in eastern Australia. ABC's reporters have no sense of inquiry and poor sense of history.

August 1946 was another hot August in the nation's history, with many high weather records set, comparable to the temperatures mentioned in the article.
Casino reported 90F (32.2C) 11/8/1946
Yamba 36.1C 13/8/1946
Brisbane 32.8C 14/8/1946
Lismore reported 34.8C 13/8/1946

The conditions in Sydney summed up nicely in this SMH cartoon from 13/8/1946:

The Sun had this cartoon on the 9/8/1946:

Sydney had seen very little rain for the past month (hmm sounds familiar)...

 and there were bushfires in QLD.

ABC News once again demonstrates its poor sense of history and lack of curiosity. 

Sidenote: This SMH article from a few days ago caught our eye: Sydney sweats through warm night but cool weather is on the way

It includes this claim by BOM's Blair Trewin:

As 6am readings go, Sydney's 22.1 degrees pipped a reading of 21.8 on 24 August 2009 as the city's highest on record for that time of the day, Blair Trewin, senior climatologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, said.

The following table was included in The Sun newspaper 12/08/1946:

Unfortunately it seems the 6am reading was not recorded but the remainder are well above the temps recorded for 16/08/2017 (see below and link). Fair to say the BOM's grasp of our weather history is quite slim.

Time	Temperature Sydney 2017	Temperature Sydney 1946
8:00am	21.2	23.1
9:00am	20.5	24
10:00am	21.1	26.1
11:00am	19.4	26.8
12:00pm	20.1	27.6
1:00pm	21.4	28.1
2:00pm	20.7	8
3:00pm	20.5	27.1
4:00pm	19.7	26.7

Fact check: ABC score 25% on weather report

ABC's gun weather reporters and the BOM try and explain why Townsville is so dry.

Why is Townsville so dry? BOM explains its the topography
By Jenny Woodward and Allyson Horn

The report includes the following table:

It seems, as happens all too often, ABC has no sense of history. The reported figures come from currently open BOM stations. Taking a mere moment to look a little deeper through the available weather data changes things a little. Here's an updated table reflecting the full range of available data. This shows ABC score a palty 25% on the rainfall facts.

It is sad that ABC's reporters lack the curiosity to do their work properly. Sadder still is that these errors are paid for by the rest of us.

Inconvenient facts about NT's Hot July

ABC's ineffectual reporters once again fail to ask any questions in regurgitating a BOM report on a hot July in the top end.
ABC's report identified the following key points:

Key points:

1. Some places saw temperatures between 3C and 4.5C above long-term average
2. In Darwin the overnight low only dropped below 20C six times
3. BOM says "hard to say if this is new normal"

Let's look at these one by one.

1. Some places saw temperatures between 3C and 4.5C above long-term average

ABC failed to question the BOM about the how the long term averages are currently determined. The changes quoted by BOM are based on the ACORN data. This is a manufactured dataset based on an undisclosed homogenisation algorithm with arbitrary adjustments (see below). For the NT it is derived from a handful of stations. The NT covers 1.421 million km²; over such a large area how useful is an average based on just a handful of homogenised stations? 

2. In Darwin the overnight low only dropped below 20C six times

So what! Based on the actual measurements from the Old Darwin Post Office (14016) and Airport (14015) this is not out of the ordinary and has been surpassed on quite a few occasions. It might have been worth the BOM pointing out that in 1915 NO (yes zero) nights dropped below 20C, and that there have been warmer overnight averages in Darwin the past (see tables below). ABC's reporter may have asked on how many occasions this had occurred previously and what was the record?

# nights below 20C-Selected months Darwin Post Office (BOM 14016) (More if you look).

1906:1

1915:0

1916:1

1917:2

1920:1

3. BOM says "hard to say if this is new normal"
As usual ABC (and BOM) omit any context or history in claims involving climate change. The graphs below show actual mean maximum and minimum temperatures for Darwin Post Office (BOM 14016) and Darwin Airport (14015) for July from the start of records in 1869. For the Post Office observations were collected in a Stevenson Screen from at least 1890. For the Darwin area this shows a cyclic pattern of temperature variation in both Min and Max means. Interestingly, based on the un-adjusted data there is little change in the long term means. Mean temperatures provide little information about weather experienced on a day by day basis. As usual ABC (and BOM's) reporting is superficial, omits key information and fails to inform.

