back to article October global temps above average for 332nd straight month

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has released its global temperature analysis for October, and – no surprise – the planet remains in a sultry mood. As NOAA explains, a bit dryly – no pun intended, and no offense meant to unfortunate Americans fleeing drought-crazed rabid skunks: "This is the 332nd …

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  1. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Pint

      > you should be writing this article in languages found in India

      Wiki wisdom words:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_India#Official_languages

      -- "The official languages of the Republic of India are Standard Hindi (41% of the country speaks Standard Hindi or another Hindi dialect) and English. "

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions

      -- 2008 figures have Indian CO2 output as 1/3 of USA, Chinese 30% greater than USA (total figures, not per-capita)

      But your underlying point is sound, that as the 6/7ths of the world that aren't members of the first world pursues a standard of living closer to ours we can expect resource consumption and pollution output to soar. Lowering our output isn't automatically futile: it can pioneer ways of achieving a given quality of life for a lower pollution output, develop technology sectors that may prove lucrative, and provide a nebulous moral example (weak, but without it we're even more screwed - imagine trying to persuade anyone else to reduce output if we're not attempting it too)

      Beer icon because contemplating the future drives me to drink...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: and meanwhile

      You really should have written this article 250 years ago when we started out industrial revolution. <rolls eyes>

    3. This post has been deleted by its author

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: and meanwhile

        I can' even see what it said so I have to assume it was a poor post (why else would he have deleted it?).

      2. This post has been deleted by its author

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's pretty easy to cherry pick out a few single years as warmer than some seemingly likewise cherry picked average as they seem to have done with the specified examples. Or, in the case of the UK, cooler than average (the UK being cooler would fit, for a time, with localised projections of global warming).

    A single year being above or below average means little. It's the long term trend that's important. The data is preliminary, so we'll have to wait and see what it really adds to the long term picture I suppose.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @ Mike Hock

      Strange, I found the headline "October global temps above average for 332nd straight month" quite easy to understand.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: @ Mike Hock

        You miss the point. I'm waiting to see what this really adds to the long term picture. Not a day, a week, a month comparision, but long term global averages and how it adjusts them in the context of AGW. Not hard to understand.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: @ Mike Hock

          Oops, " long term global averages" should be 'long term annual global averages'

    2. Ron 6
      Black Helicopters

      I agree

      This is more likely a weather pattern, even 30 years would sill more likely be weather and not climate. From the raging climate debate, there doesn't seem to be any agreement on the dividing line between weather and climate (if there is any.) Until the Climate Science field can get away from popular science and to something approaching the rigor of the physical sciences there is no reason to use it for the foundations of decisions that can cost trillions of dollars and lower the standards of living for the entire globe.

      Note: It's also fairly easy to get the results you want when the data are being adjusted periodically so that the older data shows lower temperatures than were actually recorded years ago. (We know this is being done because old written records do not match the data online with NASA.) The adjustment of online versions of archived temperatures without explanation makes newer charts useless for scientific purposes but perfect for political purposes.

      1. NomNomNom

        Re: I agree

        "We know this is being done because old written records do not match the data online with NASA"

        Have you tried graphing it and comparing it? There's no significant difference between NASA's data 20 years ago and the same data today, except of course that there is 20 additional years of data.

        1. Naughtyhorse
          Trollface

          Re: I agree

          is that the nasa data that was demonstrated to be bollocks cos they had the altitude and position of their kit all wrong?

          or some other reliable nasa data?

          just askin

        2. Ron 6
          Unhappy

          Re: I agree

          "Have you tried graphing it and comparing it? There's no significant difference between NASA's data 20 years ago and the same data today, except of course that there is 20 additional years of data."

          20 years isn't climate, it's weather. The Weather Service has data going back to the 1800s and the older data has been manipulated several times over the last decade. Note: I'm referring to the historically climate network not satellite data which does not show warming.

          What is really interesting is that people will go on-line now and pull down the currently posted data and assume it has remained the same since it was put on-line. It should but it hasn't. NASA is applying corrections retroactively to archived. In my mine this is intellectually questionable.

