People seem to relate a very warm day to global warming...but it doesn't make sense...please see the details

Question

According to Weather Channel climate expert Dr. Heidi Cullen, the annual mean temp of the Earth has been rising .36 degrees Fahrenheit per decade for the last thirty years. However, when there is a very warm day, people who believe in global warming seem to indicate that it was not this warm 10-20 years ago. But even if Dr. Cullen's findings are true, don't they only indicate a very slight difference in the temperature? Meaning, 10-20 years ago you would have a 94.3 degree day instead of the 94.66 degree day you had recently? If you ask me, you cannot reinforce the existance of global warming simply by experiencing a warm day. Do you agree?

http://climate.weather.com/video/vid07warm.html

Answer 1

You are basically correct. Just as one isolated cold period doesn't mean that global warming isn't happening, one isolated hot period doesn't mean it is. Global warming is simply the consistent increase in the average global temperature, as you can see here:

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/img/climate/research/2005/ann/global-blended-temp-pg.gif

Answer 2

Global warming is a complex issue, one that a lot of people don't really know much about even if they think they do. As a result there's all sorts of errors and misunderstandings.

Some people think a hot day is because of global warming, some people think a cold day indicates there isn't any global warming. The same is true when people site a single month or year.

Global warming is about long term climate trends across the whole planet, it's not about short term weather; something that is often confused.

You know what you're talking about and the point you make is spot on. It doesn't just happen with temps, some people claim that because it's been a quiet year for hurricanes that this disproves the theory of global warming, similarly other people claim all the recent flooding is because of global warming.

The changes are slow, subtle and progressive. Rarely is there a great change from one year to the next or even one decade to the next.

Answer 3

You are 100% correct. Anecdotal evidence does not prove anything other than it was particularly hot or cold on any given day. Let's not forget that we have average temperatures for each location based on an average not a "normal" temperature. Too many people have the idea that if we are above the average, then it must be global warming. The fear mongers (media and otherwise) trumpet record highs. However, how many times did we hear about the record low high temps in the northeast last month? I only mention this because when the media harps on record highs but doesn't harp on record lows, then the public gets the sense that it is continually warming and global warming must be a problem.

All the while, we have seen an increase of about .7 degree C in the last 100 years. And just as we have average daily temperatures, the planet has average temperatures also. However, no one knows what the average temperature of Earth is. We have not had accurate planetary temperature readings until the mid-20th century. So the contention that the planet is warming "rapidly" and "dangerously" is a ridiculous claim if for no other reason than that it is based on a few decades of information out of billions of years (allegedly). A scientist would be laughed out of any other discipline if he used such an outrageously small sample.

And for crabby_blindguy, as you can see in this particular question, it's funny how the scientifically "enlightened" ridicule the "deniers" as you call them. The mark of a sound scientific theory is that it stands up to criticism. A good scientist doesn't need to ridicule others questioning his theories. I wish I could say that about the pro-global warming lobby. On top of that, what makes you think special interests are only funding the "deniers"? I assure you there are plenty of special interest groups and governments funding the pro-global warming lobby.

As for your claim that global warming is proven fact, ummm, that is an awfully bold statement to be making. I'm not sure where that comes from, but it sounds like something Al Gore would say. Of course, considering the decade of erroneous temperature data NASA recently admitted to, it's hard to believe anyone's data is completely reliable. And if that argument does nothing for you, even the IPCC believes is only "very likely" which means the most pro-global warming group on the planet isn't 100% certain. Proven fact? Hardly.

Answer 4

Short term climate phenomena may be attributed to Global Warming, but it depends who and what is effected. If it's a farmer for example, he will have direct evidence of the temperature extremes in the fields, increased evaporation and desiccated plants. We must not deny Global Warming. People are relating warmer temperatures with Global Warming and rightly so. Think about the weather extremes and not just the temperatures. Record high temperatures are increasing in temperate zones. Frost zones are higher on mountain slopes. Glaciers are receding up the mountain slopes. The polar ice caps are melting. The sea level is rising. Climate systems are driven by the temperature variations. More energy in the atmosphere translates into active weather systems.
Weather is a serious matter for humans regardless of the Global Warming trends.
Katrina would have happened without global warming. The threat of flooding New Orleans has been known for many decades. We tend to ignore the scientist, calling them alarmists.
I appreciate the arguments against global warming, but people can take responsibility, change, and adapt. We don't need more scientific study. We don't need delay. We have the answers. It's a matter of guarding nature. If we mess up the natural world, we still have to live in it.

Answer 5

You are right, you cannot relate a single weather event to Global Warming, Katrina may or may not have happened, the temperature may have been higher or lower on the same day last year.

It is the trends which indicate GW, not singular events; it is breaking weather records consistent for months in a row that indicates Global Warming, not any singular event.

But you can still say "Thank you Global Warming!" on a particularly hot day and there will be a good probability you are right.

Answer 6

Global warming is an emotional issue. Those who believe in global warming will point to hot days, hurricanes, and tornadoes to show that global warming is real. Those who don't believe point out cold days, lower hurricane numbers than predicted, and other factors to show that global warming is fake.

Global warming however has very little to do with the day to day temperature of any specific location. It is a general overall warming over the entire earth over a long period of time.

Answer 7

Both sides of the argument are false... what I mean by that is a warm day does not "prove" global warming just as a cold day does not "disprove" it. People who say such things are confusing weather with climate... a common mistake.

Answer 8

You are entirely correct. That global warming is real is a proven fact. But it hs very little to do with the daily variations--or regional variations--in temperature in the short run.

The fact that so many people are so poorly versed in basic science is the cause. You see it every day--and not just on these boards. People who are not stupid--but are obviously all but totally ignorant of what science is and how it works.

Which is ultimately why the misinformation campaign by special interests has been so difficult to eradicaate--people who have not gotten an adequate grounding in science don't have the bacground to see the obvious fallacies in the "deniers' "arguements."

But the lack of knowledge--as you pointed out--cuts both ways. It's just as incorrect to say "it's hottter than usual today--that supports global warming" as it is to say "it's colder than usual--global warming is a myth."

Answer 9

Yes, I agree completely.

It makes me laugh when I hear people say something along the lines of “Global Warming is REAL! Haven’t you noticed that it’s MUCH warmer than it used to be?!”

The fact is that the temperature has changed by only a few tenths of a degree C in our whole lifetime and there is simply no way that we can detect such a tiny change over such a long period of time.

The truth is that, if no one was telling us that we should be terrified about Global Warming, we wouldn’t have even noticed yet.

Of course, that fact doesn’t prove that global warming won’t be a problem in the future, but what it does demonstrate is the huge amount of scaremongering that’s going on about it.

It’s perfectly reasonable to be concerned over environmental issues, but it’s just silly to be taken in by all the “catastrophe” hysteria.

Answer 10

Most people don't bother to notice that temperatures go in cycles. Its hot now. It was cold in the 70s. It was hot in the 30s. Not too many people alive now remember much about the 30s so its ignored.

Global warming is natural.

Answer 11

Some of the more naive scientists of the world assume that the sun will continue to output 1365 Watts/Meter^2 for all eternity, even though they willfully acknowledge that the sun increased it's output level to begin our climb out of the little ice age. There are a lot of things that do not make any sense.