Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
AP Finds Hot Records Falling Twice as Often as Cold Ones
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
March 19, 2019

Share

Over the past 20 years, Americans have been twice as likely to sweat through record-breaking heat rather than shiver through record-setting cold, a new Associated Press data analysis shows.

The AP looked at 424 weather stations throughout the Lower 48 states that had consistent temperature records since 1920 and counted how many times daily hot temperature records were tied or broken and how many daily cold records were set. In a stable climate, the numbers should be roughly equal.

Since 1999, the ratio has been two warm records set or broken for every cold one. In 16 of the last 20 years, there have been more daily high temperature records than low.

The AP shared the data analysis with several climate and data scientists, who all said the conclusion was correct, consistent with scientific peer-reviewed literature and showed a clear sign of human-caused climate change. They pointed out that trends over decades are more robust than over single years.

The analysis stopped with data through 2018. However, the first two months of 2019 are showing twice as many cold records than hot ones. That’s temporary and trends are over years and decades, not months, said National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration climate monitoring chief Deke Arndt.

No Place Has Seen the Trend More Clearly Than Pasadena

“We are in a period of sustained and significant warming and — over the long run — will continue to explore and break the warm end of the spectrum much more than the cold end,” Arndt said.

Former Weather Channel meteorologist Guy Walton, who has been studying hot and cold extreme records since 2000, said the trend is unmistakable.

“You are getting more extremes,” Walton said. “Your chances for getting more dangerous extremes are going up with time.”

“We are in a period of sustained and significant warming and — over the long run — will continue to explore and break the warm end of the spectrum much more than the cold end.” — Deke Arndt, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration climate monitoring chief

No place has seen the trend more clearly than the Southern California city of Pasadena, where 7,203 days (more than 19 years) went by between cold records being broken. On Feb. 23, Pasadena set a low temperature record, its first since June 5, 1999.

Vermont native Paul Wennberg felt it. He moved to Pasadena in 1998 just before the dearth of cold records.

“Even with the local cold we had this past month, it’s very noticeable,” said Wennberg, a California Institute of Technology atmospheric sciences professor. “It’s just been ever warmer.”

In between the two cold record days, Pasadena set 145 hot records. That includes an all-time high of 113 degrees last year.

“Last year was unbelievable here,” Wennberg said. “The tops of a lot of the hedges, they essentially melted.”

People Pay More Attention to Climate When Records Are Broken

Scientists often talked about human-caused global warming in terms of average temperatures, but that’s not what costs money or sends people to the hospital. A study this month found that in just 22 states, about 36,000 people on average go to the hospital because of excessive summertime heat.

A study this month found that in just 22 states, about 36,000 people on average go to the hospital because of excessive summertime heat.

“The extremes affect our lives,” Arndt said, adding that they are expensive, with hospital stays, rising energy bills and crop losses.

National Center for Atmospheric Research climate scientist Gerald Meehl, who has published peer-reviewed papers on the rising hot-to-cold ratio, said people pay more attention to climate when records are broken.

The AP counted daily records across 424 stations starting in 1920 and ending in 2018. The AP only considered daily — not all-time — high maximum temperatures and low minimum temperatures and only used stations with minimal missing data. Temperatures that tied previous records were counted in addition to temperatures that broke previous records.

More typical than Pasadena is Wooster, Ohio. From 1999 on, Wooster saw 106 high temperature records set or broken and 51 cold ones. In the previous eight decades, the ratio was slightly colder than one to one.

At MW Robinson Co., people are lining up for air conditioning installation as the climate seems to get have been getting hotter over the years, said Lori Bowersock, who coordinates the firm’s HVAC installations.

“It’s more and more every year,” Bowersock said. “Usually we don’t have them lined up like this.”

The AP’s Other Findings

— Since Jan. 1, 1999, just under half the stations had at least twice as many hot records set than cold ones, including Wooster.

— In all, 87 percent of the weather stations had more hot records than cold since 1999. There have been 42 weather stations that have at least five hot records for every cold one since 1999, with 11 where the hot-to-cold ratio is 10-to-1 or higher, including Pasadena.

— All nine of NOAA’s climate regions have seen more hot records set than cold ones since 1999, with the West, Southwest and Northeast having a 3-to-1 ratio.

— All four seasons have had more hot records broken than cold for the same time period.

— Most decades in the 20th century had close to an even ratio of hot to cold. The 1930s, driven by Dust Bowl summers, had about 1.4 hot records for every cold. The 1960s and 1970s had about 1.5 cold records for every hot. The 21st century has a 1.9-to-1 hot-to-cold ratio.

“As a measure of climate change, the dailies (temperature records) will tell you more about what’s happening,” said climate scientist Chris Field of Stanford. “The impacts of climate change almost always come packaged in extremes.”

