On February 22, Denver City Council will consider a proposal to partner with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and install a weather observation station on the Sand Creek Uplands Open Space at the site of the former Stapleton Airport. This site will provide automated real-time and long-term data, but will not replace Denver International Airport as the official weather observation site for Denver. Yes, for the umpteen-billionth time, DIA sucks as a weather-observation location for Denver proper. But you know what? It doesn’t matter. There are a lot of places in the United States where 23 miles doesn’t make much difference in what the weather is doing over days, weeks, months or years. That’s not the case with Denver. There's a world of difference between the weather downtown and 23 miles away at DIA because of the complex terrain we have around here. Here’s just a short list of what changes the weather between the airport and central Denver: