# Temperature is measured in the shade, right? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 30, 2011, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/temperature-is-measured-in-the-shade-right/587419 "2011-06-30T19:53:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/temperature-is-measured-in-the-shade-right/587419/1 "2011-06-30T19:53:27Z")
It’s a strange pet peeve to have and not really a pit-worthy rant, but I’m annoyed with people exaggerating how hot it is. Now correct me if this is wrong, but I was always taught that when you talk about the temperature outside you take the temperature in the shade. It seems to me that many people these days just talk about the highest temperature they saw on a thermometer outside a building in full sunshine or whatever their car says which is also usually hotter than the shade temperature. This irrates me because: 1. temperature values get “inflated” so that then when I talk about the really quite hot weather I’m experiencing in the correct way it seems like I’m a wuss 2. it’s confusing as I’m never quite sure who I can believe or how they measured what they were talking about. As the weather is all over the shop these days anyway, we don’t need the extra confusion. Maybe this is a European thing or a “my circle of friends and acquintainces” thing and surely it is a Pookah thing to get wound up about it, but can we please all just go back to referring to outside temperature as measured _in the shade_. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/temperature-is-measured-in-the-shade-right/587419/2 "2011-06-30T19:58:26Z")
Isn’t the temperature on the outside of a building exposed to the sun going to more accurately reflect what people standing outside feel? ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/temperature-is-measured-in-the-shade-right/587419/3 "2011-06-30T20:04:11Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Isn’t the temperature on the outside of a building exposed to the sun going to more accurately reflect what people standing outside feel? Probably, yes. But I was always taught and I thought it was convention to use shade temperature when making a general statement about the weather and am under the impression that’s also what the weather forecast temperatures refer to. It’s not that I think one way is better than another, just that we should all stick to the same convention so that we’re talking about the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/temperature-is-measured-in-the-shade-right/587419/4 "2011-06-30T20:10:40Z")
Trouble is that the full sun is going to heat up the thermometer’s housing itself, and therefore inflate the reading. If you want the actual temperature of the air, then yes, you have to take it in the shade. Most “official” temperature readings are taken from thermometers sheltered in a housing much like [this](http://www.benmeadows.com/search/thermometer+shelter/31228459/127123/?isredirect=true). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/temperature-is-measured-in-the-shade-right/587419/5 "2011-06-30T20:17:26Z")
**Ogre** beat me to the [Stevenson screen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevenson_screen). ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/temperature-is-measured-in-the-shade-right/587419/6 "2011-06-30T20:43:51Z")
> [@PookahMacPhellimey](#): > > Probably, yes. But I was always taught and I thought it was convention to use shade temperature when making a general statement about the weather and am under the impression that’s also what the weather forecast temperatures refer to. It’s not that I think one way is better than another, just that we should all stick to the same convention so that we’re talking about the same thing. Fair enough. I think I misunderstood what you meant about people “exaggerating” the weather. I thought you were addressing general whining about the heat, but really the complaint is about using inconsistent/inaccurate methods. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/temperature-is-measured-in-the-shade-right/587419/7 "2011-06-30T21:14:00Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Isn’t the temperature on the outside of a building exposed to the sun going to more accurately reflect what people standing outside feel? Maybe yes, maybe no. Imagine the scenario of the thermometer being placed on some asphalt…obviously, that’s going to read a LOT more than what the air temp is. ---
**Author:** ![hdc\_bst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/9f8e36/32.png) [@hdc\_bst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hdc_bst)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/temperature-is-measured-in-the-shade-right/587419/8 "2011-06-30T21:18:37Z")
Alternatively, you could use a [wet bulb](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet_Bulb_Globe_Temperature) reading to account for sun, wind, humidity, and other conditions. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/temperature-is-measured-in-the-shade-right/587419/9 "2011-07-02T11:12:27Z")
Huh. When I report the temperature, it’s just the high from the forecast. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/temperature-is-measured-in-the-shade-right/587419/10 "2011-07-02T11:39:13Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > Trouble is that the full sun is going to heat up the thermometer’s housing itself, and therefore inflate the reading. If you want the actual temperature of the air, then yes, you have to take it in the shade. Most “official” temperature readings are taken from thermometers sheltered in a housing much like [this](http://www.benmeadows.com/search/thermometer+shelter/31228459/127123/?isredirect=true). The most amazing thing about that thermometer shelter to me is that it costs $95. :eek: mmm ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/temperature-is-measured-in-the-shade-right/587419/11 "2011-07-02T14:25:10Z")
the structure Ogre linked is small, not much ventilated area. i don’t have any requirement specifications before me. an enclosure to collect data for something like the government or aviation would be about 30"Wx20"Dx30"H and be 4 ft. off the ground in a grassy well ventilated area, outside painted white. Johnny L.A. showed an official type enclosure. i’ve seen weather stations for home use have shaded temperature sensors in small plastic housings (maybe 4 to 6 inches diameter) with some ventilation, not always white in color, not always mounted away from structures. people will have home thermometers in all sorts of places like porches. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/temperature-is-measured-in-the-shade-right/587419/12 "2011-07-02T15:56:46Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > i don’t have any requirement specifications before me. an enclosure to collect data for something like the government or aviation would be about 30"Wx20"Dx30"H and be 4 ft. off the ground in a grassy well ventilated area, outside painted white. Johnny L.A. showed an official type enclosure. I’d love to have my own weather station. Wet thermometer, dry thermometer, barometer, hygrometer, rain gauge… I looked into it a few years ago, and IIRC my house is not ideally situated to take advantage of all of those instruments. Too many trees, or something. Maybe it was the anemometer.