The airport weather sensors for Des Moines and Ames are typically called 'ASOS' sensors and lumped into the same data pile as they both have similar sensors and maintenance standards. The featured chart presents a summary of reported sky conditions at 6 AM each morning this year. While these sites are only separated by 30 some miles, there are some large differences in the number of clear mornings reported. The difference here is that the Des Moines sensor has augmentors that report cloud ceilings higher (to 25,000 feet) in the sky than the Ames sensor can (to 12,000 feet). This is just one of the data quirks that keeps life fun and various people employed to keep track of this all!

Voting:
Good = 23
Bad = 5

Tags:   clouds