Proselytizing

Last week my wife and I travelled to a family gathering. My family is used to the fact that I advocate action to mitigate global warming. In fact, maybe they’re a little tired of it, so I don’t harp on the point. But they know that I’ve never been a doomsayer — in fact I’ve always scoffed at such things — so when I mention that it’s an existential threat to their children and grandchildren, they can’t help but take it seriously.

When Wiggles Collide … or not

This post by David Archibald at WUWT extolls the virtues of “wiggle matching,” then applies it — or so it claims — to match the CET (Central England Temperature) from 1703 through 1737, to that from 1978 through 2012. Archibald then notes that the 1703-1737 period was soon followed by the unusually cold year 1740. His conclusion? That we might be in for a similar year of extreme cold in 2015.

There are lots of problems with his efforts, but the main one is that the wiggles don’t match.

Granite Mountain Hotshots … RIP

The Granite Mountain Hotshots were truly heroes. Among the most elite fire-fighters in the world, not only were they “tough as nails,” one of the requirements for membership is “being nice.”

Sadly, I must say “were” because 19 of 20 members were killed fighting a wildfire in Arizona.

A Clue for Willis

We already called out Willis Eschenbach for his impudently wrong claim that last summer in Australia was “nothing at all unusual.” Evidently he wants you to believe that the hottest summer on record, the hottest month on record, the hottest day on record, and the longest national scale heatwave on record, all add up to “nothing at all unusual.” Not too bright.

Candy from a Baby

A new paper by Lewis and Karoly (2013, GRL, doi: 10.1002/grl.50673) concludes that man-made global warming has increased the odds of hot summer weather such as Australia suffered recently. The paper states, “The human contribution to the increased odds of Australian summer extremes like 2013 was substantial, while natural climate variations alone, including El Niño Southern Oscillation, are unlikely to explain the record temperature.”

This last summer saw Australia’s worst heat wave ever, but that was only the worst of the sizzling temperatures that have plagued the continent since November of last year. You can find some of the details here. The heat was astounding. There’s no denying it.

Shooting from the Hip

Anthony Watts noticed that the NOAA/NCDC global temperature for May 2013 was touted as the 3rd-hottest May on record. He didn’t like that, so he decided to call it into question. In fact he refers to the NCDC reported value as “irreconcilable.”

Bangs and Smoke

… Harry had long since learned that bangs and smoke were more often the marks of ineptitude than expertise.

— J.K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”

In my opinion, that quote describes Christopher Monckton to a “T”.

GWPF

The “Global Warming Policy Foundation” has released a GWPF Background Paper by Benny Peiser.

Honesty

When discussing evidence about man-made climate change, it’s important to give an honest portrayal of the facts. Just about any set of data can be twisted to give the impression one prefers, right or wrong. One of the main ways this is done is “cherry-picking,” in which one presents only part (sometimes a very tiny part) of the evidence but either ingores or hides the evidence contrary to one’s preference. This is fundamentally dishonest. But it happens a lot these days. When those who deny reality about global warming discuss the facts, honest portrayal be damned.

Not Just the Facts — the Wrong Conclusions Too

A WUWT contributor who calls himself “justthefacts” has written a post which attempts to tout the so-called “pause” in global warming. It’s pretty well summed up by the title of this post.