          1. NomNomNom

            Re: I agree

            "The Weather Service has data going back to the 1800s and the older data has been manipulated several times over the last decade. Note: I'm referring to the historically climate network not satellite data which does not show warming."

            Satellite data shows warming too. Surface data. Satellite data. Land data. Ocean data. All show warming.

            The older data from the Weather Service shows warming too.

    3. James Micallef Silver badge
      Boffin

      @Mike Hock - trend?

      "A single year being above or below average means little. It's the long term trend that's important"

      I would think that 27 straight years compared to a 100-year average counts as a trend

  3. This post has been deleted by its author

  4. Rufus McDufus

    Above average over 133 years - not exactly a long time over the lifespan of life on the planet. And as we now, many of the measuring stations are poorly sited, in now built up areas for instance.

    1. asdf
      Mushroom

      of course

      There have been many periods in our planet's past when we would have found life if not impossible very nearly so (think mountains striking the earth at km/sec). Yes in the past the earth may well have been completely covered in glaciers or much hotter than even the worst prediction we will encounter but self aware life as delicate as us was certainly not around.

      1. asdf

        Re: of course

        As for the urban island being the cause myth. http://berkeleyearth.org/results-summary/

        You must not have gotten the memo that BEST study shot that down and you need to move on to your next bs excuse.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @ Rufus McDufus

      You make a valid point, not only valid, but a clearly obvious point..

      Why didn't the equally obvious point that others, especially those responsible for measuring, would also think of it occur to you before you typed your comment?

    3. This post has been deleted by its author

    4. Naughtyhorse
      Trollface

      that's a shame, cos i was thinking of relocating to the Indian ocean off the coast of Somalia, but from what you suggest, the place is teeming with new cities, so the commute to work will still be a nightmare. guess ill relocate to northern Europe where the population density is clearly so much lower.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        I'd suggest you do relocate off shore of Somalia. Just make sure you have plenty of friends at home with FITFY MILLION DOLLARS ($50,000,000), to depsoit for your safe release.

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      My exact thought

      Is this corrected for measurement site location 'cause Climategate data was not (as picked by the Russians who analyzed it).

      Let's take South Eastern Europe. This year is supposedly one of the hottest for South Eastern Europe.

      Based on my own recollections it was hot, but not much hotter than: 1979 and 1987. In 1987 the temperature hit the 30-es in May, 40-es in June, remained in the 40-es until end of July and stayed in the 30-es range till October (same as this year). There were a couple of very hot years in the early 1990-es too (before South-Eastern Europe going wet and miserable towards the decade end).

      If you look at met station locations - in 1987 the measurements locations in the largest South Eastern European cities - Sofia, Bucharest, Belgrade, etc were all in the suburbs or on the city border. Example - data for Sofia comes from the met-office at 8km on the E80 motorway. That was where the city ended in 1987. It is now 5km further down that road with 10+ times the traffic down the motorway. This should skew the data by at least several degrees. The other location is the airport which once again was outside the built up area up to the early 80-es. Bucharest - same story. Belgrade - same story. Ohrid - same story. And so on.

      So is this showing heating or urbanization (or both)?

  5. Kwac
    Paris Hilton

    Bloody good hoax

    Bloody good hoax this AGW thingy, isn't it?

    Average temprerature increases every month for getting on for 28 years. How do they do it?

    1. asdf
      Trollface

      Re: Bloody good hoax

      How do you get people to believe for 2000 years in a Jewish carpenter born to a virgin becoming a zombie? Presentation is everything.

      1. Denarius
        Meh

        Re: Bloody good hoax

        category confusion again. Read it in current english. Definitely not zombie. Folklore of the time had all sorts of creepy horrors so writers were at pains to differentiate the appearances.

      2. Tom 7

        Re: Bloody good hoax

        But theres evidence for a 2000 year old jewish carpenter - wood!

    2. asdf

      Re: Bloody good hoax

      Little irrelevant things like facts are not for the but I feel it in my gut but I have faith crowd.

    3. Tom 7

      Re: Bloody good hoax

      yeah right - and if there is a temperature hockey stick where are the Ulrikakaaakkaaa's in hockey skirts?

      Or Michael Fish?

