Originally posted at ClimateREALISM
Great Britain News (GBN) which advertises itself as “Britain’s News Channel,” recently ran a story claiming that warm temperatures which are forecast to soon arrive will cause residents of Britain to swelter or bake. Warmer temperatures are to be expected as the northern hemisphere transitions from winter into spring and summer, there is nothing alarming or unusual about it. Although the headline implies that the mini-heatwave is dangerous, “UK weather: Mini-heatwave to see Britons bake in 20C heat as hot air sweeps in from Europe,” data and the story itself say nothing of the kind.
The GBN article, which was picked up by other news outlets including The Express, and The Mirror, states:
A mini-heatwave is set to sweep across the UK with forecasters predicting temperatures above the 20C mark in just a matter of weeks.
The Met Office says a hot, humid plume of air arriving from Spain and France will mean temperatures will heat up towards the end of April.
The “baking heat wave” headline might look alarming to those that are unfamiliar with temperature scales taught in elementary school Grade 5, but to anyone that even knows a bare minimum about temperature scales, the headline is laughable.
The reason the headline is laughable can be found in a simple Google Search:
You read that right, 20°C is the same as 68°F – in other words, indoor room temperature. It seems that the GBN reporter, Georgina Cutler, or possibly the editors who determined the headline, fail to understand that room temperature is what the majority of people find comfortable.
This graphic, from Science Notes, shows the range of comfortable room temperatures as defined by three different organizations. They say:
“Room temperature is the temperature or range of temperatures comfortable to people. It may be defined in science, but in practice it’s 20 to 22 degrees Celsius or 68 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit.”
Note that 20°C (68°F) is at the low end of the scale in the graphic above, some people might find it a bit cool.
The GBN implied dangerous temperatures were pending through the use of certain colors in the graphic it provided. The GBN story provided no color key for its temperature chart (seen below) making the chart look like the UK would “bake,” as claimed in the headline.
For comparison, here is what the actual chart of temperature looks like for April 19th, just two days after the GBN story aired, from the very same source:
Source: WXCharts.com
So much for that “baking” heat wave.
Indeed, despite the alarm inducing headline, the story itself acknowledges, warmer weather is overdue and that most people will likely welcome it.
The GBN quotes British Weather Services meteorologist Jim Dale saying, “[a] very warm or hot spell is becoming overdue.” Also, GBN quotes Met Office spokesperson Stephen Dixon saying, “After what’s been an unsettled spell, it will finally feel like we are getting into the later part of spring, towards more of a summery regime. The temperatures will feel quite pleasant.”
This sad affair illustrates just how bad the media is at reporting basic facts about weather, much less climate. One must ask, why did the sensational, attention-grabbing headline not reflect what the story actually reported, which was that pleasant spring warming was finally on its way after an unpleasant winter.
Anthony Watts is a senior fellow for environment and climate at The Heartland Institute. Watts has been in the weather business both in front of, and behind the camera as an on-air television meteorologist since 1978, and currently does daily radio forecasts. He has created weather graphics presentation systems for television, specialized weather instrumentation, as well as co-authored peer-reviewed papers on climate issues. He operates the most viewed website in the world on climate, the award-winning website wattsupwiththat.com.
We are subjected to this crap on an almost daily basis, here in the UK. The ‘news’ outlets spread fear and hysteria, the Met Office look for ‘climate change’ in every weather event and when they can’t find anything, just put a ‘climate change’ slant on their reports, and the biased BBC, lie, misrepresent, falsify reports and facts and happily spread other people’s lies and hysteria.
As for the truth and reality…..they are becoming very scarce!
So true.
I was amused the other day when the BBC were expressing shock and horror that anyone would suggest that the civil service (who apparently have it written into their constitution that they must show no political bias) ever showed any bias! Let’s face it the BBC are placed perfectly to make such judgement.
I thought the point was that, as the civil service is meant to be unbiased, they cannot reply to accusations that they are politicised.
What kind of person hits out at those who cannot hit back?
A) A bully.
B) A person so stupid they act like a bully in public while claiming that they are not a bully.
or
C) Both A and B.
The BBC understood it.
BS, the “civil service” has many avenues to “hit back”. Let’s be clear, there’s nothing civil about their service.
What surprises me is that GBN reported this, unless they are being sarcastic.
Although I don’t watch it, I always understood that they were a small independent channel who are very much not the mainstream woke media. They should know better, and I would have expected better of them.
