Gordon Fulks writes in about this humorous headline showing how the media catastrophises even simple things like a pleasant weekend forecast:
Hello Everyone:
Just to provide a little balance to the story about snow and cold in the Pacific Northwest that I just sent around, here is a weather story out of Britain:
Source:http://uk.news.yahoo.com/uk-hot-sahara-weekend-111451996.html
One comment rewrote this headline as:
‘Sahara to be as cold as the UK this weekend’
20 degrees C is 68 degrees F.
WOW, it is spring somewhere! That’s good news.
Gordon J. Fulks, PhD
current temperature, Biggin Hill, London 57F
current temperature, Marrakesh. 72F
I remember George Monbiot of the Guardian writing (I paraphrase):
to which I responded:
I caught Bill Illis’ remark in comments at another blog – posted in January of this year. He identified a sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) event. How come no one has discussed how this affects seasonal weather with unseasonal temperatures?
The last such SSW event I recall was in 2008 or so. Similarly, this top-of-the atmosphere weather making event resulted in waves lasting weeks, sending pulses of cold air out from arctic and into the mid-latitudes in February. Then during March, the frigid process reversed for several weeks, resulting in temperatures here in Colorado 20F degrees above normal instead of the reverse. Finally, April reached a more typical balance.
Sadly, the wikipedia page on SSW is short and sketchy, and the one link there is broken. ANTHONY AND MODs: I believe this topic deserves a threadif Bill Illis is correct!
have noted the CET maximum temperature above 17°C for March.
Here they are. Can you spot the global warming.
24 March 1893 17.4°C
31 March 1907 18.7°C
24 March 1918 17.3°C
31 March 1920 17.1°C
27 March 1923 18.8°C
21 March 1927 17.8°C
20 March 1929 17.5°C
26 March 1944 17.8°C
29 March 1946 18.5°C
26 March 1948 18.2°C
25 March 1953 19.1°C
11 March 1957 18.4°C
16 March 1961 20.0°C
29 March 1965 22.1°C
28 March 1968 19.7°C
19 March 1972 17.6°C
18 March 1990 19.6°C
13 March 1991 17.2°C
15 March 1993 17.2°C
31 March 1999 17.5°C
23 March 2003 17.5°C
31 March 2004 17.6°C
Chuckles says:
March 23, 2012 at 2:37 pm
/////////////////
Its cold in the Med at the momnent. It was much warmer in December and January. I have had to switch the heating back on. Hopefully, next week the warm weather will return since I have not moved here to be as cold, or is that as hot, as the UK. I want to be at least 10 degC warmer than the UK.
20C is what I set on the thermostat of my A/C here in the middle of the Outback.
Today Sunday 25 March 2012 in Oz looked up the max temp in the UK and its 16 degrees C. Who’s pullin whos leg?
The bizarre cherry picking continues.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2119941/Summers–hotter-California-Britain-bakes-hottest-day-year-temperatures-hit-22C.html
It’s currently 29C in Death Valley (2200 PT). Too extreme a location? Sticking with the number 29 i’ll randomly take Twentynine palms which was 26C yesterday. UK still considerably cooler….pfft.
Geoff Sherrington says:
March 23, 2012 at 4:54 pm
Kelvin Vaughan says: March 23, 2012 at 2:46 pm My news paper says Britian to boil this weekend!
My newspaper says Scotland to boil some haggis this weekend.
No doubt Neaps and Tatties too?
update. Sunday 25th March. 14.53
current temperature London, UK 50F
current temperature Marrakesh, Morocco. 82F
Is London really as hot as sahara?
The evidence says no
P Wilson says:
March 25, 2012 at 6:56 am
update. Sunday 25th March. 14.53
current temperature London, UK 50F
current temperature Marrakesh, Morocco. 82F
Is London really as hot as sahara?
The evidence says no
What’s London got to do with it? The Sky News article simply mentions the UK. In NE Scotland the temperature reached 22.8 deg to-day (sunday) which is a record for Scotland. See
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-17506257
The temperature reached 22 deg C across parts of Wales on Saturday (not a record), so that part of the forecast, at least, was correct. The article says nothing about global warming so I’m a bit puzzled by some of the posts.
we’re talking about the UK being as hot as the Sahara. That was the forecast.
despite its inaccuracy, I suppose it made a great piece of hype, or wishful thinking on an island which sees little sun. However, the hottest temperature recorded in March was way back in 1968, at 25.6C in Cambridgeshire