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Bloody good hoax

      "Bloody good hoax this AGW thingy, isn't it? Average temprerature increases every month for getting on for 28 years. How do they do it?"

      Are you seriously suggesting that 28 years of data is enough to prove AGW?

  6. Denarius
    Meh

    meanwhile in the Antipodes

    I simply don't trust the yanks figures. Satellites sensors that show the Great Lakes boiling sometimes fail to encourage confidence. We had a bloody cold winter for last 2 years. cooler than average winter with an average spring. this year. Not that the cool winters are in the NOAA map. The thermopocalypse lovers predictions keep getting put off for another 100 years. I spot a trend !

    I suppose AGW will be blamed for the ice advancing into Scandanavia. Oh, wait, it already has been blamed for the extra ice in Antarctic Ocean. Oz icebreaker stuck for weeks. If the ice-agers are right, at least there will be undeniable evidence by 2020.

    1. Jerome Fryer

      Antipodes also warming

      Antarctic ice overall is reducing, mass being lost inland on the continent. The ice sheet advancing slightly further into the ocean is partly due to atmospheric disturbance from that lovely ozone hole we have down here, partly due to where that inland ice is going.

      It's all quite complicated, but the up-shot is that there is just as much warming down here. (The atmosphere and oceans mix over time.)

      http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC1209/S00048/nature-of-antarcticas-ice-sheet-revealed.htm

    2. NomNomNom

      Re: meanwhile in the Antipodes

      "Satellites sensors that show the Great Lakes boiling sometimes fail to encourage confidence."

      Satellite sensors sometimes fail?! wow that's a surprise.

      Wasn't it fortunate that said sensors were never used in any global warming records? Oh you didn't know that did you. Because your climate skeptic sources made sure to not mention it so they could mislead you into losing confidence in the records.

      "We had a bloody cold winter for last 2 years. cooler than average winter with an average spring. this year. Not that the cool winters are in the NOAA map."

      Oh look they are.

      http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/service/national/Statewidetrank/ann/201012-201102.gif?opt=ann/

      Another climate skeptic caught making up their own facts.

      1. Denarius
        Meh

        Re: meanwhile in the Antipodes

        ooh we are hot, aren't we ? Never said outliers were used, but then with the track record of the IPCC and its camp followers, nothing would surprise me. Not locally cooler in the two maps I saw. agree some areas are warmer. Just like real weather.

        As for sat sensors, are they are regularly recalibrated ? CSIRO do ground truthing of some kind , but that covers how much of those projections and for what ? vegetation and soil moisture, fine. temperatures being more volatile are a different matter.

        No, more a skeptic in genera, l noting official statements do not match my observations. I know that is now heresy, but tough.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Being an average, of course, some places were cooler than others". There. Fixed that for you. A place is not a 'geography' unless you're a biology.

  8. Lazy Gun
    Thumb Down

    News just in...

    "Tuesday was the wettest day last week", say scientists.

    I don't get this at all. We have the met office publishing data that shows no warming for 17 years, and this lot saying all the polar bears are on fire.

    Is it any wonder climate "science" is widely viewed as a joke, a refuge for the 2nd and 3rd raters who couldn't get a job in a real science like reflexology or aromatherapy?

    I'm putting together a clubbing holiday - a seal clubbing holiday. With hockey sticks. Any takers?

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "I don't get this at all. We have the met office publishing data that shows no warming for 17 years, and this lot saying all the polar bears are on fire."

    Data and projections for 23 different countries can be found here:

    http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate-change/policy-relevant/obs-projections-impacts

    Met Office general observations for the UK:

    1) There has been warming over the UK since 1960 with greater warming in summer than winter.

    2) Since 1960 there has been a decreasing trend in the frequency of cool nights and cool days and an increasing trend in the frequency of warm nights and warm days.

    3) There has been a general increase in summer temperatures averaged over the country as a result of human influence on climate, making the occurrence of warm summer temperatures more frequent and cold summer temperatures less frequent.

    Further, "For the A1B emissions scenario the UK is projected to experience temperature increases of up to around 3°C in the south and 2.5°C further north. The agreement between models is moderate in the south of the UK and low further north."

    1. Lazy Gun

      Are you hard of understanding?

