1901 Was The Hottest July In US History – It Was Blamed On “The Advance Of Civilization”

10 Responses to 1901 Was The Hottest July In US History – It Was Blamed On “The Advance Of Civilization”

1. _Jim says:

   June 10, 2014 at 12:54 pm

   They may have had a point (indeed, they did. They were ‘not so dumb’ back then. Heck, by that time Maxwell and Hertz had done their seminal work and Marconi was doing his!)

   Take Michigan, for instance … used to be many (both wet and dry) Prairies and Savannahs before being conquered by modern ‘western man’ (because, due both to lightning and native Indian ignition sources saplings/underbrush was eliminated almost yearly during the burn-offs).

   Copyright Fair Use excerpts follow.

   PRAIRIE AND SAVANNA IN SOUTHERN LOWER MICHIGAN:
   HISTORY, CLASSIFICATION, ECOLOGY

   Michigan’s extensive prairies and savannas disappeared in the 1800s before scientists could fully describe them (Chapman 1984), yet early 20th century ecologists understood that southern Lower Michigan formed the northeastern continental edge of tallgrass prairie and savanna (Gleason 1917; Transeau 1935; Curtis 1959).

   Tallgrass prairie extended from the Great Plains at 98 degrees lon gitude eastward to central Illinois (Risser et al. 1981; Sims 1988), Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana (Transeau 1935; Küchler 1975). Savanna co-occurred with tallgrass prairie (Küchler 1975, Nuzzo 1986). Savanna, a fire-maintained plant community co-dominated by herbaceous plants and trees, was called oak openings or oak barrens by European settlers, depending on the type of soil and tree species (Cooper 1848; Peters 1970a).

   Beginning about 1830 in Michigan (Peters 1970b) and later farther west, settlers claimed prairies and savannas before other land and transformed them by plowing, stopping annual wildfires, and initiating season-long grazing. After 1945 residential and other development increasingly displaced agriculture (Risser et al. 1981; Nuzzo 1986; Noss et al. 1995). By 1980 nearly all of Michigan’s prairies and savannas were destroyed or drastically altered by agriculture, fire cessation, and development (Chapman 1984).

   Given the historical abundance and modern rarity of prairie and savanna in Michigan, their ecological status is of great scientific and conservation interest.This paper classifies Michigan’s prairie and savanna communities, describes their history and ecology, and presents the most complete account of Michigan’s prairies and savannas to date in order to assist future scientific studies and conservation efforts.

   PRAIRIES IN MICHIGAN
   http://web2.geo.msu.edu/geogmich/prairielocations.html

   How did prairies form?

   As the climate became warmer and drier, between 14,000 and 10,000 years ago, a cool mesic hardwood forest with ash, oak, elm, maple, birch, and hickory trees grew in the midwest. About 8,300 years ago, the climate became substantially warmer and drier, and within the relatively short time of 500 to 800 years, most of the forests in southwestern Michigan died out or got burned down, except along stream banks, and prairies spread over the landscape. During the last 1,000 years the climate has become slightly cooler and wetter, making conditions more favorable to trees. Savannas, characterized by a grassy prairie-type ground cover underneath an open tree canopy, are common in areas that border the prairies. Scattered out on the prairie were patches of rich forests completely surrounded by prairie; these forests are called prairie groves.

   Prairies developed and were maintained under the influence of three major non-biological stresses: climate, grazing, and fire. Occurring in the central part of North America, prairies are subject to extreme ranges of temperatures, with hot summers and cold winters. There are also great fluctuations of temperatures within growing seasons.

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2. norilsk says:

   June 10, 2014 at 1:37 pm

   In the book A Gentlewoman In Upper Canada (now Ontario) John Langton wrote to his father Thomas encouraging him to leave England and come to the colony. He told him it was 95 in the shade last Saturday. The letter was dated July 28, 1834. So even literature invalidates the lies of the global warmers.

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3. Shazaam says:

   June 10, 2014 at 2:18 pm

   So the use of “unprecedented” in news headlines has a long history of use in climate hysteria reporting.

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4. O.R. Seglem says:

   June 10, 2014 at 2:36 pm

   DNR Warden Spots Icebergs On Lake Superior
   http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/06/07/dnr-warden-spots-icebergs-on-lake-superior

   It’s first year ice. I predict Lake Superior will be ice free by the beginning of September

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5. Hugh K says:

   June 10, 2014 at 3:32 pm

   The ‘consensus’ claims it was the Koch brother’s grandparents’ fault.

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6. philjourdan says:

   June 10, 2014 at 5:35 pm

   I would say it has been retreating longer than that. Since about 1988 (by one measure) or 1989 (by another).

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7. craigm350 says:

   June 10, 2014 at 7:30 pm

   Reblogged this on the WeatherAction Blog.

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8. Dave N says:

   June 10, 2014 at 9:59 pm

   …and civilization has been going backwards ever since; as evidenced by climate (and population, DDT, ozone, etc etc) alarmism.

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9. Dmh says:

   June 11, 2014 at 12:28 am

   Very interesting and educational, Steve.
   I used to have a different image of the early XX century, I thought it was cold nearly all the time, but your posts here and some research have shown a very different picture.
   For example, the aa-index of cycle #14 was considerably above our present levels.
   Thanks! 🙂

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10. Andy Oz says:

    June 11, 2014 at 6:39 am

    Civilisation’s airlines are now the “Klimate Kriminals”. Who knew?
    http://www.theguardian.com/big-energy-debate/aviation-carbon-supermarkets-emissions

    Reply