Jennifer Marohasy has an informative post on homogenisation of Darwin's temperature record. See HERE.

Addendum
As an indication of the arbitrary nature of BOM's homogenisation process the list below shows recorded and ACORN minimum temperatures, and the difference for Darwin Post Office (14016) for July 1915. The range of adjustments over the period lack any credibility.

1915 (JULY)	RECORDED	ACORN	DIFF
1st	21.7	21.1	0.6
2nd	21.2	20.1	1.1
3rd	21.7	21.1	0.6
4th	21.8	21.2	0.6
5th	21.7	21.1	0.6
6th	21.8	21.2	0.6
7th	22.3	21.7	0.6
8th	23.1	22.3	0.8
9th	22.3	21.7	0.6
10th	21.4	20.5	0.9
11th	20.1	19.2	0.9
12th	21.4	20.5	0.9
13th	22.5	21.9	0.6
14th	23.3	22.5	0.8
15th	23.3	22.5	0.8
16th	23.8	23	0.8
17th	23.1	22.3	0.8
18th	21.7	21.1	0.6
19th	22.8	22.1	0.7
20th	23.2	22.4	0.8
21st	22.3	21.7	0.6
22nd	23.1	22.3	0.8
23rd	21.8	21.2	0.6
24th	21.1	20	1.1
25th	21.4	20.5	0.9
26th	21.8	21.2	0.6
27th	22.6	21.9	0.7
28th	23.1	22.3	0.8
29th	21.9	21.2	0.7
30th	22.2	21.6	0.6
31st	22.5	21.9	0.6

Fact checking the weather man

Graham Creed ABC's weather man, runs a blog. We fact checked the statistics is his post of the 14/1/2014, seems he is a little selective with his cherry's:

CANBERRA
Graham says:
Canberra, In 2009 there were 3 days of consecutive 40 degree temperatures. This is pretty significant given there have only been 11 days above 40 in Canberra’s history. Seven of those has occurred in the last 5 years. The 1979 heat wave was significant because it had five consecutive days in excess of 37 degrees. Hottest day on record is 42.2 and was recorded back in 1968. Data courtesy ABC Canberra and BOM.

Independent analysis indicates that Graham seems to have forgotten the catastrophic heatwave of January 1939, this had a run of 9 days over 38 degrees including 5 days over 40. It also includes Canberra's record temp of 42.4 degrees C. The devastating Black Friday bushfires affected much of SE Australia. The Canberra Times reported the following temperatures in Fahrenheit (celcius) as recorded at the Acton meteorological station:

Saturday 7/1/1939: 101.7 (38.7)

Sunday 8/1/1939: 102.8 (39.3)

Monday 9/1/1939: 102.6 (39.2)

Tuesday 10/1/2013: 106.4 (41.3)

Wednesday 11/1/1939: 108.4 (42.4)* seems this should be the record beating GC's mention by 0.2

Thursday 12/1/1939: 103.6 (39.8)

Friday 13/1/1939: 107.4 (41.9)

Saturday 14/1/1939: 107.4 (41.9)

Sunday 15/1/1939: 105.4 (40.8)

In terms of the number of days over 40, we make it least: 18 comprising:

5 for the 1939 heatwave outside BOM records as recorded at the Acton meteorological station, 

7 from BOM station records for Canberra Station ID 70014*

5 readings from BOM station records for Canberra Station ID 70351**

1 in 1932 104.2 (40.1) recorded 28/1/1932-outside BOM records as recorded at the Acton meteorological station,, 

Number of days 40 and above in the last 5 years: Last 5 years 2014-5=since 2009=5

*7 readings 40 and over at 70014: 41.4 recorded 31/1/1968, 42.2 recorded 1/2/1968-BOM, 40.5 recorded 12/1/2007, 40.2 recorded 3/1/1973, 40.0 recorded 18/1/1998, 40.0 recorded 7/2/2007, 40.0 recorded 8/2/2008

**5 readings 40.3 recorded 6-8/2/2009 (3 days), 40.1 om 5/1/2013, 42.0 on 18/1/2013
UPDATE: It seems the Acton meteorological station is closed BOM station 70099 for which daily observations are not available online. We have asked BOM why this is the case. Of interest the highest monthly mean for January remains Jan 1932 @ 32.5 degrees for station 70099. The record at Canberra Airport (70351) is 32.3 in January 2013.

