Guest post by Indur M. Goklany
On June 29th, the temperature at Reagan National Airport (DCA) in Washington, DC, hit 104 °F and it was duly noted by all and sundry that this was the hottest June day EVAH. Typical was the Washington Post story:
D.C. shatters all-time June record high, sizzles to 104
Mark Richards, weather observer at Reagan National Airport, says the temperature at 2:48 p.m. hit 104, blowing by the old June record of 102 set on June 9 in both 1874 and 2011. We are now experiencing D.C.’s hottest June temperatures in 142 years.
Indeed, 104 °F was the highest temperature ever measured in June in the vicinity of Reagan National Airport. But was it the warmest day in Washington, DC, ever?
This is what Reagan National Airport looks like in the present.
Figure 1: Photograph from 2011. At left foreground is the Jefferson Monument. Behind it on the other side of the river, with the plane hovering over it is Reagan National Airport. Note the development, Crystal City, on the right hand side, also on the other side of the river.
But here is a photograph that shows us what this area look like a few decades ago.
Figure 2: This picture, taken in 1942, shows the Jefferson Monument under construction. There is no Crystal City on the right, nor is there any Reagan National Airport. In fact, as one can see, that area was still being filled in. In the 19th century, the area occupied by the Memorial and adjacent land was also water, since much of this is also filled-in land.
Clearly, comparing temperature readings taken in 2012 at Reagan National against those taken over past decades at the same location is not an apples-to-apples comparison. That is, the data are not homogeneous. And whether the claim that June 29th, 2012 was the warmest Washington June day in 142 years is correct (or not), that claim cannot be supported by merely looking at the temperature readings at the airport.
The two degree difference between the previous record reading and the June 29th one may well be due to both the urban heat island effect and the “airport heat island effect,” a much understudied phenomenon (despite the fact that anyone who has stepped on asphalt in the middle of summer knows that the only thing worse is walking on coals).
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They will just have to crank up the power output from the coal-fired power plant that serves Congress.
Nevertheless, Pelosi has the private jet fleet to head out of town at the first sign of a power flicker or heat wave.
It is both amazing and disconcerting that a few thunderstorms can roll back as much of he veneer of civilization as it has. But, if there is any accuracy in the reports of the elderly dying in the heat, and other catastrophic consequences of the grid being down for a bit, one thinks we would be more careful in arbitrarily reducing our capacity based on “climate change”. For 72 hours some had to live as they did in the 20’s. Happens every hurricane here in Florida. Hey DC – would ya have been better off with a bunch of windmills amidst the monuments — or would a little extra cost to harden the grid be a better option. The Grid becoming unreliable will have the same effect whether the cause is downed trees or downed coal-fired plant. It’s obviously cruel to wish ill on anyone. I apologise, tho storms are pretty much a random event enywhere.. But this object lesson should be taken seriously as to the importance of reliable and plentiful power as a precondition to the rest of our lifestyles. ,
I wonder how many wind turbines were destroyed by this storm. If the govt wants us to rely more on wind power, storms such as this would tend to destroy a lot of our generating capacity.
Well, more than ‘just a few thunderstorms’; try hurricane force winds fostered out of a Derecho event!
Derecho – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derecho – excerpt:
ABOUT DERECHOS – http://www.spc.noaa.gov/misc/AbtDerechos/derechofacts.htm – poignant excerpt
Folks in/near Muskegon, MI experienced a Derecho a number of years back in the dead of night; they are nothing to ‘sneeze’ at …
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My apologies for the foul up on degree C and degree F. And thanks to the moderator(s) for fixing it!
Robbie, July 1, 2012 at 5:07 am. You ought to write a book, The Future of Global Warming: When Fahrenheit turns to Centigrade!
I am now a Climate Migrant — am I an Energy Migrant? –having been forced to move by the derecho from Northern Virginia — no electricity, no safe water — to Asheville, NC. It’s not a whole lot cooler in Asheville, but we do have A/C functioning (so far) and safe water.
Correction: I am now a Climate Migrant — OR am I an Energy Migrant? –having been forced to move by the derecho from Northern Virginia — no electricity, no safe water — to Asheville, NC. It’s not a whole lot cooler in Asheville, but we do have A/C functioning (so far) and safe water.
