The Headlines Say One Thing… The Data Says Another
Denver and other cities just shattered a March heat record.
The media immediately framed it as further proof of a climate system pushed beyond its limits by human activity.
The problem is that the record was set in 1971.
Saturday's high also broke the record for the highest temperature ever recorded in the month of March, which had just been set Thursday and Friday, when Denver hit 85 degrees. The old all-time March temperature record was 84 degrees on March 26, 1971.
If today’s heat is evidence of something unprecedented, then what exactly was happening in 1971?
That question alone should force a pause before jumping to conclusions. When we step away from the headlines and actually examine the data, a very different picture begins to emerge.
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