"Keith (Southend)" wrote in message
news:ehfd11$dn1$1

Martin, I just bought a new Grass Minimum Thermometer from Fairmount
Weather Systems which is graduated in 0.5°c increments, however, you
can easily make a judgment of 0.1 - 0.2°c intervals. I was wondering
how your grass minimum was recorded as 9.3°c? Synops only report to
the nearest whole °c.

.... SYNOP's only allow grass minima to be reported to nearest whole
degC, but that's simply a function of the code - saving some space: if
you remember, *all* temperatures in SYNOP's used to be reported to the
nearest whole degC (and before that, the nearest whole degF).

With a classic mercury-in-glass thermometer, it is perfectly possible to
read to the nearest degC: see the Observer's Handbook, page 111 (1969
ed.). If you haven't got access to that, let me know by email and I'll
send you a copy of the relevant page.

All the best,

Martin.


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