DON'T MISS

5 Reasons Early Voting Is Overwhelmed With Falsehoods

DON'T MISS

Christian McCaffrey Returns to Practice for the 49ers From Achilles Tendon Injury

DON'T MISS

California Sues LA Suburb for Temporary Ban of Homeless Shelters

DON'T MISS

You May Have Blocked Someone on X but Now They Can See Your Public Posts Anyway

DON'T MISS

Some Republican-Led States Refuse to Let Justice Department Monitors Into Polling Places

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Arrest Suspect in Fatal NW Apartment Shooting

DON'T MISS

Fresno Murder Suspect Stopped in Las Vegas, Others Wanted

DON'T MISS

Trump’s Crowds Are Dwindling as His Campaign Winds Down

DON'T MISS

Trump Threatens 25% Tariff on Mexico to Curb Immigration

DON'T MISS

Music Legend Quincy Jones, Architect of Pop’s Greatest Hits, Dies at 91

UP NEXT

North Korea’s Long-Range Missile Test Signals Its Improved, Potential Capability to Attack US

UP NEXT

Visalia Rollerblader Suffered Major Injuries After Being Struck by Vehicle

UP NEXT

Fresno County Man Indicted for Possessing Stolen Guns

UP NEXT

On Elon Musk’s X, Dems Are an Endangered Species While GOP Goes Viral

UP NEXT

New Vehicles, Face Paint and a 1,200-Foot Fall: The US Army Prepares for War With China

UP NEXT

CNN Bars Pro-Trump Guest After His ‘Beeper’ Remark to Mehdi Hasan

UP NEXT

LGBTQ Supporters Drown Out Westboro Baptists’ Anti-Gay Message in Fresno

UP NEXT

The ‘Black Insurrectionist’ Was Actually White. The Deception Did Not Stop There

UP NEXT

Washington Post Says It Will Stop Endorsing Presidential Candidates

UP NEXT

What Happened When a Barber Told Trump About His $15,000 Electric Bill

You May Have Blocked Someone on X but Now They Can See Your Public Posts Anyway

54 mins ago

Some Republican-Led States Refuse to Let Justice Department Monitors Into Polling Places

1 hour ago

Fresno Police Arrest Suspect in Fatal NW Apartment Shooting

2 hours ago

Fresno Murder Suspect Stopped in Las Vegas, Others Wanted

2 hours ago

Trump’s Crowds Are Dwindling as His Campaign Winds Down

2 hours ago

Trump Threatens 25% Tariff on Mexico to Curb Immigration

3 hours ago

Music Legend Quincy Jones, Architect of Pop’s Greatest Hits, Dies at 91

3 hours ago

Big Pharma Backs Harris 6-to-1 Over Trump in Presidential Campaign Contributions

3 hours ago

Sanger Men Arrested in Connection with Slingshot Vandalism Spree at Businesses

3 hours ago

What Is Sierra Unified’s Plan to Boost Lagging Student Achievement?

4 hours ago

5 Reasons Early Voting Is Overwhelmed With Falsehoods

This year’s early voting period appears to be far more polluted with election misinformation than those in previous presidential races, acco...

28 mins ago

Voters cast their ballots at Desert Breeze Community Center in Las Vegas during the last day of in-person early voting in Nevada on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. Nearly 75 million people have cast early ballots, making their voices heard amid worry about the process, the outcome and democracy itself. (Bridget Bennett/The New York Times)
28 mins ago

5 Reasons Early Voting Is Overwhelmed With Falsehoods

36 mins ago

Christian McCaffrey Returns to Practice for the 49ers From Achilles Tendon Injury

41 mins ago

California Sues LA Suburb for Temporary Ban of Homeless Shelters

54 mins ago

You May Have Blocked Someone on X but Now They Can See Your Public Posts Anyway

1 hour ago

Some Republican-Led States Refuse to Let Justice Department Monitors Into Polling Places

Gerrick Franklin (pictured), 34, was taken into custody Sunday in Madera County on suspicion of killing Tyler Hamon, 33. (Fresno PD)
2 hours ago

Fresno Police Arrest Suspect in Fatal NW Apartment Shooting

2 hours ago

Fresno Murder Suspect Stopped in Las Vegas, Others Wanted

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, on stage during a campaign rally in Lititz, Pa., on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. Trump told supporters on Sunday that he “shouldn’t have left” the White House at the end of his term during an end-of-campaign rally where he vented angrily about a spate of new public polls showing him losing ground to Vice President Kamala Harris and joked about reporters being shot at. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)
2 hours ago

Trump’s Crowds Are Dwindling as His Campaign Winds Down

Search

Send this to a friend