Bill Tuttle: They didn’t fill it in enough — the place still attracts the bottom feeders
But they moved up the Hill. See, it’s consistent with climate change — ecosystems will migrate uphill (and to the north).
“We are now experiencing D.C.’s hottest June temperatures in 142 years.”
So was June, 1870, as hot or hotter? And at the “airport”? Or was June, 1870, cooler than 2012, but the hottest over the 1870-2011 period, making all the rest of the intervening Junes cooler than the 1870 June? Me, I never know what the hell this kind of statement means. Even if the “mainstream” Climate Scientists instead wanted to convey a Hockey Stick or at least a consistent increase from 1870 actually shown by the data, why didn’t they say so?/ Ok, asked and answered. Ye’all sinners just gotta believe!
Temperatures at Norton Dam reached 118F, breaking a record of 113F set just days earlier. I googled images of Norton Dam, it looks a pretty place and not that built up – UHI, I don’t think so.
At what height above ground is the measurement of temperature valid as related to climate? Doesn’t climate go up very high even into outer space? This is not a question just an aimless thought that where climate is concerned measurements a little higher up than the tail pipe of a jet might be useful.
National AP has only been the official weather statistic since the AP was built/filled in around WW II. Before the temps were taken else where around DC. The heat island effect has been greatly felt by the weather statistics. Often National will show only a trace of snow during the winter, when the suburbs of DC will have 10 to 14″ of white stuff.
The summer temperatures in the city at National can be as much as 10 degrees F more than the suburbs or rural areas. Even some of the local urban areas will show a heat island effect. For example. We visited with friends in Rockville (a suburb of DC to the north). As we went home on I270 (much further north), as we ran through a more rural area the temperatures dropped 5 degrees F, but as we approached the City of Frederick, the temperature went up 4 degrees, then dropped another 5 degrees F as we arrived home in farmland country (very rural). We had an outside temperature gauge in the car.
All along the Potomac River, the area has been filled in to make way for buildings and development. Even the water is a warmer temperature thanks to Blue Plains (a sewage treatment plant for most of DC area), and Alexandria has warm water dumped into the river by heating plants. So I think the moderation of the river water is marginal to National’s temperatures. The heat island is major.
Of course this is only anecdotal. Following a somewhat extreme winter (at least for North Vancouver, BC – we actually had snow on the ground in the city multiple days in December, for more than half the month of January, then again in February!), a cool and wet “spring” that saw very few temps above 60F until May (and not very many afterwards!), the “summer” is turning into a repeat of the cool and wet conditions that have dominated since the end of March. The PDO is killing us, would someone please HELP!! Thank you for your support.
According to CNN some 1600 US temperature records were broken this week, including 140 all-time highs (http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/01/us/extreme-heat/index.html). Twenty-three states are under partial or complete excessive heat advisories (http://articles.cnn.com/2011-07-11/us/heat.wave_1_excessive-heat-heat-advisories-heat-wave?_s=PM:US).
Yes, the DC landscape has changed over the years. But d***, it’s hot this month… and complaining about UHI baseline changes in one location doesn’t change that fact.
Henry@Michael
https://wattsupwiththat.wordpress.com/2012/07/01/the-highest-temperature-reading-doesnt-necessarily-mean-a-record-hot-day/#comment-1022145
Sorry, in the comment I messed up with your east and west coast.
The east coast is warming a bit
the west coast is cooling
So, sorry cannot help you
it is the sun that is doing it
http://www.letterdash.com/henryp/global-cooling-is-here
Blimey you lot remind me of ostriches. 35000 hi temp records gone in the US alone and still it’s all denied as evidence of AGW. I came on here in the winter when some of the cold temp records meant a coming ice age. That gave me a good laugh.
But I think you’re right. If you ignore all the evidence climate change just isn’t happening.
REPLY: Show citations or your comment is just opinionated noise – Anthony
New high temperature record for DC? I thought that was due to IHI effect, Inferno Heat Island, as the unprecedented growth of the federal bureaucracy and the dramatic increases in the numbers of the power-hungry has resulted in an exponential rise of direct passages to Hell.
Weather or climate, Joe Romm, -er- I mean Richard?
