PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Temperatures are on the rise across the Pacific Northwest, but your at-home thermometer might be reading hotter than the official temperature.
It all comes down to location. The official temperature comes from The National Weather Service, and their thermometer location has strict guidelines on where it’s located.
The NWS thermometer is usually located inside a protectant box known as a Stevenson box or screen. It’s painted white to reduce heat absorption. Air is able to flow through the box freely, but protects the weather instrument from direct contact with sunlight.
The box is also located four to four and a half feet off the ground. The box is also placed in a grassy, tree-free field. That’s where very little heat is absorbed and radiated back to the instrument.
Most home thermometers don’t have this type of luxury.
Landscape material, fences, pavement, siding and bricks all impact your at-home temperature reading. Surfaces around most homes and apartments absorb and radiate the heat back out.
That’s why temperature readings may be drastically different than what the official temperature is recorded by The National Weather Service.