One thing that has happened is that when a lot of the weather monitoring stations were built, they were placed correctly, out in the open, the correct distance from other objects, etc.
As urban sprawl happened, that changed the environmental conditions and created heat islands with more buildings and that interferes with accurate temperature and precipitation measurements.
It is not necessarily faulty equipment or incorrect placement by the NWS. It’s urbanization.
Not necessarily. Police and fire stations are often places where these instruments are located. In towns, surrounded by all of those heat sinks mentioned, long ago and still there.
Don’t think for a moment it is an interesting incidental happenstance.
Having worked regional monitoring for mil/civ diaster planning, it is common place. Otherwise, NOAA would have to lease, develop and maintain in spec platforms, they just punt, and give the local PD a bit of money for convenience.
Ask a local PD if they have a NOAA data logger and weather set on on the roof...I almost bet they do.