USHCN appears to have been tasked with the responsibility of making 2012 the hottest year ever in the US, regardless of what the actual temperatures are. So far they have had to adjust upwards by more than three degrees relative to 100 years ago, and September is going to make their job even tougher.
Will they have to go to four or five degrees by the end of the year? There appear to be no checks, balances or auditing procedures, so they can probably get away with as much cheating as they need to.
Is the same thing happening on a global scale?
NCDC/NOAA have just switched to GHCN-M version 3.2.0, which seems to have resulted in an increase in recent global anomalies and a reduction in the older ones. This seems to be the most recent example of upward revision of recent figures, relative to older ones.
The following graph on Climate4You shows how the January 2000 NCDC figures have changed since 2008, compared to those for January 1915.
http://www.climate4you.com/images/NCDC%20Jan1915%20and%20Jan2000.gif
Data tampering at GHCN has been rampant in recent years.
Sumilar Obamamanic election cycle data demons at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provide headline worthy initial numbers that diverge from the “revised” numbers that show zero recovery:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/initial-claims-print-so-bad-it-actually-good-market-sees-it-bad
The cool weather pattern over the eastern and central US should remain in place for the rest of the month. The green (below normal) areas should continue to grow.
Hey! That looks like a hockey stick. Must be thermal runaway- in their heads.
Good work Steven. Your work on exposing temperature adjustments is outstanding.