ADELAIDE

Graham says: Adelaide: 2009, 13 consecutive days over 33, 6 consecutive days above 40 and 4 consecutive days over 23.

Graham forgets the 1908 and 1939 heatwaves. 

1908 Monthly mean record @ 34.2 degrees with 10 days over 40 (4 consecutive days-Jan 4 to 7 and 6 consecutive days 14-19)

1939 Monthly Mean @ 33.6 degrees with 5 days over 4 and Adelaide's record maximum of 46.1 degrees.

MELBOURNE

Graham says: Melbourne: 2009 12 consecutive days above 28, 5 consecutive days above 30 3 consecutive days above 43.

Once again it seems 1908 was hotter

The January 1908 heatwave in Melbourne helped push the January monthly mean to its as yet unsurpassed maximum of 31.0 degrees. The month included 15 days over 30 and a run of 5 days over 40.

UPDATE: Seems ABC's weather man has made some changes following our inquiries:

Graham Creed's blog post was based on Bureau of Meteorology Climate Information and was taken from a Bureau interview on ABC Radio in Canberra. The figures were attributed to the Bureau.  The Bureau's figures and Graham's blog post were based on the climate record from Canberra Airport. The Bureau appears not to have any records of temperatures at Acton which were the basis of the Canberra Times article. They are therefore unverified weather records and we would not normally use them. The blog has been modified to clarify that the data refers to the record at Canberra Airport.

The reference to the 2009 heat event was just meant to be a comparison with a recent heatwave. It did not claim those figures were a record. It would have been more accurate to say that "This is pretty significant given there have only been 11 days above 40 since the Bureau began recording more than 70 years ago."

Accordingly, while noting your concerns, Audience and Consumer Affairs are satisfied that reasonable efforts were made to ensure the accuracy of the article and it was in keeping with the ABC’s editorial standards. Nonetheless, please be assured that your comments have been noted and conveyed to ABC News management.

The post now reads as follows, but still ignores 1939:

Canberra Airport, In 2009 there were 3 days of consecutive 40 degree temperatures. This is pretty significant given there have only been 11 days above 40 in Canberra Airport’s history. Seven of those has occurred in the last 5 years. The 1979  heat wave was significant because it had five consecutive days in excess of 37 degrees. Hottest day on record is 42.2 and was recorded back in 1968. Data courtesy ABC Canberra and BOM.

Relentless heatwave continues

BOM's Christmas heatwave continues....

Dramatic photos of Sydney's Christmas heatwave

Warwick Hughes reports on the disparity between BOM's recent Christmas weather forecast and reality. In ABC's report of BOM's forecast this dramatic image forboding of the coming doom:

ABC/BOM: About one-third of the country is expected to be hit by a heatwave over Christmas, with temperatures likely to reach 40 degrees Celsius or more.

This was the heatwave as it passed over Sydney this morning...

Will ABC report on BOM's bomb? 

Lightning strikes

ABC's environment site are always quick to highlight extreme weather events and disasters but always seem to fail in putting events into their historical perspective. Sadly this week saw at least 32 people killed in India from lightning strikes. This was in at least two separate strikes.

In 1915 lightning killed at least 34 people in one strike.

More historical tragedies can be found by searching TROVE.

BOM, Exactly wrong?

Always enjoy looking back at what the Magic 8 ball predicted.

Here's the BOM's Karl Braganza on The World Today in September 2011

SIMON LAUDER: The last La Nina was strong enough to push the rainfall south, drenching New South Wales and Victoria. Dr Braganza says it’s unlikely this summer's rainfall will be as heavy and there will be clearer signs about what's in store soon. 

KARL BRAGANZA: Another month we'll know for sure whether we are going to see a La Nina over the summer months and that still gives you a little bit of time ahead of cyclone season and other season and the monsoon season or the wet season up north, to really understand whether we are going to impact on that. 

Yeah, in terms of the magnitude of that La Nina, it will be unlikely at this point that it is going to be as strong as it was over 2010/11. So what that generally means for Australia is you get an enhanced wet season in the tropics but not necessarily a whole lot of rainfall over the rest of the continent. 