Broadcasting in the UK is subject to the state censorship, a.k.a. Ofcom, who forced GBN to cancel Mark Steyn (yes, the same who took on Michael Mann) as a presenter.
Not true; MS made comments about excess deaths – that were hardly controversial given the data from official sources and the raft of independent reviews, e.g. from Prof Fenton, that makes the most astute case for vaccines being at least partly responsible – that show was then the subject of a complaint to UK OFCOM, which was upheld on the flimsiest of pretexts. During this process, MS was “offered” a new contract which, unlike his then current contract, made him personal liable for any fines from the likes of OFCOM – my understanding is that he declined that “offer” and left GB News – their and our loss.
As a Yank, I never heard of OFCOM until now. Googled it and found:
This is shocking to me. I had no idea that the citizens of the UK have lost their freedoms like this. Just who the hell are they (in Ofcom) that they can judge what’s “best” for consumers of the media? And, they “keep an eye on TV and radio”. And the citizens of the UK tolerate this? So, Brits have become compliant sheep? (not counting of course those who hang out here) 🙂
Give Biden a few more years, you’ll wish it was only as bad as Ofcom.
Look up the CRTC here in Canada, sheep everywhere.
Ditto Australia.
Airwaves are owned by the public unlike the print or digital media who use their own distribution
Its just the fairness doctrine which the various providers sign up to.
The public are free to make their own minds up and free to chose their own information. There is no ‘loss of freedom’
but the frequency bands are sold to broadcasters, who by and large own the transmitters they use.
Odddly enough, most of the infrastructure in Australia used for the interwebs seems to be owned by Telstra and Optus.
That’s what the license costs, it’s not sold as property
RF and microwave bands just are. They cam’t be real property.
Fair enough, the government claims the right to use a wide portion of the spectrum within its borders and jumps on any “unauthorised” use.
It also realised it’s a nice little earner, and sells the right to use portions of that spectrum within a defined geographic area.
It is rather difficult to physically stop extra-territorial use, as many governments found with pirate AM radio stations back when AM radio was widely used.
I’ll have to leave the question as to whether licences, copyrights, patents, trademarks, etc are property to the legal profession.
Come to think of it, RF spectrum is probably owned by The Crown, just like mineral rights.
Joseph,
the U.K. has many supposedly independant ‘regulators’ for a variety of different services and indeed schools. The intent is a good one but unfortunately, as with many (all?) government actions they don’t work too well in preactice.
Are you implying that OFCOM had made no threat to issue GBN with large fines if Steyn was found in breach again, and that they were not “investigating” other complaintsagainst him?
Meanwhile Steyn has filed a case in the High Court against Ofcom, and is seeking funding to fight it. He is continuing to produce his show when he feels up to it but is still recuperating from a double heart attack.
sorry to hear about his health problem- I love his “kick ass” attitude- it’s an extremely rare item nowadays
This was the Ofcom reasons
‘Specifically, the programme incorrectly claimed that official UKHSA data provided definitive evidence of a causal link between receiving a third Covid-19 vaccine and higher infection, hospitalisation and death rates.
This was materially misleading because the way the data was presented to viewers during the programme did not take account of the significant differences in age or health of people in the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups studied.’
Effectively he lied and thats a breach of GB News license to use public airways
BBC have an out as the complaints go through their ‘system’ first which has become ineffective
“Effectively he lied”
Not if he added “and it will only get worse with climate change”
If they’d waited 6 months that ‘conspiracy’ would have been proven correct. As we have discovered with all of the government managed propaganda.
The very next day he had an expert in medical statistics on who provided context and correction. Something the BBC never does, even when it is wrong. Subsequent data actually shows that the initial data (properly corrected) underestimated the extent of problems. That is all only beginning to come to light now, but will doubtless be thrown into the mix in the high Court case Steyn has raised.
They call that constructive dismissal.
I only recently watched for the first time a video with Mark – it was several years old- and I was extremely impressed. He’s got to be one of the best speakers amongst AGW skeptics. So, how can the UK’s censor force a cancellation of Mark, based on what reason?
(edited) Oh, I see an explanation by 186no.
good point, maybe it was sarcasm
As part of their deal with the state censorship a.k.a. Ofcom GBNews have taken on the Met Office as their weather provider. In the same way they hire people to give an “alternative ” lefty view, who are allowed enough rope to hang their arguments. Occasionally the BBC does the same thing from the opposite end : find a token, inarticulate “spokesperson” for the anti-woke. Of course the BBC hasn’t done that on weather and climate since they allowed the late Lord Lawson on about 15 years ago.
