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A New Record?

July 1, 2015
tags:

By Paul Homewood

 

image

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/weather/11711602/Britain-swelters-in-hottest-July-day-for-160-years.html 

 

I was waiting until the Met Office had some firm data before commenting on this week’s heatwave. However, it appears that the Met Office have already jumped the gum by declaring today the hottest July day on record.

The Telegraph report:

 

Britain sweltered in the hottest July day for 160 years yesterday as temperatures hit 98F (36.7C) surpassing even Mumbai in India.

The Met Office said temperatures hit the record high in Heathrow on Tuesday afternoon, breaking the previous record of 98F (36.5C) set on July 19 2006 in Wisley, Surrey.

 

This raises a number of issues:

 

1) Just how meaningful is a temperature recorded at a major international airport? As somebody pointed out, why not count the 40C+ measured in the oven at Wimbledon?

 

2)  According to the Met Office’s own hourly data, the maximum temperature reached at Heathrow was 35.9C, well below the record claimed. This was at 15.00, and by 16.00 the temperature had declined considerably.

Has the temperature really climbed so much in a matter of minutes, or are we simply seeing the temperature peaks resulting from airport traffic, exaggerated by subtle wind shifts.

 

 

ScreenHunter_2293 Jul. 01 20.57

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/observation/gcpsvcb66

 

 

3) In the US, record temperatures, etc, are only officially confirmed after approval by the State Climate Extremes Committee, who need to satisfy themselves that the claimed records are derived from properly quality assured sources, and are not influenced by non-climatic biases. This process can take several months to complete.

It is a fact that no recent state record temperatures have been logged at airports.

I would therefore ask why the Met Office why they have jumped the gun and declared a new record within hours.

 

I have not yet found official confirmation on the Met Office website, but the story appears to be well spread, including the BBC.

 

 

 

 

18 Comments
  1. July 1, 2015 10:45 pm

    The Met. Office have a nasty habit of “jumping the gun”, by quoting statistics prematurely.

  2. G. Watkins permalink
    July 1, 2015 11:01 pm

    The last 5 mins of Newsnight was nauseating. Prof Chris Rapley allowed to advertise his new book while an adoring Kirsty W. looked on.
    BTW a warm damp day in S. Wales – umbrellas needed on the golf course.

  3. tom0mason permalink
    July 2, 2015 12:15 am

    “A lie can travel halfway round the world while the truth is putting on its shoes…” Mark Twain — maybe .

  4. Gary H permalink
    July 2, 2015 12:37 am

    “I would therefore ask why the Met Office why they have jumped the gun and declared a new record within hours.”

    The answer . .

    [Ice Age Now] “As of June 17, June was on course to be the coldest month in 24 years – with the coldest nights since records began 105 years ago.”

  5. July 2, 2015 1:10 am

    I pull the extremes, sorry, format will be bad

    UK extremes
    Parameter Location Value
    Highest maximum temperature Heathrow 36.7 °C
    Lowest maximum temperature Lerwick 15.0 °C
    Lowest minimum temperature Leconfield 11.1 °C
    Highest rainfall Durham 8.6 mm
    Sunniest Odiham 11.6 hours

    Issued at: 0002 on Thu 02 Jul 2015

  6. Gene Farr permalink
    July 2, 2015 1:55 am

    Paul,

    Of course any records set in a “heat island” are meaningless as far as “global warming” is concerned.

    Gene

    >

  7. July 2, 2015 5:42 am

    Are there any reliable readings from somewhere close to Heathrow Airport?

    • Joe Public permalink
      July 2, 2015 8:09 am

      Kew Gardens is close to Heathrow

  8. AndyG55 permalink
    July 2, 2015 5:43 am

    The hot day was statistically no warmer than one in early June was cold.

    Also the well below the maximum.

    Here is the CET data with percentiles etc, to prove that fact.

  9. AndyG55 permalink
    July 2, 2015 5:58 am

    Now this is interesting !

    http://iceagenow.info/2015/06/government-climate-data-found-unreliable/

  10. Richard111 permalink
    July 2, 2015 6:30 am

    “”Britain swelters”” — sheesh!

    http://www.milfordweather.org.uk/atmospheric.asp

    Data on that link will have been overwritten in three more days.
    I’m keeping a snapshot.

  11. July 2, 2015 7:21 am

    The hype machine has had few actual statistics to use so leapt on this. Paris is coming nearer expect a lot more as the ” AGW power bloc” are going to ensure that the brainwashing of the masses prevents any questioning of the “settled science”.

  12. July 2, 2015 7:32 am

    The more urbanisation,
    The more heat you create,
    And it helps the alarmists
    Their wild claims to inflate!
    http://rhymeafterrhyme.net/have-we-got-you-really-frightened/

    • catweazle666 permalink
      July 3, 2015 12:24 am

      This piece on UHI, from NASA no less, is quite telling.


      Scientists first discovered the heat island effect in the 1800s when they observed cities growing warmer than surrounding rural areas, particularly in summer. Urban surfaces of asphalt, concrete, and other materials — also referred to as “impervious surfaces” — absorb more solar radiation by day. At night, much of that heat is given up to the urban air, creating a warm bubble over a city that can be as much as 1 to 3°C (2 to 5°F) higher than temperatures in surrounding rural areas.

      When examining cities in arid and semi-arid regions – such as North Africa and the American Southwest — scientists found that they are only slightly warmer than surrounding areas in summer and sometimes cooler than surrounding areas in winter. In the U.S., the summertime urban heat island (UHI) for desert cities like Las Vegas was 0.46°C lower than surrounding areas, compared to 10°C higher for cities like Baltimore. Globally, the differences were not as large, with a summertime UHI of -0.21°C for desert cities compared to +3.8°C for cities in forested regions.

      http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/terra/news/heat-islands.html

      I’m surprised it’s still visible…

  13. July 2, 2015 11:04 am

    “I would therefore ask why the Met Office why they have jumped the gun and declared a new record within hours>” Because they are lying gits. Next question?

  14. Richard Mallett permalink
    July 9, 2015 11:00 pm

    Why do they say it’s the warmest in 160 years = since 1855 ?

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