What do we know for sure about global warming? Less and less every day it would seem.
Some climate scientists have published studies showing that temperature records have a “heat bias.” That is because the measurements were taken in urban centers next to places that were hotter than others. For example, “near exhaust fans of air conditioning units, surrounded by asphalt parking lots and roads, on blistering-hot roofs.”
Yeah, that’s gunna give you a hotter measurement than, say, a thermometer in an open field. The Heartland Institute estimates that “daytime temperatures in urban areas are 1–7 degrees Fahrenheit higher than temperatures in outlying areas, and nighttime temperatures are about 2–5 degrees Fahrenheit higher.”
And yet, NOAA’s cief scientist Sarah Kapnick said this: “Not only was 2023 the warmest year in NOAA’s 174-year climate record—it was the warmest by far.”
This may be true even without the “heat bias” but it was not the warmest year in Earth’s history. The Roman era had an intense period of global warming that scientists think exceeded 2 degrees C. It is called the Roman Climactic Optimum. Honest researchers should ask how it was caused, how it stopped and what we could learn from it.