Karl Braganza again on PM on January 4.

Dr Braganza says while La Nina's influence continues it is loosening its grip, and big floods aren't expected on the same scale this year.

"It's a weaker event this time round, compared to last summer, so we had those terrific floods at the end of 2010 and into 2011," he said.

"We might still get very heavy monsoonal rainfall. That can happen in any year in Australia, but probably the odds aren't on for the type of flooding we saw in the summer just gone."

So what happened?
Here's BOM's summary of January 2012 rainfall

January rainfall was generally above average for most of the country, but below average for parts of northern central Australia and the tropical north.

Here's February 2012

February rainfall was generally above average for the south-eastern mainland, and below average for parts of northern Australia, particularly northern Western Australia and the Top End.
In the last days of February, a slow moving low pressure trough extending from central Australia through Victoria and very moist tropical airflow brought record breaking rainfall for central and northern Victoria, extending into southern New South Wales, causing flash flooding in some areas. The trough then brought particularly heavy falls in a wide band stretching from central Australia, through northern South Australia and western New South Wales to the Illawarra, causing further flooding and road closures.


Here's a photo of the Warragamba Dam spilling over on March 2, 2012 from those summer rains.

From SCA

Updated from yesterday.

SA hotter in 1960-ABC wrong again-Part 5 a correction!

A small victory for common sense in regard to spurious temperature claims made earlier this year. (See Part 1, 2, 3, and 4.) We note the following note has been added to the story at the AM website:

*EDITOR'S NOTE: (6 March 2012): The original broadcast item suggested that it was the hottest start to 2012 for the entire state. In fact, more of the state, particularly outside Adelaide, was affected by record high temperatures in 1960. The transcript has been amended.

The amended line reads:  "Parts of South Australia are sweltering with their hottest start to the year in more than a century.*" But we know that is not what was stated. This odd re-writing of the transcript by ABC's "Ministry of Truth" is too close to 1984 for comfort. Why not just add the asterix to the line in contention and state they made an error?

Here's that 1960 Sun Herald front page again about events in 1960.

Alan Sunderland Head of Policy & Staff Development, ABC News,  provides the following additional information (our comments in bold):

Received 6/3/2012

Dear Mr Hendrickx,
Apologies for my reply earlier today.
I assumed that your decision to refer a matter to ACMA related to the current complaint we had been discussing recently, as my eye was caught by the identical first two words in the tag line in the subject header (factual inaccuracy). I did not read down and realise that it related to a separate earlier complaint of yours. (ed: that's this ONE about missing historical information from a story about inundation of islands in the Torres Strait).
So, to clarify the situation:-
1. In relation to the World Today story of 16th January relating to encroaching seas in the Torres Strait, I don’t have anything further to usefully add to our original response, so it is appropriate for you to pursue the matter with ACMA if you remain dissatisfied (ed post on this in the near future).
2. In relation to the AM story of 3rd January relating to temperatures in South Australia, I have now heard back from the reporter. As you know, the original report claimed that “South Australia is sweltering with the hottest start to the year in more than a century.” When your original complaint was passed on to the program team, they relied on information relating to Adelaide temperatures to support that statement, and you responded by providing information relating to temperatures across the entire state. I do believe there is an argument that can be mounted that it is more relevant in the circumstances of this story to judge the accuracy of the remark by reference to the impact on population rather than the geographic spread. In other words, it would appear on the basis of the official data that more of the South Australian population was affected by the high temperatures in 2012 than were affected in 1960, even allowing for population growth in the intervening period (ed this is based on my very rudimentary analysis -see part 2, that only included data from stations with readings for 1960 and 2012. A more detailed analysis that included more stations across the state from both time periods would be warranted before this conclusion could be stated with any degree of confidence). My reason for delaying my response to you was to check back once again on the basis the program team had at the time to support the claim made in the story, rather than any subsequent reasoning. It now appears, having heard back from the program team, that they were simply relying on information provided to them by a range of sources, but they did not formally confirm that with official and reliable statistics. Under those circumstances, I think the information contained in the program is sufficiently broad and vague that it should be corrected through the addition of an Editor’s Note. In short, it was incorrect to describe it as “the hottest start to the year in more than a century” without further explanation, as 1960 was indeed hotter if you measure it in terms of how much of the state had record’s temperatures rather than in terms of how much of the state’s population experienced those record temperatures.
So an Editor’s Note will be added to the story online.
Regards,
Alan Sunderland
Score +1

SA hotter in 1960-ABC wrong again-Part 4

Continuing correspondence with the ABC on their claim made in a story headlined "Extreme heat in southern Australia" that "South Australia is sweltering with the hottest start to the year in more than a century."  See earlier posts HERE, HERE and HERE.


