A prevailing heat wave in the Northern Hemisphere has led to the alarmist “climate crisis” narrative, urging us to surrender our car keys to figures like Al Gore and John Kerry. Headlines proclaim “record-breaking heat” with eye-catching temperatures reported in Europe and parts of the American Southwest. The Italian health ministry goes so far as to call it “one of the most intense heat waves of all time.” However, a closer look at the data reveals that most of these headlines are false or greatly exaggerated. Despite this, they continue to be published because sustaining climate panic is the primary goal of the climate movement. Paul Krugman’s recent New York Times column titled “Why We Should Politicize the Weather” serves as evidence of this.
While it is undeniably hot in certain regions this week, temperatures are generally falling short of records set many decades ago, well before the supposed onset of climate change. For example, Joliet, Illinois reached 113 degrees in July 1887, with Chicago hitting 106 degrees on the same day. In 1928, Lake Balaton, Hungary reported a high of 131 degrees, while Budapest recorded 116 degrees. Most of the record high temperatures in the United States date back to the 1930s, with the all-time high temperature record of 134 degrees set in 1913 in Death Valley. This week, Death Valley has reached 128 degrees. While it is possible that the 1913 record might be broken in the coming weeks, there is currently no evidence of a dramatic deviation from long-term historical trends. We lack perspective on these long-ago record temperatures since no one alive today has experienced them, making us vulnerable to politicized climate claims.
Similarly, claims that last month was the world’s “hottest on record” fail to mention that our reliable average global temperature record only spans 44 years, beginning with the systematic satellite monitoring of our atmosphere. Temperatures prior to 1979 are estimated and modeled on computers from various “proxy” measurements, going back to around 1850. This time series is hardly sufficient for drawing conclusions about climate change on a geologic time scale. Furthermore, the scientific community is constantly making adjustments to the official global temperature record as new data sets and computer models are developed. Curiously, most of these revisions conveniently support the latest “climate crisis” narrative. It is worth questioning the reliability of the climate science community, especially in light of the politicization of public health during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Even the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), one of the leading government research organizations in the US, has distanced itself from the claim that this year is the hottest in 125,000 years due to concerns about the validity of the generated computer models. While extreme heat waves do pose health risks, particularly for vulnerable populations like the elderly, mortality from winter cold is nearly ten times higher than mortality from heat waves. However, this fact rarely receives the same attention as summer heat waves because it doesn’t align with the political agenda of environmental activists and media headlines. Therefore, skepticism about climate change narratives is justified, despite being met with resistance from the political class. Steven F. Hayward, a resident scholar at UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies, asserts this viewpoint.
Denial of responsibility! VigourTimes is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