      "There has been a general increase in summer temperatures averaged over the country as a result of human influence on climate..."

      Bullshit. There's no evidence for that assertion and you know it. When someone proves a detectable human signature in the climate it'll be the science discovery of all time. Hasn't happened yet.

      "Further, "For the A1B emissions scenario the UK is projected to experience..."

      "Scenario". "Projected". In other words, more computer modelling fantasy nonsense, not actual real science.

      Do you not understand that computer models of barely understood chaotic systems that require thousands of initial condition parameters, many of which are simply guessed at, are nothing more than expensive digital masturbation? When someone creates a model that can hindcast, then I might not immediately dismiss computer modelling of the climate out-of-hand as bullshit.

      Warming since 1960? By what - a fraction of a degree? Big deal, let's run for the hills. I take it you're one of these cretins that denies the medieval warm period and all the other times in Earth's history when it was significantly warmer than today?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Are you hard of understanding?

        @LazyGun

        ""Bullshit. There's no evidence for that assertion and you know it. When someone proves a detectable human signature in the climate it'll be the science discovery of all time. Hasn't happened yet.""

        You're firing blanks. Here's why: No point replying to me. All that is quoted from the Met Office.

        "Do you not understand that computer models of barely understood chaotic systems that require thousands of initial condition parameters"

        I do. But like I say, all the text in my post is quoted from the Met Office - They are not my words. Had you actually followed the link you would not have wasted your time by replying to me.

        I would suggest that you share your intellect with the Met Office meterologists who are responsible for each and every word of my post and then come back and let us know how you get on.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Are you hard of understanding?

        "cretins that denies the medieval warm period"

        Before you resort to childish behaviour and name calling, had you actually taken the time to look at some of my older posts you would realise just how silly you sound.

        As for the name calling i.e. 'cretin', now that you are aware of the facts behind my post - every one of which you could have discerned for yourself had you the sense and had you not been so eager to emit your whining, I would suggest that you now look in the mirror.

        It always pays to at least do a little reading before you gob off.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I should also have noted at the end of my above post, that some science (can't get the link right now, but Reading University and other perhaps more illustrious sources) state that global warming will, in essence and due to a shift of the jet stream, cause the UK to (on average) cool for a period. e.g. More cold, dry winters.

    1. Scott Broukell
      Megaphone

      If the jet stream meander persists, then the proposition of much colder weather, in and around the UK, could be further compounded if the north Atlantic oscillation/conveyor system weakens or breaks down (due to increased sea water temps and reduction in salinity from northern ice sheet melt) - a very chilling prospect indeed. However, it is worth pointing out that the planets natural state is global aridity without snow caps at either pole. As has been said, global time for these systems, is, relatively, very, very slow indeed. But, then again, we are apparently due another glacial period in northern Europe and such periods are heralded by warming spells. So, are we adding to global warming with our industry/consumption, in such a way as to postpone the arrival of glaciation, or, are we in a period of pre-glacial warming ? It's scary either way for the generations to come and I hope their adaptability enables sufficient numbers to survive and prosper in a sustainable manner. Either way, human population is probably about to peak in the next 100-200 years. A combination of global systems, our own perverse behavior, towards each other and the planet, disease, famine, water shortages and war, will almost certainly then be major causes of a dramatic decline in human population. Perhaps we we will take all this amassed date with us and no one will be the wiser. Or perhaps we might struggle on and learn that even if our foot hold on this rocky place is at best tenuous, it's worth indulging in some good house keeping while we are here. I mean, even if you are only going to sit down for a picnic for a short time, it's jolly good practice to tidy up when you leave the beauty spot and go home.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      If you can't link a source, then don't mention it.

      Source, so we can review, or don't bother.

      I have read, also that, in average, most of Europe is colder now than has been since the middle ages.. sorry I can't find a source, please disregard my above comment.

  11. the old rang
    Childcatcher

    Who's normal for what's normal?

    Temps have been below normal, for 500 years, too...

    They pick where they take temps, and declare what falls within 'normal'...

    Making sure it doesn't negate their political bias...

    and poof! it's normal

  12. idiot stick

    NOAA's arc

    No thermometer left behind?

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