It's late June, and it's getting hot all around the United States (well, not so much in Alaska, but it's supposed to hit 70 today) and indeed, all over the northern hemisphere. Guess what? It's summer. That happens in the summer. It gets hot.
My Old Man used to tell me of the summer of 1934, a nasty, hot, humid eastern Iowa summer that set records, records which still stand. Almost nobody had air conditioning in those days, so Dad and his brother would walk from their Edgewood Road home to the Cedar River, there to cool off in the muddy waters - the only option available. There have been hot summers before that, and there have been hot summers since. Trust me, I grew up in northeast Iowa myself, and suffered through my share of hot, muggy summer days.
It looks like it's shaping up to be another hot summer - but the claims of the climate scolds notwithstanding, it's not an unusually hot summer, and if you look at the history, it's not at all likely that humans are causing it. A RealClearEnergy piece by scribe Steve Goreham has the details.
Many media outlets reported that humans are responsible for the current hot weather. CNN reported that “heat waves are getting more dangerous with climate change” and that the current heat wave “bears the hallmarks of human-caused global warming.” NPR concluded that “human-caused climate change has made this heat wave three times more likely” due to emissions from “burning of coal, oil and gas.” Time stated that heat waves now occur “three times as often” in the U.S. as they did in the 1960s. But historical records do not support the media alarm about heat waves.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tracks state record high temperatures and the date when they occur. The data shows that 36 of the 50 state record highs were set more than five decades ago. Twenty-three state record high temperatures occurred in the decade of the 1930s, when annual human CO2 emissions were less than one-eighth of today’s emissions. Despite endless headlines about heat waves, only 6 state high temperature records have occurred since the year 2000.
That doesn't seem to support the contention that we must immediately surrender our modern, energy-hungry lifestyles to appease the climate scolds, does it?
Here, look at the two graphics from this story:
— Ward Clark (@TheGreatLander) June 28, 2025
Well, will you have a look at that? Of all 50 states, only six - count 'em, six - have set state high temperature records since 2000. A wide swath of states recorded their record highs in the 1930s, very likely in that same long, hot summer of 1934.
Temps in Britain, it happens, look to have been pretty flat since 1660 - although we have to admit, there may be some doubt about temperatures recorded in the 17th century. But the temperatures since 1900, the same time frame as the United States records, show only a modest increase in temperature, kind of what you'd expect in a place still coming out of an ice age, and nowhere near the estimated CO2 emissions. And, yes, this data comes from Britain's Met Office, which is admittedly fond of the global warming panic itself.
— Ward Clark (@TheGreatLander) June 28, 2025
Mr. Goreham explains what all this means:
Temperature metrics from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), NOAA, and the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in the UK (Met Office) show that average global surface temperatures have risen about 1.2oC (2oF) in the last 140 years. But is this rise caused by industrial emissions of greenhouse gases?
The Central England Temperature Data Set, provided by the Met Office Hadley Centre of the UK, is the world’s longest-running temperature metric. It shows that Central England temperatures have risen about 2oC (3.6oF) over the last 360 years, since 1660. Human carbon dioxide annual emissions were negligible until after World War II, but emissions have since increased by a factor of almost eight times. Yet the rate of change in the rise of Central England temperatures appears to be unchanged during the age of spiking global CO2 emissions. The evidence shows that temperatures are dominated by natural factors and that human emissions play only a small role in global warming.
This, folks, is how you compile and examine data. It's something the left, here and in Europe, plainly doesn't know how to do.
See Also: Rep. Jayapal Blames Climate Change for Summer Being Hot - You'll Love the Replies
What the Climate Scolds Don't Get: Green Energy Is Not Possible Without Capitalism
Yes, it's going to be a hot summer. Summers frequently are. But today, in our modern, technological society, we are better-equipped to deal with heat waves than ever before. We have modern air-conditioned homes and workplaces, not to mention our automobiles. Whereas through most of human history, we dealt with hot weather by suffering through it, by wearing light clothing, staying in the shade, and like my Dad and his brother in that long-ago time, by soaking in the muddy water of a slow-moving farm-country river.
I'll take today. I'll take our modern, technological lifestyle and all the comforts that go with it. And I make no bones about one thing: I won't give it up to appease the scolds who don't even understand how to examine data and from it, extract information - you know, science.
This seems appropriate.
