PSoTD

Spinning the Weather

Here's how NOAA pushes this winter's temperatures:

NOAA: Coolest Winter Since 2001 for U.S., Globe

Is that good news? In the first bullet point:

In the contiguous United States, the average winter temperature was 33.2°F (0.6°C), which was 0.2°F (0.1°C) above the 20th century average...

And then there's this point:

February was 61st warmest in the contiguous U.S. and 15th warmest globally on record.

Hardly seems like the headline is the best measure of the information.

Posted by PSoTD on Saturday March 15, 2008 at 11:11am |
SteveIL (mail) (www):
Reliable temperature records have been around about 150 years. The earth has been around for something like 4.6 billion years. Based on evidence and guesswork, the temperature of the earth has fluctuated, sometimes greatly, sometimes quickly, many times over the prior 2000 years. The idea that February being the 61st warmest in the lower 48 and 15th warmest globally as some kind of indication of global warming, considering what isn't known, is ludicrous.

However, I'll let you come and shovel my "global warming" next winter anytime, because it's killing my back.
3.15.2008 1:42pm
PSoTD (mail) (www):
Nobody said anything about February being a clue about global warming. What I did say was that the headline wasn't really indicative of any real trend in the report. At least my "spin" isn't paid for by taxpayers.
3.15.2008 2:17pm

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