Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 5, 1994 TAG: 9404050159
SECTION: NATIONAL/INT PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short
The United States gets about 9 percent more rain and snow than the official records indicate, say Pavel Y. Groisman and David R. Legates in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
The climate records, which go back about a century, are widely used in studies of possible global warming and other questions of changing conditions. And Groisman and Legates expressed concern that relying on faulty historical figures may produce misleading results.
Researchers at the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., are trying to develop a system that can be used to correct the rainfall data, Groisman said in a telephone interview.
American precipitation is measured at 8,000 volunteer stations and 278 government stations, which then report totals to the Climatic Data Center.
by CNB