Russ Steele
Ellen, her sister Anna and husband Gary Hanna, and I set out to look for the Dover weather station listed in the surface station data base, one of the 1221 Historical Climatology Network stations. Before launching our hunt, I program the coordinates given in the National Climatic Data Center's Multi-Network Metadata Systems (MMS) in my Garmin 60CS, as a way point destination. However, when I put those same coordinates in the Google Earth they pointed to a plowed field off of US-1. See the Google photo.
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We decided to followed SR-113 hoping to find the HWY DEPT ON RTE 113 WITHIN AND 1.2 MI SE OF PO AT DOVER, as listed address in MMS. Regardless of all the new highways in Dover, the interconnections and confusing signage, we finally located the Highway Department. But, no one knew where the weather station was. A kind individual call three different offices who he thought would know.
We finally located a weather station on the corner of the Central District Headquarters building at 930 Public Safety Blvd., but everyone we asked claimed it was only for DeDOT use, no connection to the NWS. We decided to follow the GPS, but there were no access roads leading to the location given by the GPS.
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After looking at the location of the Department of Transportation on Google Maps, I can only conclude that the current surface station is the one on the DeDOT Hq Building, regardless of the claims to the contrary by the Assistant Weather Emergency Coordinator, and her supervisor.
UPDATE: Anthony writes it is a Stevenson Screen we should be looking for, but our visual inspection of the Highway Department yard did not reveal any little white boxes, on legs.
UPDATE #2: Anthony is calling the State Climatologist David Legates to see if he knows where the station is.
UPDATE #2: Station found between a building and a fence, with a row to trees obstructing a view from the street. We drive right by it several times. David has take pictures and they are posted at Surface Stations.
