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Death Valley World Record 134 deg. F is Biased ~10 deg. Too High

Roy W. Spencer, Ph. D.

[This blog by Dr. Roy W. Spencer was originally published on his blog site on 8 November 2024.  It is reproduced here under the fair use doctrine and with standing permission from the author. Ed]

Key Points:

      • Over the years, a few commentators have have argued that the world record highest temperature of 134 deg. F at Death Valley, CA recorded on July 10, 1913 is physically implausible.
      • Here I show quantitatively that the 134 deg F temperature is biased high, by about 10 deg. F.
      • Extensive historical research by William T . Reid has suggested the person making the temperature observations at Greenland Ranch likely replaced the official measurements from a thermometer in a Stevenson screen shelter with other measurements made next to the adobe living quarters.

Update #1 (11/8/2024): Fixed a few typos.

Update #2 (11/8/2024): For those messaging me about Furnace Creek temperatures reaching 130 deg. F in recent years, see Bill Reid’s summary of side-by-side measurements made there [and reported at an AMS meeting] showing the non-aspirated “official” equipment produces temperatures 2-3 deg. too high during light wind conditions.

Update #3 (11/9/2024): Bill Reid corrected my use of the term “mountain” stations to describe those not in Death Valley. Many of those stations are at desert plateau sites, so I have changed the term to “higher elevation” stations. I have also asked Bill to provide additional thoughts on this issue, which will be the next blog post here.

BACKGROUND

The “official” world record highest near-surface air temperature is 134 deg. F, recorded in Death Valley, California on July, 10, 1913 at Greenland Ranch, California an isolated location with no similarly sited stations with which to compare (say, within 10 miles and below sea level). Greenland Ranch was a man-made oasis created by the Borax people around the turn of the 20th Century, with water piped in from a nearby mountain. It has a rich history, but always against a backdrop of oppressive summer heat that few visitors (and even workers) could endure.

Continue reading “Death Valley World Record 134 deg. F is Biased ~10 deg. Too High”

The Fake Climate Consensus

John Stossel

We are told climate change is a crisis, and that there is an “overwhelming scientific consensus.”

[This post was found on takimag.com where it was published on August 09, 2023.  It is being reproduced here under the Fair Use Doctrine.  Ed.]

“It’s a manufactured consensus,” says climate scientist Judith Curry in my new video.  She says scientists have an incentive to exaggerate risk to

Source: Bigstock

pursue “fame and fortune.”

She knows about that because she once spread alarm about climate change.

Media loved her when she published a study that seemed to show a dramatic increase in hurricane intensity.

“We found that the percent of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes had doubled,” says Curry. “This was picked up by the media,” and then climate alarmists realized, “Oh, here is the way to do it.  Tie extreme weather events to global warming!” Continue reading “The Fake Climate Consensus”

It’s madness, madness, madness, there is no climate emergency

“Although they say the science is settled! In fact, the science is never settled . . .”

Dick Reaney

Labels: Climate Realism, Dick Reaney, Global warming alarmism

Dick Reaney

Climate Change is normal and natural and has gone on for millions of years without any help from the human race. The scaremongering now going on by the media, politicians and climate alarmists, is so utterly misguided to be nothing but tragic. That we have an End of the World scenario is Continue reading “It’s madness, madness, madness, there is no climate emergency”

The Imaginary Climate Crisis – How can we Change the Message?

Richard S. Lindzen
Professor Emeritus of Atmospheric Sciences, MIT

[This essay is a slightly extended version of a lecture delivered to a joint zoom meeting of the Irish Climate Science Forum and CLINTEL on March 31, 2021.]

For about 33 years, many of us have been battling against climate hysteria. We have correctly noted

The exaggerated sensitivity,

The role of other processes and natural internal variability,

Image by Pixabay

The inconsistency with the paleoclimate record,

The absence of evidence for increased extremes, droughts, floods, wild-fires, and so on.

We have also pointed out the very real benefits of CO2 and even of modest warming.  And, as concerns government policies, we have been pretty ineffective.  Indeed our efforts have done little other than to show (incorrectly) that we take the threat scenario seriously.  In this talk, I want to make a tentative analysis of our failure.

In punching away at the clear shortcomings of the narrative of climate Continue reading “The Imaginary Climate Crisis – How can we Change the Message?”

Media Lying About Climate And Hurricanes

It’s time to state the obvious.

Michael Shellenberger

[This article was originally published by the author on 4 October 2022 at this link.  We are reproducing it here under the fair use doctrine.  Ed]

Over the last several weeks, many mainstream news media outlets have claimed that hurricanes are becoming more expensive, more frequent, and more intense because of climate change.

The Financial Times reported that “hurricane frequency is on the rise.”

The New York Times claimed, “strong storms are becoming more common in the Atlantic Ocean.”

The Washington Post said, “climate change is rapidly fueling super hurricanes.”

ABC News declared, “Here’s how climate change intensifies hurricanes.”

Both the FT and N.Y. Times showed graphs purporting to show rising Continue reading “Media Lying About Climate And Hurricanes”