Anthony Watts is getting very upset by the heat that's hit California and other parts of south western USA. So far he's published five articles on WUWT, directly or indirectly protesting the high temperatures.
115°F or 46.1°C is "Fairly Unremarkable"?
In one of them Anthony claims that because an extreme temperature has been reached before it's "fairly unremarkable"!
So, that 115°F is fairly unremarkable as temperatures go, having been reached twice before. According to the NWS Las Vegas, summary the all time high of 117°F has been reached twice before...For the rest of the world, 115°F is 46.1°C, and 117°F is 47.2°C. That's hot in anyone's language. It's probably fair to say that by the middle of this century, temperatures in the high 40s (high one hundred and teens) will be considered "fairly unremarkable" in a lot of places that have yet to experience such hot weather.
Picking Nits off Thermometers
Here is a summary of his other four articles (so far):- a long article about two nearby thermometers possibly registering different readings.
- another long article about two weather stations at Death Valley. Obviously worried that another record might have been set, and very relieved when it wasn't.
- an article about a study that shows that in a test of four weather stations (5, 3 and one year old AWS and a new device), recorded temperature during sunshine hours can be affected by weathering of Stevenson screens. He is preparing his arguments in case more new records are broken.
- His first protest, a Friday Funny, about suspect high temperature readings at Kettle Falls, Washington State, when someone missed marking one of the suspect readings as "suspect".
Hot weather isn't good for the denialist business
Anthony really doesn't want it to be hot. Spoils the party line. He is currently spending his hours and days poring through all the latest weather observations looking for high temperature readings and getting very hot and bothered. You can't mess with nature and expect to come off a winner.
About the heat wave
Here are some of the recent media reports about the current US heatwave, including an appalling tragedy, with 19 elite firefighters killed during a fire in Arizona:
The tragedy caused by a wildfire: International Business Times: U.S. Heat Wave: 19 Firefighters Perish in Yarnell, Arizona Fighting Wildfires
NBC News: 117 degrees! Las Vegas ties all-time record as deadly heat wave bakes West
Sydney Morning Herald: Western US hit by 'dome of hot air'
Walking on the surface of the moon is also fairly unremarkable; after all, it's already been done a dozen times.
ReplyDeleteWe should not forget that moon walker number 12, Harrison Schmitt, holds some decidedly non-consensus views on climate change.
DeleteWattBoy really flailed away there, swinging at every demon imaginable.
ReplyDeletePrevious records may have other mechanisms behind them. The long-standing Death Valley record is described as:
http://wmo.asu.edu/world-highest-temperature
"After examining the temperature record in detail, Court noted that this temperature may be the result of a sandstorm that occurred at the time. Such a storm may have caused superheated surface materials to hit upon the temperature in the shelter."
Heh, looks like Tony will be sweating this one out for the next week or so. The warning is instructive...
ReplyDeleteAfter all that effort poor Watts had to issue an update, because the temperature was confirmed to be a record 117 after all ... I guess that means the day was "remarkable" after all, by his own logic ...
ReplyDelete