He added: “All official National Weather Service thermometers are kept in white, vented enclosures to reflect the sunlight. The shade, vents, and reflective paint allow the air to circulate freely so the thermometer can accurately measure the air temperature.”<\/p>\n
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Berc, who has worked in the agency’s Las Vegas office since 2012, says the air-traffic control tower theory is a new one to him. According to Berc, the official NWS Las Vegas weather station has never sat higher than five feet off the ground.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The first one began taking observations on Jan. 1, 1937, at Nellis Air Force Base. That was back when it was known as the Western Air Express Airfield and the NWS was called the US Weather Bureau.<\/p>\n
That station was moved to Las Vegas’ civilian airport, then known as Alamo Field, on Dec. 18, 1948, two days before it was renamed to honor Senator Pat McCarran. The station was installed outside the Weather Bureau’s office at Alamo, with its sensors measuring the air at about five feet off the ground.<\/p>\n
On Sept. 1, 1995, the weather service replaced this station with an automated weather station located a bit east of what is now the middle of the airfield — again, about five feet off the ground. Because it was automated, it no longer needed to be manually read. So NWS abandoned its airport office for its current one on Dean Martin Drive.<\/p>\n
That weather station needed to be moved due to the construction and expansion of a new taxiway. So, since April 19, 2007, the official NWS Las Vegas weather station has operated, once again, with its sensors about five feet off the ground in the southwest corner of the airport<\/p>\n