Apropos of nothing, today's Washington Express, a free newspaper distributed by The Washington Post, features a cover with a series of ice statues melting in Berlin, Germany to symbolize the threat posed by global warming:
(click to enlarge)The caption then gravely intones Berlin's temperature Wednesday was "73 degrees Fahrenheit, five degrees higher than the September average."
What nonsense! This is an apples to oranges comparison. Given that September witnesses a change in the seasons, the temperature at the beginning of the month is bound to be warmer than the overall average, which incorporates cooler temperatures at month's end. The better comparison is how that temperature compares to the same date the previous year.
If one goes to the weather underground website and looks at historical data, the high temperature for Berlin last year on September 3 was...73 degrees Fahrenheit. What's more, the record high was 78 degrees in 2004 while the record low of 42 was set way back in...2003.
What nonsense! This is an apples to oranges comparison. Given that September witnesses a change in the seasons, the temperature at the beginning of the month is bound to be warmer than the overall average, which incorporates cooler temperatures at month's end. The better comparison is how that temperature compares to the same date the previous year.
If one goes to the weather underground website and looks at historical data, the high temperature for Berlin last year on September 3 was...73 degrees Fahrenheit. What's more, the record high was 78 degrees in 2004 while the record low of 42 was set way back in...2003.
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