Tampering With 1934 Temperatures Was Even Worse Than I Thought!

By Paul Homewood

 

 

I reported a few days ago how the original CONUS temperatures, as recorded State by State in 1934, were 1.23F higher than NCDC now show. The original figure of 55.37F has since been adjusted down to 54.14F. As a result, 2012, at 55.34F, is officially the hottest year on record for the CONUS.

However, reader Daryl spotted that I had overstated the size of Maine. The result is that I had underestimated the original 1934 temperature by 0.16F, thus making NOAA’s adjustment even greater, at 1.38F.

First though, a quick explanation.

 

 

The Climatological Data Reports for the New England States are published as a joint “New England” report. Consequently, I had entered all the data for New England in my spreadsheet under one line, labelled as Maine. (NE would have been confused with Nebraska!). The area of New England is 66609 sq miles, so this was also entered.

Subsequently. I discovered that the temperature data for the individual States was shown anyway, so I reverted to figures for each State. But then I forgot to alter the area from 66609, to the actual Maine area, which is 33215 sq miles.

 

Anyway, grovelling over! The revised figures are in the Appendix below. In simple terms though, because Maine is one of the coldest States, overstating the area has led to the national number that I calculated being too low. So it now appears that NOAA have adjusted the 1934 temperatures down by even more than I had thought, reducing them by 1.38F.

 

 

APPENDIX A

 

	MEAN TEMP	AREA	WEIGHTED TEMP
AL	64.7	51610	1.10
AZ	64.4	113909	2.43
AR	62.8	53104	1.10
CA	59.9	158693	3.15
CO	49.5	104246	1.71
CT	48.5	5009	0.08
NH	42.6	9304	0.13
VT	42.6	9610	0.14
MA	47.9	8257	0.13
RI	49.3	1214	0.02
ME	41.9	33215	0.46
DE	54.7	2057	0.04
MD	53.8	10578	0.19
FL	71.3	58560	1.38
GA	64.6	58876	1.26
ID	50.0	83557	1.38
IL	54.5	56399	1.02
IN	53.9	36291	0.65
IA	51.5	56288	0.96
KS	58.5	82264	1.59
KY	57.6	40395	0.77
LA	68.2	48522	1.09
MI	45.2	58214	0.87
MN	43.1	84068	1.20
MS	65.6	47715	1.04
MO	57.4	69686	1.32
MT	46.9	147138	2.28
NE	53.4	77227	1.36
NV	54.6	110540	2.00
NJ	51.6	7836	0.13
NM	55.1	121666	2.22
NY	46.0	49576	0.75
NC	59.4	52712	1.04
ND	43.4	70665	1.01
OH	52.2	41222	0.71
OK	63.0	69920	1.46
OR	52.0	96981	1.67
PA	50.6	45334	0.76
SC	62.7	31055	0.64
SD	49.6	77047	1.26
TN	59.7	42244	0.83
TX	68.1	267340	6.02
UT	52.3	84916	1.47
VA	56.2	40816	0.76
WA	51.8	68192	1.17
WV	53.5	24180	0.43
WI	45.1	56154	0.84
WY	45.8	97914	1.48
TOTAL		3022316	55.52