Would you rather follow the lemmings ‘over the cliff’ in a headlong rush to turn back the hand of time to an era less ‘progressive’?
That be my question, mate …
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Jim
Record high temp doesn’t mean hottest day?!
Can you not see how silly and laughable that is.
Progressive or otherwise, its happening, and its about time we all realised that.
BarryW
July 1, 2012 at 3:50 am
“Boiling” Airforce Base; The temp there was probably a little cooler, like 100°C.
Richard, It’s that Spanish sounding thing, you know. La Nina? Hey, who cares since it’s from that other ocean nobody talks about but Willis.
At my home here in America, and it’s been ten degrees below typical for months. Including today. So for you warm counts but cold doesn’t? Good marketing, for awhile at least.
I suggest when it’s very hot, look also for very cool, one goes with the other.
Anthony – “REPLY: Show citations or your comment is just opinionated noise”
I would point to Meehl et al 2009 (ftp://ftp.soest.hawaii.edu/coastal/Climate%20Articles/US%20temp%20range%20Meehl%202009.pdf), documenting that record highs have outpaced record lows in recent years, at a ratio of 1.14:1 in the 80’s, 1.36:1 in the 90’s, and 2.04:1 in the 2000’s.
I would agree with Richard Lloyd – if you ignore the evidence, climate change appears not to be happening.
Richard Lloyd said (July 1, 2012 at 1:31 pm)
“…Blimey you lot remind me of ostriches. 35000 hi temp records gone in the US alone and still it’s all denied as evidence of AGW. I came on here in the winter when some of the cold temp records meant a coming ice age. That gave me a good laugh.
But I think you’re right. If you ignore all the evidence climate change just isn’t happening…”
A couple of comments about your rant – first “…35000 hi temp records gone in the US alone and still it’s all denied as evidence of AGW…”
Just as the Russian heat wave of 2010 was also supposed to be evidence of CAGW, right?
“…The Russian heat wave of 2010 has been an extreme and abrupt event. The July heat did not simply follow on the heals (sic) of a sequence of progressively warmer summers over recent decades, but stands out as a discrete event that is reminiscent of the often sharp year-to-year swings in this region’s July surface temperatures during the last 130 years. In many ways, the heat wave is a “black swan” event in that it is well beyond the normal expectations in the instrumental record…”
Even NOAA wasn’t able to tie that event into CAGW – rather seeing what’s called a “blocking high”:
“…Whereas an event of this magnitude was unexpected for the summer of 2010, and indeed there was little if any advance warming from long lead seasonal forecasts, it is nonetheless important to assess the factors that may have been responsible for such an extreme heat wave. There is strong evidence that the immediate cause can be placed at the doorstep of an extreme pattern of atmospheric winds – widely referred to as blocking. In the situation of anticyclonic blocking such as developed over western Russia in early July 2010, the normal west-to-east movement of weather systems is inhibited, with the center of a blocking experiencing persistently quiescent weather…”
Not CAGW, but weather.
Second part of your rant – “…But I think you’re right. If you ignore all the evidence climate change just isn’t happening…”
We keep looking at the evidence that’s piling up, telling us that current temps are unprecedented – Yamal, strip-bark bristlecone pines, mis-use of PCA, upside down Tiljander, hide-the-decline – all sorts of “evidence”. So you’re right – if you ignore all the “evidence” climate change just isn’t happening.
So, somebody claim it is getting warmer – others don’t agree. – So what?
Oh, I see; “It’s getting warmer” is ‘code’ for AGW or even CAGW. –
Well I suppose as long as the so called “AGW sceptics” (AGWS) are happy to side up with the CAGW crowd on the theory that CO2, or any other GHG for that matter, can cause global warming, then the question: “How much warming is CO2 gonna cause” is a pretty useless one. – If one agrees to an impossible cause in the first instance then it is, of course, useless to argue about the extent or outcome of the end result.
Then again – maybe that was the idea in the first place – what do I know?
To “prove” whether CO2 does absorb “Radiant Heat” (RH) – whatever that is – or not, is quite simple.
Even to prove that “invisible heat” (Infra Red) does not radiate through the air, or atmosphere is basic science for 11 year olds – Or at least it was in my school 60 years ago -.