Anchorage “Record” Was Not Actually A Record!
By Paul Homewood
While I was away last week, the BBC came out with this story of record temperatures in Anchorage:
The US state of Alaska, part of which lies inside the Arctic Circle, is sweltering under a heatwave, with record temperatures recorded in several areas, including its largest city.
Temperatures reached 90F (32C) in Anchorage on Thursday, shattering the city’s previous record of 85F.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48890556
The report clearly implied global warming as the cause, with several references to climate change links throughout the article.
As I pointed out at the time, the all-time record temperature for Alaska was set as long ago as 1915, when an incredible 100F was measured at Fort Yukon.
This story follows the usual BBC recipe for Arctic heatwaves:
- Record temperatures = global warming
- Hot weather is unprecedented in the Arctic. Most people would believe that temperatures of 90F simply never used to occur in the Arctic, it just sounds so unimaginable.
Unfortunately for the BBC, it turns out that the Anchorage temperature is not even a record!
I have now had time to check through the NOAA data files, and have discovered that back in June 1931, the temperature actually reached 92F at Anchorage:
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/IPS/cd/cd.html
Monthly weather records for Alaska only began to be published in 1917, but according to the CLIMOD2 system, maintained by Cornell University and using NOAA data, the temperature went even higher in 1915, reaching 100F:
http://climod2.nrcc.cornell.edu/
Either way, it is clear from the above graph, which plots the highest temperature each year, that summer days are not getting hotter in Anchorage.
There is a gap in the record for Anchorage, but the data further north at Fort Yukon tells a similar story:
http://climexp.knmi.nl/getstations.cgi
The highest temperature since 2008, was 33.9C (93F) last year. But this figure was exceeded on several occasions in both 1915 and 1955, and also equalled in 1900.
The heatwave in 1915, which brought temperatures of 100F to both Fort Yukon and Anchorage was not a brief fluke, but a monster. At Fort Yukon temperatures exceeded 90F from June 26th until July 2nd.
Temperatures stayed above 80F for 18 days in succession. No heatwave since in Alaska has remotely approached the one of 1915.
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
Reblogged this on Climate- Science.
Will this provide some additional ammunition for the upcoming lawsuit against the BBC for being biased? After all, they never ever report on record low temperatures. They are now even reporting on record high temperatures that aren’t even records, blatantly lying in fact.
Can you people in the UK not organize a proper court challenge to all the BS the BBC is putting out there in the world media. It is affecting all western nations. The green alarmists and the UN climate change people need to be called out for all their fake news.I got on the Canadian government web site and have found that it was warmer in the Canadian parriers in 1931 and 1937 then ever reported by climate change alarmists. The world keeps changing but there is no emergency and limiting C02 isn’t going to do anything. Putting scrubbers on smoke stacks may help
It’s the BBC that’s breaking records – for climate deceit and fake news.
Paris was not a record either 50 deg. in 1935 might have been one in recent history
Last summer in the UK was not a record either
“…the temperature actually reached 92C at Anchorage…” Now 92C would really be a planetary record. 🙂
Told you it was hot!!!
[Thanks- corrected ]
Excellent work, Paul—thank you!
‘sweltering under a heatwave’
‘Temperatures reached 90F (32C) in Anchorage’
90 is ‘sweltering?’
The people on the beach don’t look like they are ‘sweltering.’
OMG: He’s back with the ‘Warming threatens Himalayan glaciers’
I am shocked, shocked to discover that BBC lies.
I will be surprised when they tell the truth.
Fantastic stuff Paul – again.
“the temperature went even higher in 1915, reaching 100F”
baked Alaska at 92F!
but.
baking Alaska flambe at 100F, I feel…… a sweety (oops) dessert coming on.
I’ll get me coat!
It should be noted that Alaskan climate is not typical of the Arctic despite having an Arctic ocean coastline. Even when North America was covered with ice sheets, Alaska was not, due to pulse of warm Pacific water that pass by.
The attempts to raise alarms about Alaskan warming presume it to be the Arctic “canary”, but that ignores the unusual nature of its climate.
https://rclutz.wordpress.com/2019/07/10/permafrost-scare-again/
I found it curious that in the LAT’s [print edition] weather section the next day (Fri July 5th) it was reported that the high for Anchorage the day before (Thurs July 4th) was 85F. That’s in the section where they show temp stats for the day before and the forecast temps, etc., for the current day, for cities all around the country and world They obtain the data from the National Weather Service.
Cue “readjustment” of the 1915 and 1931 temperature records.
Any actual data files probably have already been adjusted.
It’s harder to cover up copies of printed matter – but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before AI bots will be trawling the net and somehow redrawing old reports and newspaper archives as soon as they go online.
