NPR told us today that the summer of 2012 was a record breaker in the US. The only thing which broke any records was the level of BS coming from the ministry of truth..
An apples to apples comparison, shows that the summer of 1936 had five times as many record maximums as the summer of 2012.
Summertime average temperatures didn’t even crack the top five.
Summertime maximum temperatures barely cracked the top ten, and were 2.5 degrees cooler than 1936.
Another great job! It was a hot late June and July, but nothing unprecedented.
DUH! Just remember that each new record is that much hotter than the previous records. So that the 10 thousand new highs set in the last 20 years surpass every individual high since they’ve been recorded. Each new high is statistically harder to reach, but they are definitely being reached and exceeded.
You have no idea what you are talking about. These are “all-time records set or tied” so there is no time bias to the graph.
The graph you are describing would be an exponential decay curve, which obviously this is not.
Remember our all time highs are not “all time” – they are since thermometers were placed at the location in question, often less than a century ago. Weather cycles are many hundred years long and to get a true picture of what is natural you need to consider many cycles, say 5-10,000 years. So the proper question is “is this the hottest day since Roman and Egyptian and Minoan times”? So far we DO NOT have the data to answer that question, so the hottest day statement is meaningless.
Thanks
JK