Global Warming Likely Causing More Heat Waves, Scientists Say

Well, the first argument I usually see from climate change skeptics is that if global warming was real, then we wouldn't ever see record low temperatures, right? Well, I would really like to believe the reasons why that is a completely ridiculous statement would be obvious to everyone, but since I see it so often either it's not or some people would rather be coy about the truth.

First of all, meteorological records for temperatures have been kept in most places for a relatively short period. Therefore, we're not really comparing either the highs or the lows for any single location to an especially large database. Secondly, the issue of climate change is a global one (that's why it's called global warming, and not St. Petersburg, FL warming, for example). Of real interest are the places where we have a long, reliable record of temperatures taken at regular intervals. When we look at these on annual averages and then average for the entire planet, we can clearly see that the global annual average temperature is rising at a dramatic rate. Some record lows reported here and there are nothing more than noise in the overall signal.

If someone chooses to insist on looking at local record low temperatures for any given day of the year, then we should be asking this question: how many record lows versus record highs are set over the course of the year? If the global annual average temperature was constant, then we'd expect them to be the same number. Now, plot the difference in those record highs and lows for each year for a number of years in a row. If global warming wasn't happening, there would be little to no change. If it is, you can expect that for most areas to see more record highs than record lows as time goes on.

In short, pointing to one outlier (and I'm being generous by even using that term here) on a portion of the graph proves only a complete misunderstanding of the subject matter, not that global warming isn't real.