Thanks Paul.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
This chart : Link
shows the hours of day length by Latitude,
and this one: Link
shows incoming solar radiation (insolation) by months and Latitude north.
Because of the long day-length, a place near the Arctic Circle [Fort Yukon is at 66.6°N] gets Sun energy 24 hours each day, peaking in early afternoon.
Sum the energy over time and one learns that Fort Yukon will get more energy on the June Solstice than will New Orleans at 30°N.
Further, interior Alaska is far from the cooling influence of a large body of water.
There should be no surprise that such places can warm in June and July, and at times get quite hot.
Such information is presented in introductory Earth science classes such as physical geography, or geology and a few others. Many ill prepared students find such things irrelevant to their lives and don’t bother to pay attention. I wonder if the protesters of Extinction Rebellion and like folk have any clue about such things?
John F Hultquist has beaten me to post that the amount of insolation in the arctic can lead to high temperatures, but I would add two examples from the Siberian arctic: Salekhard near the Gulf of Ob’ has a record high of 32.9 Celsius, whilst Tiksi, further east and close to the outfall of the Lena, has reached 34.3 Celsius.
Reblogged this on Climate Collections.
You say ‘unfortunately for the BBC’ – but do they care and will they stop in future?’
They need to be defrocked, but will it happen?
I have left you all to answer the questions, but it seems to me that if we do nothing to stop the BBC, Attenborough, Greta IPCC express our exposures of the lies will get no traction with the silent majority. Its not as if they haven’t been caught out before, again and again but they are happy with the occasional riposte as it is without effect?
Actually it was a record for anchorage, which is a coastal city. Ft Yukon is a town in the interior with no ameliorating ocean. It also has the coldest extremes. I’ve been here 40 years and it was the longest heatwave I have experienced. A hot day for us in the summer is 80 at most, and we usually relish them.
Do you have trouble reading?
You write this in a manner that seems to claim that Global warming is not actually happening. However, what global warming actually is, is the average temperature overall increasing. While extreme heat and cold are not unfamiliar, they have been becoming more frequent over the last century and quite clearly documented. Your article may have performed significantly better as simply a critique of the poor journalism by the BBC as they failed to do more research before publishing their article on the matter.
Extreme cold has been decreasing, not increasing.
And in the US, extreme heat has also been decreasing.
https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-high-and-low-temperatures
What we tend to see is milder winters etc
If there is any place that the potential bias in temps is showing up, I’d expect that it is in the decreasing trend of low temps. From the EPA:
“The term “heat island” describes built up areas that are hotter than nearby rural areas. The annual mean air temperature of a city with 1 million people or more can be 1.8–5.4°F (1–3°C) warmer than its surroundings. In the evening, the difference can be as high as 22°F (12°C).”
Given the lack of consistency in the number and location and quality and instrument type and methods and duration and urbanisation/land use change……… of temperature recording, it’s impossible to draw any reliable conclusion.
The cries by the MSM of more extremes are true, the facts are far from being ‘clearly documented’ – something which could not possibly be said about any climate data trends.
When the MSM is obviously being selective/deceptive with the available facts to promote a particular agenda, then obviously it is important to expose the lie.
I disagree, slightly. Since 1979, satellite analysis of the atmosphere has given us a relatively good Global Mean Temperature.
All pre-1979 GMT values are completely made up. We have some ideas, we might even be within a few degrees. But stating a pre-79 GMT as fact is completely bogus. We had no data for over the oceans (71% of surface area), central Africa, Antarctica, central South America, and patches of Asia and Australia.
“However, what global warming actually is, is the average temperature overall increasing.”
A human construct. Nowhere is affected by average temperature.
Yes, I wouldn’t distrust the satellite (UAH mainly) data, clearly there is a rising trend since 1979 (which would be expected considering that’s approx. when ground instrumental records USED TO show a significant period of cooling ended).
We’re talking about long-term ground observation instrumental record claims here.
@ georgeadavidson July 14, 2019 9:52 pm
“Can you people in the UK not organize a proper court challenge to all the BS the BBC is putting out there in the world media”
Alaska’s lowest ever temperature was recorded in 1971 incidentally, but only an official climatologist would be able to tell you if thid was 55years later than. 1915,otherwise it’s just an AGW denier blowing smoke in your eyes.
.
Propaganda 101. 1. Tell a lie often enough and it becomes fact. 2. Control the media and you control/make the facts.
I remember Fairbanks hitting above 90° when I lived in Alaska
Nov 28, 2016 Weather is NOT Climate!
No, weather is NOT climate…even when it’s warm outside. But in case there’s a climate cultist in your life that insists otherwise, here are some facts about global warming and vaguely-defined “extreme” weather that you can use to talk some sense into them.