From: Marc Hendrickx
Sent: Friday, 2 March 2012
To: Alan Sunderland
Subject: you get a mention in today's cut and paste
Hi Alan,
One for the scrap book! (you might need a subscription to access online)
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/count-on-aunty-to-dish-up-the-hyperbole-but-correcting-the-facts-may-take-a-little-longer/story-fn72xczz-1226286614585
cheers
Marc

From: Alan Sunderland
To: Marc Hendrickx
Date: Fri, Mar 2, 2012
Subject: RE: you get a mention in today's cut and paste

Marc,
As I mentioned when you sent your last three emails, we do take accuracy seriously, which is why we are following up your original complaint. What you do on your own website, or what you provide to other media organisations, is irrelevant to that process. I am sure you would like us to take the time to sort out the facts properly.
This has been made more difficult by the fact that the reporter who worked on the intro has been in the Middle East for some months, on the border of Lebanon trying to get into Syria. He’s had a few things on his mind.
The data you have provided is fascinating. As you know, it seems to indicate that of the 14 sources of average temperatures you included, seven were higher in 1960 and seven were higher in 2012. You have chosen geographic size as a basis for concluding 1960 has the edge. I would guess, given the location of those fourteen places, it might be possible to argue that 2012 has the edge in terms of population – the number of human beings actually affected by those temperatures. However, I’m just not sure. I haven’t had the time or the opportunity to chase that down exhaustively. There is quite a lot going on in the media at the moment, and I do try to prioritise and keep a sense of perspective.
But that’s kind of irrelevant, really. What matters is what information we based the sentence in the intro on at the time, and whether that information was sound and well-sourced. If it wasn’t, then we will need to add an Editor’s Note clarifying what the data reasonably tells us. Which gets us back to the delay of a couple of weeks while we find an opportunity to check back with the origin of the original statement –whether it was based on advice from the BOM or elsewhere.
If you genuinely want to hear back from me on what was a perfectly legitimate complaint, then rest assured that I will continue to treat the matter in that spirit. However, if you just want to use the issue to run some kind of media campaign on your own, then I guess my engagement and my reply is not going to make much of a difference. Nothing I can do about that….
Regards,
Alan Sunderland

from: Marc Hendrickx
to: Alan Sunderland
date: Fri, Mar 2, 2012 at 10:51 AM
subject: Re: you get a mention in today's cut and paste

Dear Alan,
I do genuinely want to hear back from you and I am not running some sort of "media campaign", I am merely interested in ABC living up to its charter and code of practice. I appreciate that constructive criticism is sometimes difficult to bear.

I am surprised at how much tax payers money you appear to be spending on an issue ABC NEWS do not actually have the expertise to answer. Perhaps you can ask the BOM which was hotter. Perhaps in the future your reporters might check the facts first, before making unsubstantiated sensationalist statements such as the one in question.

In regard to the complaint, if an editorial comment was added and the report were amended to read "Some parts of South Australia are sweltering with the hottest start to the year in more than a century." you would have a defensible statement based on the information you have at hand.

Again, I look forward to hearing back from you once you have sorted it out, but on face value, for a story about a hot day in Adelaide, it doesn't seem that complicated. As you say "keep a sense of perspective".

Best Wishes
Marc Hendrickx
ABC NEWS WATCH

SA hotter in 1960-ABC wrong again-Part 3

Just to recap. In an item on ABC's morning current Affairs show, AM, under the headline "Extreme heat in southern Australia" ABC Claimed "South Australia is sweltering with the hottest start to the year in more than a century."  We pointed out a number of times (Here and Here) that it was hotter in 1960. Given the implications of ABC's claim we thought it might be interesting to compare the front pages of the Sydney papers from 1960 and 2012. After all, if on January 1 and 2, 2012 South Australia was sweltering with the hottest start to the year in more than a century. It should probably have made the headlines.
Let's compare the front pages of the Sydney Morning Herald from January 3, 4 and 5, 2012, with those from 1960.

