Fake News: Whipping up a media frenzy over bizarre “records” before they occur

Australia’s “leading climate scientists” can’t predict the climate but they are very good PR operatives. Here in Perth we’ve had a cool year — for the last twelve months it’s been nearly a whole degree cooler than the average for the last 20 years. But last weekend in Perth, news stories told us we’d had an “autumn stinker” and wait for it, we might get Perth’s second hottest first eight days of March. Call that a HFEDOM record and write in the Guinness Book of records. It’s a permutation “record” almost as important as the longest distance run by a man holding a table in his teeth. Except it’s not even a record, it’s a news story about a record that “might happen”, but didn’t.

Let’s name Neil Bennett (BOM) and Will Steffen (ANU) as the Propaganda-in-Chiefs dumping meaningless climate-trivia on the people in order to generate FEAR and screw more money from the public.

Straight from the New Climate PRAVDA Manual:

Invent contrived trivial permutations in order to use the word “record” Don’t bother waiting for real data, use forecasts If record includes the word “cool”, “cooler”, or “cold”, send to trash.

When wrong, crickets.

So science serves its purpose as a tax revenue generator and source of support for parasitic industries that need government money and government propaganda to keep them alive. (Yes, I’m talking about renewable energy).

The public is hammered with record hot stories, even before they’ve happened in this case, yet there are no BoM announcements or media stories detailing WA’s remarkable run of well below average temps since about April last year. Last week the Climate Council report on summer mentioned Perth had record rainfall and the second hottest December day on record at 42.4C on 21 December, but they didn’t mention 9 February when Perth had by far its coldest February maximum daily temp since records began in 1897, smashing the previous record by a whopping 1.6C. — Jo

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Fake News doesn’t mention the real climate that West Australians should get used to

GUEST POST by a Weather Watcher reader in WA.

It’s what Donald Trump likes to call Fake News.

The Bureau of Meteorology was in the media on Sunday 5th March to warn that if the forecasts in the following four days were accurate, Perth would have an average maximum of 35.5C in the first eight days of March. The alarm bells were ringing because Perth was sweltering through the second hottest first eight days of March ever recorded.

Well, the first eight days of March have passed and Perth’s average maximum was 34.8C. So the first eight days of March were the 5th warmest on record, not the 2nd warmest.

A warm start to March but a bit of a non-event and no longer of any interest to the media. However, the several hundred thousand people who read the Sunday newspaper will nevertheless be telling all their friends that the first eight days of March this year were the second hottest ever in Perth.

The bureau and the media created record temperatures before they had (not) happened, misleading the public but reinforcing the climate warming theme.

Are you used to it?

The same Sunday story included Will Steffen from the Australian Climate Council, who said WA’s temperatures and a hot eastern states season were further evidence that Australia can expect more frequent and hotter heatwaves, with WA to be belted by regular 50C days within decades.

Professor Steffen says what happened in Perth and WA this week is more data confirming that extreme heat is on the increase, and West Australians should get used to days such as the 36.1C recorded in Perth last Saturday.

Hang on. 36.1C in Perth during early March? Perth’s hottest ever March day was 42.4C and the month always has at least a few days in the high 30s, some years slipping into the 40s.

Recent WA climate

Fake News has created evidence of climate change because Perth had a warm first week of March.

But what does the real news have to say about the recent climate in WA? For that we turn to the bureau’s February Monthly Summary (www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/month/wa/summary.shtml):

On 8, 9 and 10 February 2017, 33 WA weather stations had their record lowest February daily maximum temperature. Their new record maxima averaged 17.04C and the previous record low February daily maxima at the 33 stations averaged 18.84C.

temperature. Their new record maxima averaged 17.04C and the previous record low February daily maxima at the 33 stations averaged 18.84C. Eight WA weather stations had their record lowest February mean daily maximum temperature, their average being 27.54C. The previous record lowest February mean daily maximum temperature at the eight stations averaged 27.85C.

temperature, their average being 27.54C. The previous record lowest February mean daily maximum temperature at the eight stations averaged 27.85C. Three WA weather stations had their record lowest February mean temperature (Esperance Aero, Rocky Gully, York), their average being 20.67C. The previous record lowest February mean temperature at the three stations averaged 20.93C.

(Esperance Aero, Rocky Gully, York), their average being 20.67C. The previous record lowest February mean temperature at the three stations averaged 20.93C. Rainfall averaged across WA was just over 100 mm, about 70% higher than the long-term average.

The South West Land Division recorded its second-wettest February on record and the wettest February for 62 years, since 1955.

Many record high February daily rainfalls were recorded between 8 and 11 February as a tropical low moved over the Pilbara and an associated cloudband developed over southwest WA.

Over 50 locations in the SWLD observed their wettest February on record, while more than a hundred sites reported their wettest February on record for at least 20 years.

The mean maximum temperature for WA was 1.3 °C below average, the lowest for six years since February 2011.

The mean maximum temperature for the SWLD was 1.6 °C below average, the lowest for 16 years since February 2001.

Persistent rain and cool southeasterly winds led to many locations in the SWLD observing their lowest February daily maximum temperature on record between the 8th and 10th.

Several sites in the SWLD had their mildest February on record, while a dozen or so had their mildest February for at least 20 years.

Mean minimum temperatures were close to average across much of WA.

Angry summer?

Sunday’s newspaper story noted that it was a wet, cold summer with the maximum across WA being 0.8C below average.

However, the Climate Council issued its Angry Summer report yesterday (https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/uploads/06d005450f38335df2c2165dc9acaac9.pdf) and it turns out the flooding that accompanied WA’s record rainfall was indicative of a warming climate holding more moisture in the atmosphere.

Perth has had 868.5mm of rain since April 2016 (with showers forecast early next week), which compares to the annual rainfall average of 868.3mm from 1876 to 1991. So when Perth rainfall is exactly the same as it was in the first 115 years of recording, it’s proof that climate warming is putting more moisture in the atmosphere.

If the temperature goes up and it doesn’t rain much, it’s climate change. If the temperature goes down and it rains a lot, it’s climate change. This is rainfall in southern WA, where a reduction of almost 15% since the 1970s is usually touted as evidence of climate change.

Chilly for almost a year

Perth temperatures have been well below average for much of the past year.

The maximum at Perth Metro from April 2016 to February 2017 was 0.9C cooler than the average since the station opened in 1994. The minimum at Perth Metro from April 2016 to February 2017 was 0.5C cooler than the long-term average.

Eleven southern WA stations had their lowest winter mean maximum on record and 32 had their lowest winter mean maximum in at least 23 years. Five stations had their lowest winter mean temperature on record and eight had their lowest mean temperature in at least 20 years.

Coldest September ever

September in southern WA had a maximum 1.4C below average, the equal 10th coolest September on record. September’s mean minimum in the South West Land Division was 2.1C below average and the coldest September on record.

The mean September temperature at WA’S 15 ACORN stations south of and including Geraldton was the coldest since 1897. The September 2016 Monthly Climate Summary for WA lists 31 weather stations that had their coldest ever average minimum, eight that had their coldest ever average maximum, and 26 that had their coldest mean temperature on record

On 30 January 2017, Perth Metro had its fifth coldest January maximum temperature since readings began at Perth Regional Office in 1897. At Perth Airport, 30 January was the coldest January day since the station opened in 1945.

For almost a year the western 2.6 million square kilometres of Australia have enjoyed below average temperatures and a string of record cold days or months, with consistent rains producing record grain harvests, overflowing farm dams and a carpet of green from north to south.

That’s the real news, not the fake news.

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