Friday January 12th… Dear Diary. The main purpose of this ongoing post will be to track United States extreme or record temperatures related to climate change. I’ll refer to extreme temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials)😊. Here is today’s climate change related hot topic:
Mann’s Hockey Stick and the Persecution of Science
I’ve been blogging on my site about a year now and have been remiss mentioning renowned climate scientist Dr. Michael Mann’s hockey stick graph, which has been a controversial marker for the very inconvenient truths of our time. There are various graphical formats for the graph. Here is one I saw today:
climatechangedeniers @CharlesDarwinTX
What frightens people the most about the chart is the forecast of global temperature averages warming at an exponential rate, thereby not allowing humanity sufficient time for mitigation and adaption efforts to save civilization as we know it. And oh yes, some people will go to great lengths denying climate science…just check out that Mother Jones link at the top of the graph. Before pressing on mathematically here is what an exponential curve looks like (source Wikipedia):
The graph of is upward-sloping, and increases faster as x increases.
So we have on the Hockey Stick Graph (named so for its shape) the temperature anomaly (factor y) increasing nearly exponentially as time marches on (factor x). The graph has been tested and retested nearly countless times for its validity.
Ever since the dawn of the Renaissance people have had to come to grips with scientific reality verses predisposed, mainly faith based belief systems. Galileo was confronted by the Catholic Church when his observations helped to prove that not all heavenly bodies revolve around the Earth. Darwin’s 19th century photo is shown with Mann’s Hockey Stick Graph emphasizing the scientific significance of the thing. Darwin more than any one individual proved that the Earth was more than 6000 years old, and that life slowly developed through natural selection or evolution. Albert Einstein, Carl Sagan, and Stephen Hawking and other astrophysicists further diminished man’s place in the universe pointing out how small and remote our relation is to the cosmos. Now Michael Mann and other environmental scientists have challenged the idea that mankind can use the Earth’s resources without any dire consequences.
In their own way each of these scientists have been persecuted throughout history because they have aided in upsetting the old apple cart of “comfortable belief systems.” Dr. Mann just like Galileo has actually had his life threatened by those wishing to keep the carbon pollution status quo rolling along. Every time, to my knowledge, that old belief systems are discarded for new thinking leading to invention, lives of us puny humans are improved. Who knows? Perhaps mankind in the very far future won’t be so small and insignificant after leaving this nest called Earth. To do so will require more knowledge and knowhow. If we survive the climate crisis in a century or two Mann’s name should be right up there with Galileo or Einstein instead of this gentleman provided that policy makers adhere to SCIENCE:
Roger Pielke Jr.Verified account @RogerPielkeJr
Attribution science is so delightfully malleable.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Wow! Here is an ET that should raise a few eyebrows today:
Eric FisherVerified account @ericfisher
Locations around the Buffalo NY area are seeing some record warm ETs as early as this morning:
RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
1040 AM EDT FRI JAN 12 2018
…RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE SET AT ROCHESTER NY TODAY…
SO FAR TODAY…THE HIGH TEMPERATURE AT THE ROCHESTER AIRPORT HAS
BEEN 60 DEGREES. THIS ESTABLISHES A NEW RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE. THE
PREVIOUS RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE FOR JANUARY 12TH WAS 58 SET IN
2013. NOTE…THIS IS A PRELIMINARY RECORD…A FINAL STATEMENT WILL
BE SENT THIS EVENING.
RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
0452 PM EST FRI JAN 12 2018
…RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE SET AT WATERTOWN NY…
A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 61 DEGREES WAS SET AT WATERTOWN NY
TODAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 54 SET IN 2017.
Here are some amazing ET stats from today and Thursday:
Well, here we go again. Often the atmosphere gets caught in wash, rinse repeat mode during an individual season. Due to the strengthened Dipole the next shot of near record breaking arctic air will be entering the northern Plains tomorrow morning:
Lastly, we should all mourn for every climate change related victim. Here is the current sad list from California:
KEYT NewsChannel 3Verified account @KEYTNC3
I’ll be adding more to this post later today if relevant information crosses my radar.
The Climate Guy
“Galileo was confronted by the Catholic Church when he proved that the Earth revolves around the sun.”
Galileo didn’t prove the Earth revolves around the Sun. He observed the four large moons of Jupiter thus proving there were celestial objects that did not orbit the Earth. He also observed the phases of Venus thus proving that Venus orbits the Sun. He argued for heliocentrism based on his observations, but his observations did not prove heliocentrism.
It was Kepler, using Tycho Brahe’s data, who proved the Earth orbits the Sun.
Thanks Duncan! I corrected the text. Always keep me honest!
The Climate Guy