For one reason or another, I can’t remember why now, I was looking at data about Canberra’s hottest days a few days ago, and I found something rather interesting…none of the hottest days are in recent years:
Canberra’s Hottest Days [1]
January: 1968 (31st)
February: 1968 (1st)
March: 1965 (3rd)
April: 1968 (12th)
May: 1967 (10th)
June: 1957 (3rd)
July: 1975 (19th)
August: 1977 (30th)
September: 1965 (26th)
October: 1967 (28th)
November: 1959 (23rd)
December: 1957 (25th)
All of these exceptionally hot days occurred in the years 1957-1977, with the years 1965, 1967 and 1968 taking seven of the twelve places. Surely if the planet is warming we would see some, probably the majority, of years coming from the 1990s and 2000s…perhaps Canberra is just unusual, how does Melbourne stack up?
Melbourne’s Hottest Days [2]
January: 1939 (13th)
February: 1983 (8th)
March: 1940 (11th)
April: 1938 (5th)
May: 1905 (7th)
June: 1957 (2nd)
July: 1975 (30th)
August: 1982 (29th)
September: 1928 (28th)
October: 1914 (24th)
November: 1894 (27th)
December: 1876 (15th)
Well that’s interesting, nothing after 1983, with two thirds of the hottest days occurring before 1950.
So, what does this prove? It proves that even if the planet is warming (which it isn’t [3]), it’s been hotter and we all survived, even prospered. Makes you wonder what all the hype is about doesn’t it?
Samuel