And now this:
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/bbc-instruction-manual-kids-propagandize-their-parents
Are parents going to tolerate this?
British tabloids, like The Mirror, call 20C a “heat wave”, which says quite a lot about how cold England is. In Texas, that would call for a sweater.
And it’s difficult to wear a sweater when you live in a shoebox in the middle of the road, especially in Yorkshire.
HT, Right-Handed Shark.
Based on experience, I can say that Houston, TX weather is great, Tom, if you like 90%RH and 90+ deg F (32+ deg C) for daily highs for almost half the year, along with the frequent afternoon and evening thunderstorms.
For one summer, all I had was a motorcycle for transportation. Needless to say, I was soaking wet when I got home, rain or shine.
Regards,
Bob
I live a bit Northwest of Austin, which is quite a lot warmer (and colder) than Concord, California.
Houston is a bit too humid.
I live up in that direction also–expected high today (4/23) is mid 50’s (f) and if it doesn’t clear off soon it will probably not make it that high. Have the heat on trying to get my “office” up to a manageable 18 C. What ever became of that gorebull warming–I miss it.
I lived in Houston the summer of 67 working an internship with one of the petroleum companies, Agree that it is a hot and humid place, but since I was raised in Philadelphia, I didn’t see much difference between the two in summer weather. I’ve stayed in Texas cause I just don’t like cold, and really dislike snow. These past few winters here in west-central Texas have not been much fun for this guy.
Philly in July, especially when wearing Nomex, is about as hot as it gets.
Yep, worked 30 years in a plant in Philly. Temperatures would be over 100+ F on the machine floor from early July through early September. We had operators over 65 years old working. Don’t remember dropping dead ever but could be wrong.
I had 2 months of daily 100F+ highs when I was working in Houston.
In a dry climate 35°C is not a heatwave.
In a very humid climate 35°C feels unbearable.
But we can adapt and live in temperatures in excess of this.
Mind you, speaking as a Brit, I can tell you that, after this winter+spring, 20C will feel like a heatwave!
I was about to make the same comment. It’s barely crept into double figures today.
A mini-heatwave i
Anything over 5C
Surprise
MSM
It is regulated
And “fact checkers” are taking the position that something must be reported by MSM to be true and if not reported, then it’s not true.
GBNews is officially not a news channel (as determined by the regulator, Ofcom) and so is not regulated in the same way as news channels. Ofcom told a Hose of Commons select Committee that it does not view GBNews as a news channel.
It’s an entertainment channel. So it cannot tell provable lies that are harmful (same as everyone else). But it doesn’t have to tell the truth.
Interestingly, GBNews does claim to be a News Channel in its registration with Ofcom.
But Talk TV does not.
Alert! Alarm! Normal seasonal weather caused by climate change!.. I guess it had to happen sooner or later.
Because there’s huge money in it! Windmill subsidies, research grants, books to sell, getting ‘published’, notoriety.
Certainly is misleading – you got The Wrong Great Britain
Because in The Actual Great Britain, something else is going to happen to the weather
UK weather: ‘Snow wall’
Had sleet and hail today.
I was once snowed off the cricket field in late May….in the mid 1980’s…..before AGW/CC/NutNull…
2nd June 1975 I was in Buxton planning to go to the cricket match that afternoon, unfortunately it snowed and play did not take place! A week later the two year drought started which didn’t end until autumn 1976.
There was snow in Cambridge (England) on 5th June 1976 IIRC.
There’s lot of misunderstanding here. Overall climate, political, economic, financial, cost of leaving and meteorological including is so miserable that only way to cheer up masses is as the GBN has adopted the Daily Star’s tactics, telling its viewers there is ‘scorchio’ on the way.
In reality it’s opposite, farmers and growers are warned of the late April frost which could be ruinous.
So there you have it.
A Brit’s life revolves around the weather, otherwise they’d have nothing to talk about :-).
I wish it would hurry up. It’s now 3.35pm and in my part of GB it’s 10°C (50°F). It’s overcast now after having rained most of the day.
Freezing cold here in the Antipodes, am … windy and 24 C. Might have to put on a jumper!
Take joy in this!
The Green movement is now so intellectually bankrupt that it is calling the change from Winter into Summer “climate change”.
Some day, a revival of Monty Python will treat this movement in the manner it deserves.
Even better from GB “news”
“why did the sensational, attention-grabbing headline not reflect what the story actually reported”
click bait!
