“Global Warming Has Begun”

On this date in 1988, the New York Times reported on James Hansen’s testimony before Congress and said “global warming has begun.”

Global Warming Has Begun, Expert Tells Senate – The New York Times

It was the hottest June 23 on record in the US by a wide margin.

Senator Tim Wirth and James Hansen planned out the hearing for a hot day, and sabotaged the air conditioner to make it feel hotter.

“we called the Weather Bureau and found out what historically was the hottest day of the summer. Well, it was June 6 or June 9 or whatever it was, so we scheduled the hearing that day, and bingo: It was the hottest day on record in Washington, or close to it. It was stiflingly hot that summer. [At] the same time you had this drought all across the country, so the linkage between the Hansen hearing and the drought became very intense.

… What we did it was went in the night before and opened all the windows, I will admit, right? So that the air conditioning wasn’t working inside the room and so when the, when the hearing occurred there was not only bliss, which is television cameras in double figures, but it was really hot. … So Hansen’s giving this testimony, you’ve got these television cameras back there heating up the room, and the air conditioning in the room didn’t appear to work. So it was sort of a perfect collection of events that happened that day, with the wonderful Jim Hansen, who was wiping his brow at the witness table and giving this remarkable testimony.”

Interviews – Timothy Wirth | Hot Politics | FRONTLINE | PBS

Tom Karl at NOAA disagreed with Hansen. He said most global warming occurred before 1919, and that earth cooled from 1921 to 1979.

07 Dec 1989, Page 14 – Santa Cruz Sentinel at Newspapers.com

NOAA has since altered their data, and now shows cooling from 1880 to 1919 and warming from 1921 to 1979.

Climate at a Glance | National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)

NOAA also said the US hadn’t warmed.

U.S. Data Since 1895 Fail To Show Warming Trend – NYTimes.com

They have since altered their US temperature data to show warming from 1895 to 1988.

Climate at a Glance | National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)

Hansen predicted a sharp increase in 90 degree days at Washington DC and Omaha, Nebraska. The opposite has occurred.

12 Jun 1986, Page 12 – The Evening Times at Newspapers.com

Logan, Iowa is the closest currently active USHCN station to Omaha.

Purcellville, VA is the closest USHCN station in Virginia to Washington DC.

Across the US, the frequency of 90 degree days has plummeted since Hansen’s testimony.

Hansen predicted a sharp increase in droughts.

“Dr. James E. Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, who presented recent data compiled from computer models, said that predicted regional effects of global warming show that the chances of summer drought in the low and middle latitudes would be 1 in 3 by the year 2030, as against 1 in 20 in the 1950’s.”

FEROCIOUS STORMS AND DROUGHT SEEN – The New York Times

During the 1950’s the US was in drought most of the time, but droughts have been much less common over the past 60 years. Hansen also got that exactly backwards.

Climate at a Glance | National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)

By 1999, Hansen realized that his forecasts were failing.

Empirical evidence does not lend much support to the notion that climate is headed precipitately toward more extreme heat and drought. The drought of 1999 covered a smaller area than the 1988 drought, when the Mississippi almost dried up. And 1988 was a temporary inconvenience as compared with repeated droughts during the 1930s “Dust Bowl” that caused an exodus from the prairies, as chronicled in Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath.

The U.S. has warmed during the past century, but the warming hardly exceeds year-to-year variability. Indeed, in the U.S. the warmest decade was the 1930s and the warmest year was 1934.

NASA GISS: Science Briefs: Whither U.S. Climate?

So he did what all leading government climate scientists do – he altered the data.

NASA 1999

NASA 2019

Hansen created the climate cult and worked a lot of people into hysteria. They want to sue fossil fuel companies for providing the energy people need to survive.