A recent article in financial times (paywall) recounts a discussion between author Attracta Mooney and Celeste Saulo, current secretary-general of the United Nations' World Meteorological Organization (WMO). [emphasis, links added]
Claims in the post include that 2023 and 2024 are the hottest years on record, that recent global wildfires and droughts in parts of the Mediterranean are caused by climate change, and that extreme weather is getting worse in general. These statements are all wrong.
Data undermine and often directly refute these assertions.
The article was titled “Meteorologist Celeste Saulo: 'Climate change is not a movie. It's real life.' It was essentially a gorgeous biographical article about Saulo, with whom the author sat down for a meal in Geneva, Switzerland. people over an insultingly decadent French lunch while they discuss how the rest of us need to lower our standards of living.
Writer Mooney opens the article by discussing how hot it is in Geneva, suggesting that August was extremely hot at “almost 30°C” (86°F). A quick search online shows that although it is at the highest level, it is still within the normal range for August in Geneva; As summer draws to a close, high temperatures in the 80s are not uncommon in Geneva.
Mooney wrote “[w]Wildfires are burning in Greece and Turkey, and large swaths of the Mediterranean are drying out as drought spreads, all just weeks after the world experiences its hottest days on record,” he continued. “2023 is the hottest year on record. year, 2024 is also coming.
Saulo agreed with Mooney's architecture. Mooney further reported that the U.N. Secretary-General [Antonio Guterres]Salo's boss agrees that “we need to start adapting to a warming world where wildfires, heat waves, floods, droughts and other extreme weather events are more severe.”
question: it's all fakeand as a meteorologist, Savullo should know this.
For one thing, wildfires are certainly not getting more severe or widespread. Tracking of global wildfires by NASA satellites and the European Space Agency shows that the global fire area is gradually decreasing, not increasing. (see picture below)
Drought has also not become a bigger issue, and the Mediterranean region Mooney chose to highlight is apparently a region known for hot, dry summers.
The Mediterranean even has a climate type named after it, the “Mediterranean climate” It describes a climate with “irregular rainfall, with most rainfall occurring in winter.”
Furthermore, the United Nations, which hired Salo, reported with “a high degree of confidence” that Precipitation increases in mid-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere at least and have 'Low confidence' in negative global trendsas discussed in Climate Overview: Drought.
When it comes to the “hottest year on record,” much of the media frenzy is just that — media hype lacking the factual basis to make that claim.
There is plenty of evidence, such as recent carbon dating results from medieval trees exposed by glacial retreat, which suggests Other times in relatively recent history have been hotter than now.
Furthermore, many of the “record-breaking heat” measurements were only a tenth of a degree warmer than previous measurements, which is not alarming and is likely Statistical anomalies resulting from reanalysis of data provided by flawed climate models or The result of urban heat island effect bias, For example, climate realism, as discussed here , here , and here .
Data is also misused; for example, many reports in July 2023 breathlessly claimed that July 3rd and 4th were the hottest days ever, when these “datasets” didn't even show measured temperatures or data at all Instead, the temperature is modeled and simulated.
The Climate Reanalyzer at the University of Maine is where this claim originated. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Organization (NOAA) publicly distanced itself from the claim, explaining This model output is “unsuitable” to be used as real temperature measurements to preserve the climate record.
There is no increasing trend in extreme weatherSalo must know, otherwise, why the only evidence she cites for this claim is the so-called “28 catastrophic events” in the United States that “each cost at least $1 billion in 2023.”
as a writer financial timesMooney must know Losses caused by disasters are not necessarily evidence of worsening disasters at all;Other factors are involved, such as increases in property values and the expansion of the bullseye effect. climate realism This has been pointed out several times, including here , here , and here .
The entire article juxtaposes discussions of climate change and policy, including How people need to change the way they eat and vacationThere were frequent breaks to discuss how delicious the lunches they had in prosperous Geneva were, an odd writing choice for a journalist trying to highlight the urgency of climate action.
this financial times It should stick to what it is known for – financial news and analysis – and leave climate touting articles to other outlets, especially if the depth of their climate reporting work is to uncritically publish lies.
Read more Climate Realism
