Climate happens

Lots of stories in the news about this weird warm weather in the east. Newsbusters had a story today (HT Jim Rose) about how the nutroots evidently manipulated NBC anchor Brian Williams to bring on an equal-time guest to refute an earlier segment with NOAA guy who blamed the cherry blossoms on El Nino.

Was NOAA guy muzzled by the science hating knuckle-draggers at the White House, or has this sort of thing happened before? Below you'll see evidence--but I warn you--graphs are coming, beware!

On the left, the NOAA temperature change (departure from the normal) for December 2006. On the right, the same for December 1923. Yep, 1923, long before the SUV, Al Gore, IPCC or Bush.



Pretty warm on both counts, actually much warmer around here in 1923. Can we blame that warming on the Model T?

If you're still awake to this point, here are two more graphs. Yes, actual data. These are from the NASA site overlorded by James Hansen, climate superstar. The first is a 100+ year climate record for Washington, DC. Pretty dramatic warming. To the right is a rural station located at Lincoln, not too far from DC. Not so dramatic.



MORE 1/10/07

The Drudge headline is sexy, "winter to finally come with a vengeance", as if it hasn't come yet. The people of Buffalo know, they've already had a massive October blizzard. The folks in Colorado have got them beat--two blizzards already. Out in the Pacific Northwest they've been pummeled hard with rain and wind. Here in Memphis we've already seen 15 degrees. Winter has been around, it just doesn't always follow the calendar.

WARMEST 1/10/07

The New York Times is applauding NOAA for admitting that greenhouse gas was a contributing factor in 2006 being the warmest year on record in the United States. Confusing, since on Tuesday NOAA said it might not be the warmest. Maybe there were hanging chads. I demand a recount!

Anyway, here are the top ten:

Rank Year Average temperature (F)
1. 2006 55.01
2. 1998 54.94
3. 1934 54.91
4. 1999 54.53
5. 1921 54.49
6. 1931 54.34
7. 1990 54.24
8. 2001 54.23
9. 1953 54.18
10. 1954 54.13

Don't get me wrong--I'm not denying the warming trend, just trying to temper the knee-jerk. People have a tendency to forget the past, but notice that five of the top ten occurred before 1955. No reason for the earlier spikes were provided by NOAA in their press release today.