In a world flooded with information, questioning everything and seeing it for yourself is essential. While it can be difficult to prove or disprove a belief, with global warming, it quite simple. All you have to do is look at the data - not the graphs and stories you see in the news - the raw, unfiltered data that you can plot yourself. In another episode I talk about how to do this using a python script. Click here for the notes on how to do that.
By data, I mean 50 or 100 years. Most weather stations hardly have 20 years of data. I used to live in Phoenix, so I choose Sky Harbor Airport. The location for the weather station there is the oldest in Arizona and has the longest history of data.
I used in Engineering what we call the fat pencil test- take a Sharpie, a fat writing tool. Put it on the plot and try to cover all of the data points. If all those data points are within your fat pencil, then you look at the pencil. Is the pencil sloped up or down?
For the city of Phoenix, it appears there was a slight cooling in the early 60s. Then it seems, not y definite, as there's a slight warming trend for the low temperature; not for the maximum temperature. I repeat - the lowest temperature observed appears to be rising over time - not the high.
I believe this is because as Phoenix developed, there was more concrete and blacktop, and the nighttime temperature therefore t doesn't cool off as fast. This has nothing to do with global warming or C02 - it's simply an affect of heat being stored by more concrete highways and buildings. It wouldn't matter what you heated them up with. In the case of Phoenix it's the sun!
If you'd like to comment on this, fantastic. That's why I'm doing this. Before you do - walk the talk. Show me your data and where you got it. And include a link so I can get the raw data myself and plot it myself before you do any statistics or removal of any data points.
When you read a headline such as the temperature in Arizona is rising due to global warming - that's disinformation. They can not average the temperature in Arizona for multiple reasons. There are not enough weather stations in Arizona with complete temperature data going back long enough They should have said the temperature in the city of Phoenix is rising. Even that would be disinformation, as they didn't make it clear the LOW temperature is rising - not the high.
Read More:
3 Observations That Made Me Re-think Global Warming
Exploring Global Climate Weather Data
This article helps you think clearly in a noisy world, cut through misinformation, and find solutions as applied to climate change and global warming.