Anecdotal Evidence

(From a PhD on developing a high-quality historical temperature database for Australia, by Simon Torok, Melbourne University, 1996.)

Thermometers are normally placed in a Stevenson Screen on a suitable site, but have been found:

• attached to the barometer inside the house to be more convenient for reading.


• hanging under a gum tree facing west.


• under a galvanised iron verandah.


• against a mud or stone wall.


• on a balcony seven metres above the ground.

Stevenson Screens must be correctly exposed, and not, as has been found:

• painted cream, brown, green and silver, or not painted at all.


• used as a temporary beer case.


• to house birds which drink from the wet-bulb thermometer well.


• as a receptacle for footballs.

The screens must also be clear of obstructions, and not, as found, with:

• pumpkins growing beneath them.


• cows and goats grazing around them.


• torn laundry hanging above them to dry.

Observers themselves have come across problems when:

• one lacking in height was asked to make observations while standing on a box, to avoid parallax errors.


• one was unable to make observations at the right time due to work commitments, so estimated the temperatures late in the day.


• one sent in a month of entries before they had been made, to go on holiday.


• the Bureau closed one site because 'the readings were taken by girls'.


• telegraph lines were cut to prevent observations being sent to the Bureau during a feud as to who would take measurements.

The screens themselves and the instruments have been damaged:

• One observer's wife took to the screen with an axe, turning it into firewood.


• An eagle flew into the side of a screen, destroying it.


• Horses, cars and trucks have knocked them down.


• Termites have wreaked havoc.


• A dingo stole a thermometer when the observer took a reading soon after slaughtering a farm animal. He was later advised to wash his hands before taking readings.


• Cockatoos and crows have stolen the shiny thermometers.

Bureau of Meteorology