000 NOUS41 KOKX 042112 PNSOKX CTZ005>012-NYZ067>081-NJZ002>006-011-051200- PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE UPTON NY 510 PM EDT FRI AUG 4 2006 ...CENTRAL PARK REMAINS A COOL SPOT DURING THE RECENT HEAT WAVE... HIGH TEMPERATURE RECORDS WERE BROKEN ALL OVER THE METROPOLITAN AREA DURING THE RECENT HEAT WAVE THIS PAST WEEK. TEMPERATURES SOARED ABOVE THE 100 DEGREE MARK ON TUESDAY...WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY AT MANY OF OUR AIRPORT LOCATIONS WHICH ARE SURROUNDED BY CEMENT AND TARMAC RUNWAYS AND TAXIWAYS AND THIS CONTRIBUTED TO THE EXCESSIVE HEAT. IN CENTRAL PARK THE TEMPERATURE REMAINED BETWEEN 95 AND 100 ALL THREE DAYS. THE ASOS (AUTOMATED SURFACE OBSERVING SYSTEM) AT CENTRAL PARK WAS INSTALLED ON THE EXACT SAME PLOT OF LAND THAT OUR OLD OBSERVATION EQUIPMENT WAS LOCATED ON SINCE AT LEAST THE EARLY 1960S. THIS PLOT IS JUST SOUTH OF THE BELVEDERE CASTLE IN CENTRAL PARK. IT HAS BEEN IN USE CONTINUOUSLY SINCE AS EARLY AS 1921 FOR TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION WITH OTHER WEATHER INSTRUMENTATION SURROUNDING THE CASTLE DATING BACK TO 1869. THE CLIMATE IN AND AROUND NEW YORK CITY IS IMMENSELY DIVERSE. THERE ARE MANY LOCAL OR MICROCLIMATES THAT EXIST IN THIS AREA. NOT ONLY ARE THERE AIR/SEA INTERFACES NEAR THE COASTS, BUT THERE ARE ALSO POCKETS OF DIFFERING THERMAL PROFILES DUE TO THE TYPE OF LANDSCAPE, GEOGRAPHY AND STRUCTURAL DENSITY DIFFERENCES. THIS ALL LEADS TO DIFFERENCES IN CLIMATIC ELEMENTS, IN PARTICULAR TEMPERATURE. IT HAS BEEN OBSERVED THAT THE TEMPERATURE IN CENTRAL PARK SOMETIMES DIFFERS FROM OTHER LOCATIONS, SUCH AS LAGUARDIA, NEWARK AND JFK AIRPORTS. MOST OF THE TIME, WHEN THERE HAVE BEEN NOTICEABLE DIFFERENCES IN TEMPERATURE, IT WOULD BE DURING HOT DAYS DURING THE SUMMER MONTHS. IN THESE CASES, THE TEMPERATURE IN THE PARK WOULD BE LOWER THAN THE OTHER SURROUNDING SITES. METEOROLOGICALLY SPEAKING, THIS MAKES SENSE. THE LOCATION OF THE TEMPERATURE SENSOR IN CENTRAL PARK DIFFERS FROM OTHER AREAS OF MANHATTAN. IT IS ACCEPTED THAT THE TEMPERATURE NEAR TIMES SQUARE FOR EXAMPLE, IS DIFFERENT (HIGHER) THAN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GREEN PARK. HOWEVER, THE CLIMATOLOGICAL RECORD FOR 137 YEARS HAS BEEN TAKEN IN CENTRAL PARK, SO THERE ARE NO PLANS NOW TO ELIMINATE THIS HISTORICAL SITE. WE HAVE ALWAYS HAD SOME CONCERNS ON THE AFFECTS THE CLOSE-IN VEGETATION WOULD HAVE ON SOME OF THE ASOS EQUIPMENT, ESPECIALLY THE TEMPERATURE AND DEWPOINT. THE NEW YORK CITY PARKS DEPARTMENT HAS DONE AN EXCEPTIONAL JOB IN KEEPING ALL VEGETATION TRIMMED BACK AWAY FROM OUR EIGHT FOOT FENCE TO INSURE IT DOES NOT INTERFERE WITH OUR EQUIPMENT. WHILE THE STAND OF TREES SURROUNDING THE ASOS PLOT CONTINUES TO GROW AND MATURE, WE FEEL IT ONLY HAS A MINIMAL ADDITIONAL AFFECT ON THE TEMPERATURE AND DEWPOINT READINGS. CURRENTLY, WE BELIEVE THAT THE WET SPRING AND OVERLY GREEN CONDITIONS IN CENTRAL PARK ARE CONTRIBUTING TO THE SLIGHTLY COOLER READINGS WE HAVE SEEN IN THE PARK DURING THIS RECENT HEAT WAVE. THE BACKUP TEMPERATURE GAGE IS TOTALLY IN LINE WITH OUR ASOS TEMPERATURE EQUIPMENT WHICH WAS RECALIBRATED JUST BEFORE THIS RECENT HEAT WAVE BEGAN, SO THERE IS NO QUESTION THAT THE READINGS ARE CORRECT. THE LAST THING WE WANT TO DO IS MOVE THE EQUIPMENT AND BY DOING SO BREAK THE CONTINUOUS 137 YEAR RECORD OF OBSERVATIONS FROM THIS SITE. CENTRAL PARK IS A PARK. WE MEASURED AND CONTINUE TO MEASURE TEMPERATURES OF A PARK LIKE SETTING. DURING DRY PERIODS, LIKE LAST YEAR`S DROUGHT PERIOD WHEN WE RECORDED OVER 20 DAYS WITH 90 DEGREES OR HIGHER, THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CENTRAL PARK READINGS AND THE AIRPORT READINGS WAS VERY SMALL. AS A RESULT WE DID NOT HEAR THE COMPLAINTS THAT WE ARE HEARING THIS YEAR. THE SENSORS AND THE CLIMATOLOGICAL RECORD REFLECT THE TRUE TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION OF CENTRAL PARK ONLY, AND NOT THAT OF THE ASPHALT AND GLASS MICROCLIMATES PRESENT THROUGHOUT THE REST OF NEW YORK CITY. $$ WYLLIE