Here's 2012 in order left to right January 3, 4 and 5:

Nothing there about the extreme heat in SA, on any day on the front page, There was this online, and on the 4th a headline on page 7 that read "At last Summer steps ashore"

Let's now look at 1960. First here's the front page of the Sun Herald from Sunday January 3, 1960, along with page 4. The front page story screams "123 degree record. Searing heat grips inland areas" and "Girl 6 near death 119 degrees" (click to enlarge).

Below is the front page from the Sydney Morning Herald, Monday January 4, 1960-"Three babies, woman, man die in heat":

And finally, here's the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald from January 5, 1960-"Heatwave toll now seven":

In early January 1960 central Australia experienced such extreme heat that records were set (the temperature in Oodnadatta remains the Australian record), at least 7 people died and birds dropped out of the sky. Our basic analysis (see HERE)  indicates temperatures were higher over a greater area in 1960. It made the front page of the Fairfax press in Sydney on three consecutive days. In early January 2012, the editors of the Sydney Morning Herald felt that three pages of cricket news was far more important than ABC's "hottest start to the year in more than a century."

ABC News: They just make things up!

SA hotter in 1960-ABC wrong again

Map showing weather stations in South Australia with continuous records from at least 1960 through 2012. Red stars indicate stations with average maximum temperature for January 1 and 2 1960 greater than January 1 and 2 2012, grey stars indicate the opposite. Note the extent of the red stars where ave max temp Jan1+2 for 1960 is greater than the same days in 2012. Data from BOM-see text below for methodology.

In our post Extreme weather misinformation at the ABC we took ABC to task for their claim  "South Australia is sweltering with the hottest start to the year in more than a century." We pointed the ABC to the Bureau of Meteorology website that indicated a number of warmer periods over the course of the last 100 years or so and suggested ABC had it wrong. Indeed BOM's description of heatwaves in South Australa included this passage:

"A similar heatwave in January 1960 was not so sustained, because cool  changes brought relief, but temperatures exceeded 45°C in the north of the State from 31 December to 3 January. On 2 January, Oodnadatta reached a state record - and arguably an Australian record - of 50.7°C. The minimum that day was 34.6°C. The temperature again reached the low 40s on 6-8 January, and on the 10th. There were several deaths in the 1960 heat wave: five babies and eight adults died, including five found dead beside an outback road. Other victims were admitted to hospital with heat exhaustion, including 18 in Broken Hill. 

However hospitals would have provided little relief, because few were air-conditioned at that time.

http://www.bom.gov.au/lam/climate/levelthree/c20thc/temp3.htm

ABC's Alan Sunderland (Head of Policy & Staff Development, ABC News) has now replied to our complaint of a factual error and offers this explanation:

Received Tue, Feb 21, 2012 

Dear Mr Hendrickx

It appears that you have mis-heard or mis-read what the ABC reported.

We did not say "South Australia's biggest heat wave" or the "hottest day in a century".  We said it was the state's hottest start to the year in more than a century. 

Our story went to air at 8am on the 3rd of January.  This means we were asserting that the first two days of 2012 were hotter than any other previous 1st and 2nd January days in the preceding century. 

Since receiving your complaint, we have double checked weather data for the state's most populous centre, Adelaide. 

Using figures from West Terrace from 1900 to 1977, and then from 1977 from Kent St, the hottest recorded temperatures for Adelaide for 1st and 2nd of January were in 1900 itself, with 43.1 and 42.1 degrees. This year Kent St recorded 41.6 and 40.6. There have been hotter days over this period but no other record of 2 days in excess of 40 degrees in a row.

Parafield Airport which has records back to 1929 has also never recorded two 40 degree days over the beginning of January until this year with 42.0 and 41.7.

The ABC does not profess to have investigated all weather data for all South Australian sites going back to 1912. However, we believe our report was accurate and appropriate, given the main focus of the story was on the electrical supply and fire safety consequences of record hot weather in South Australia.  It was most definitely not an attempt to mislead the Australian public.

