GCC or UHI?

http://www.norcalblogs.com/watts/weather_stations/

It seems the weather monitor stations aren't being sited very well. Siting them next to buildings, airport tarmacs, and parking lots doesn't make for reliable or consistent temperature data. The one with the trash/burn can and dog poo station next to it is priceless.

I'd have to agree it's getting hotter out there (at least it was hideously so yesterday), but we should be able to run a study on how much and why without fudging up the data. According to the regulations on the weather monitoring services, these things are supposed to be well away from buildings, etc so they do not get cluttered up with UHI (urban heat islands). Asphalt, AC vents and concrete put out masses of heat. Some of the stations had light bulbs in them. Another no-no. Now I agree it's a problem if our cities are getting hotter, but that's not what we are trying to study or correct. We already know cities get hotter, you can see it on any infrared satellite image or even just a night shot. All those lights have to be doing something heat related. What we need is reliable data on actual climates, not the artificial ones we live in. Such data can be put to good effect, rather than the current effects like playing with the data so it fits the company line. Since the data appears to suck anyway, what difference does playing with it make?