No.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration does not fabricate temperature data for decommissioned U.S. Historical Climatology Network stations. 

USHCN stations, part of the National Weather Service’s Cooperative Observer Program, are primarily managed by volunteers who record daily weather data across the country. Some stations have records dating back to the 1800s. 

When a station goes offline or cannot report consistently, NOAA uses data from nearby stations to estimate monthly temperatures. These estimates, clearly labeled as such in public datasets, help preserve the continuity of long-term climate records. They are available for researchers, historians and others who rely on historical temperature data, but are not used in NOAA’s official climate monitoring.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs, or quick-response fact checks, about trending claims relating to Arizona.

Sources

• NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Historical Climatology Network (USHCN)
• NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Correspondence with Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting
• NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, USHCN Introduction
• NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Cooperative Observer Program (COOP)
• National Weather Service, Cooperative Observer Program (COOP)
• NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, USHCN v2.5 Data Documentation readme