Yours sincerely

Alan Sunderland Head of Policy & Staff DevelopmentABC News

From ABC NEWS WATCH to Alan Sunderland, sent Wed, Feb 22, 2012

Thanks Alan,
It seems your researchers are not doing their job properly. Again a quick search of the internet finds higher extremes across South Australia in January 1960. Indeed the temperature at Oodnadatta in SA for the second of January 1960 remains an Australian record. It's 50.7 degree celcius.

The top 4 records for South Australia are as follows (note the date):
Official records for South Australia in January
Records valid as of 31 January 2012 Rank Value
1 50.7 02 January 1960 Oodnadatta Airport 17043 117 -27.56 135.45
2 50.3 03 January 1960 Oodnadatta Airport 17043 117 -27.56 135.45
3 49.4 02 January 1960 Marree 17031 50 -29.65 138.06
3 49.4 02 January 1960 Whyalla (Norrie) 18103 13 -33.03 137.53

On the first of January it was 49.2 at Oodnadtta Airport.
(From http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/climate/extremes/daily_extremes.cgi?period=%2Fcgi-bin%2Fclimate%2Fextremes%2Fdaily_extremes.cgi&climtab=tmax_high&area=sa&year=1960&mon=1&day=1)

By contrast in 2012 for the 1st and 2nd of January Oodnadatta recorded 43.2 degrees C for each day.

BOM provide maps showing Australian daily maximum temperature extreme area. The map for 1st of January and 2nd of January area attached and these do not show much in the way of extremes for the state.

Your cherry picking of weather records for Adelaide says nothing about temperatures across the state. There is no basis to the claims made by ABC news that "it was the state's hottest start to the year in more than a century."
This is pure speculation on the part of ABC. Once again I ask you to clarify the record.
Perhaps ABC News could simply return to reporting to the facts without adding the unnecessary factually inaccurate hyperbole.
Regards

Marc Hendrickx

We noted that "ABC does not profess to have investigated all weather data for all South Australian sites going back to 1912. "

Neither did we. We spent about an hour on the BOM website and we only went back as far as January 1960, and we only looked at stations with continuous records over than time. We took the average of the maximum temperature for January 1 and 2 for the years 1960 and 2012 and plotted them on a map, producing the figure at the head of this post. Clearly a larger proportion of the state was hotter in 1960, than 2012. It seems the SE corner of SA was hotter in 2012, compared to 1960. This prompted the following additional email to Alan Sutherland.

Sent Wed, Feb 22, 2012

Alan, Further to my email of earlier today please find attached a map (ed-the map at the start of this post) based on BOM data that compares Max temps for Jan 1+2, 1960 to Jan 1+2 2012. This is for stations that include readings for both dates. Stations that do not include readings for both years were omitted. The distribution of temperatures indicates that a higher proportion of the state experienced higher temperatures in 1960 compared to 2012. This contradicts ABC's assertion made in its January report. BOM data is provided below, please feel free to check it.

Once again I request you correct the record.

Regards

Marc Hendrickx

Method. BOMs climate database was searched for stations with max. temp records from Jan 1-2, 1960 and Jan 1-2 2012. Max. temps were averaged over the two days.

Town	Station Number	Latitude	Longitude	Ave temp 1960	Ave temp 2012	difference
Oodnadatta	17043	-27.55	135.45	50	43.2	6.8
Adelaide Airport	23034	-34.94	138.53	37	39.8	-2.8
Woomera	16001	-31.17	136.81	46.6	41.8	4.8
Ceduna	18012	-32.13	133.68	39.2	37.7	1.5
Cleve	18014	-33.7	136.49	38.8	40.2	-1.4
Kyancutta	18044	-33.13	135.55	43.4	41.3	2.1
Streaky Bay	18079	-32.8	134.22	41.1	36.3	4.8
Marree	17031	-29.65	138.06	48.9	43.5	5.4
Yongala	19062	-33.03	138.75	39.6	39.3	0.3
Maitland	22008	-34.37	137.67	38.1	39.2	-1.1
Mt Barker	23733	-35.06	138.85	34.2	38.9	-4.7
Robe	26026	-37.16	139.76	24.5	30.5	-6
Mt Gambier	26021	-37.75	140.77	26.2	39	-12.8
lameroo	25509	-35.33	140.52	38.6	41.7	-3.1

ABC News: write the story, then they check the facts, and still they make mistakes. Is that value for money?