I’m pretty sure the notion that 20C or 68F is room temperature goes back to the Jimmy Carter days for conserving oil and gas. It was generally higher before that.
I prefer it around 24°C.
That’s alright for winter.
LOL!
What BS, my wife is constantly complaining that she’s cold, as a result, our house routinely runs at 24 degrees C. She’s comfy, I’m in a Tshirt and shorts.
The mainstream media is disgusting. I have tried and tried to get my family and friends to view the news with a critical mind but their response is disheartening.
As Britons face the grim reality of the heat wave:
Birds singing. Kites flying. Pretty girls wearing skirts or shorts, or even less sunning themselves on a lawn.
Then they’ll stop and ask themselves ‘how did this happen? Anything we can do to get more of this?’
Then they’ll turn back to the news and extinction rebellion will tell them, ‘if you keep driving cars and flying to Portugal when it’s cold you’ll start to see the extremes earlier every spring.’
And they will act accordingly.
Alarmists should check the average summer daytime high temperatures in some of the world’s most populous cities like New Delhi, Shanghai, New York, Tokyo, etc., and they’d quickly learn that they’re far warmer than 20C. Yet that hasn’t caused any mass exoduses to Siberia, Alaska, or Labrador. It’s stories like the above that earn climate alarmists a well-deserved horselaugh.
I may as well chime in about my indoor preference. 80F/27C.
I see no reason to be cooler than that and then have to wear a heavy shirt or cover with a blanket at night.
Farewell, cruel world for we in Adelaide, South Australia are expecting to roast in 28C today.
Although I am wearing a jumper in 16C temps as I write this, my speedos are ready for the imminent rise to 20C then cold baths until I expire at 25C
There needs to be consequences for media alarmism.
Sorry, Anthony, you misunderstand the British relationship with weather. Here, if it hasn’t rained for two days, it’s a drought. If it rains for two days, there’s a flood warning. Last summer, we had a hot spell and the Met Office told people not to go out without letting someone know! And don’t even start talking about the snow! It’s no wonder, Extinction Rebellion started here and the population were so gullible to it’s warnings. However, generally, GB News doesn’t push the climate nonsense like the BBC, so this report is unusual for them.
As an Englishman currently enjoying our 11c (52f) weather today I think there’s a bit of a culture clash here. In countries where weather gets so hot it can be dangerous, a “heatwave” might be something that is a cause for concern.
Here in the usually too cool UK a heatwave is a cause for celebration. If we get wind of a coming heatwave it gives rise to anticipation of enjoying a nice cool pint in a warm sunny beer garden, barbecues and maybe even a trip to the beach. We want to “bake in a heat wave” – and we’re well aware that our hotter temperatures are fairly standard (or even considered cold) for many places in the world.
No normal person in the UK hears the word “heatwave” and thinks it has negative connotations. Of course, like everywhere else, we have an increasing band of climate zealots who try to spoil everyone’s fun by claiming it’s the end of the world. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t what GB News were doing with this story, they were trying to provide a good news story for us in the UK who are still recovering slowly from a long cold winter. That is why the headline and the story content don’t seem to match to non-UK viewers. A Brit hearing the heatwave headline takes it as good news, to those elsewhere the same words may have a very different meaning.
That’s not to say that there isn’t hysterical climate doom style reporting here, but you generally have to look to the BBC or The Guardian for the worst of it.
There is no sign of this mythical heatwave – will we be alerted by the new mobile phone siren? – according to weather-forecast.com, not even making it above 60F for the majority of the time. And if it is due to a southerly airstream then it is known as a Spanish Plume – a weather event not global warming. It has been effing cold of late due to – shock, horror – an easterly wind. No doubt GB News is better than the legacy media propaganda outlets but could do a lot better.
24th April 2023 , 3.40pm here on south coast of England it’s 7C
This is called “Tongue In Cheek” reporting. In other words they were joking.
GB News are not climate propagandists like the BBC.
“The Met Office says a hot, humid plume of air arriving from Spain and France will mean temperatures will heat up towards the end of April.”
The BBC hasn’t yet caught up with this catastrophic forecast. For example, the highest temperature in London they are forecasting between April 28 and May 14 is a whopping 18 degrees C. At the moment (1pm, April 28) in Glasgow I am having to cope with 9 degrees C. I can’t wait for this 20 degrees C.
Don’t blame the Met. This chap isn’t forecasting any heatwave over the next 7-10 days.