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<p>I've just had an interesting experience while compiling weather
data that was explained by political events back in 2012.</p>
<p>I was cleaning up weather files for Tunisia for a personal
friend, and noticed there was one station out of the 30 (
TUN_ZINE-EL-ABIDINE-BEN_607255) for which I had not downloaded the
satellite solar data because the station had only two years of
data 2010, 2011. I wasn't sure if that weather was worth
improving and went to Google Earth to see where the station was
located, and found this:</p>
<p><img src="cid:part1.0E56D4CF.381C006E@whiteboxtechnologies.com"
alt=""><br>
</p>
<p>A Google search revealed this as the Enfidha-Hammamet
International Airport that was opened in 2009. What was really
interesting was the history described in the Wikipedia article:</p>
<p>"It was originally named after the former Tunisian president,
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. On 15 January 2011, one day after he left
the country due to the social protests against his long
dictatorship, his name and his pictures were removed from the
airport building. The new name is Enfidha–Hammamet International
Airport."<br>
</p>
<p>I then looked in my records and fond that, indeed, I have data
for Enfidha (TUN_ENFIDHA_607310S) starting in 2013.<br>
</p>
<p>So, mystery solved. TUN_ZINE-EL-ABIDINE-BEN_607255 was the
weather station for the Zine El Abidine Airport from 2010 to 2011.
After Ben Ali fled in the Fall of 2011, marking the beginning of
the "Arab Spring", the airport was renamed and started reporting
weather data in 2013 with a new WMO # and name
TUN_ENFIDHA_607310. Moncef and other Tunisian friends probably
could have told me all this right away, but it didn't occur to me
to ask.<br>
</p>
<p>Weather is clearly apolitical, but how weather data are reported
can reflect politics.<br>
</p>
<p>Joe<br>
</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="90">--
Joe Huang
White Box Technologies, Inc.
346 Rheem Blvd., Suite 205A
Moraga CA 94556
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:yjhuang@whiteboxtechnologies.com">yjhuang@whiteboxtechnologies.com</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://weather.whiteboxtechnologies.com">http://weather.whiteboxtechnologies.com</a> for simulation-ready weather data
(o) (925)388-0265
(c) (510)928-2683
"building energy simulations at your fingertips"
</pre>
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