Hottest July in 4000 years? Not even the hottest July since *2014* according to satellites

NOAA has a press release out being picked up around the world. For example, the DailyMail, UK, is saying July was the hottest month since records began in 1880 as heatwaves swept the Earth’s countries and oceans. Other silly tabloids have headlines about this being the hottest July in 4,000 years, as if we have even the remotest idea what the average July global temperature was in the days of Plato.

Better data shows July this year is the hottest since way back in… 2014. It’s not 4,000 years, not 135 years, it’s the hottest July since the last one.

We only have 30 years of good climate data: the satellites tell us the pause is real , and last month’s summer temperatures is not a record anything. According to the UAH and RSS global satellites, lower troposphere averages for July 2014 were 0.30C and 0.34C, compared to July 2015 of 0.28C. Even, June 2015 was hotter (UAH, 0.35C; RSS, 0.39C).

July 2015 is not even the hottest month since June.



But some journalists will believe anything. Anthony Sharman, sports journalist, News.com, Australia, thinks we know the global temperature of the July that Jesus was born. Who’s a gullible journalist then? (And who was that gullible editor?) We have estimates of the temperature of whole years circa one AD, but we don’t have “monthly” data. Not too many thermometers. How good are those tree-rings? Check out this fantasy headline:

Yes July could have been the hottest month in 4,000 years, and it could have been the first month Earth was visited by aliens — there is no evidence for that either.

Anthony Sharman read one press release and thinks he knows more than what he got from the cereal box:

CLIMATE change is real. Climate change is happening. The world is getting warmer. There was no global pause. This thing is not slowing down.

These are the inescapable conclusions for anyone who sources their information beyond cereal boxes, internet forums and oil industry spokespeople…

It’s no-holds-barred, pure agitprop. (I’ll bet he feels smug today, eh? ). Do leave a comment to help them get past their fawning commitment to publish chumpy unresearched propaganda.

About Anthony Sharman

Ant covers a mixture of sport, news, weather and everything in between. A Walkley-award winner and author, Ant has worked in magazines, papers and digital and loves writing everything from in-depth features to quick, fun stories with a quirky edge. A husband and father of two, Ant farms chickens in his backyard, a practice which requires almost exactly the same skillset as working in a digital newsroom. Every week he joins the Fox Sports news team to discuss the unique news.com.au take on sport.

h/t Steve W, Colin, Mal.

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