Anthony Watts as generated a huge amount of blogospheric attention with his report on Steve McIntyre’s recalculation of temperature trends. It turns out that the Y2K bug skewed previous data from this decade.
Four of the top 10 years of US CONUS high temperature deviations are now from the 1930s: 1934, 1931, 1938 and 1939, while only 3 of the top 10 are from the last 10 years (1998, 2006, 1999). Several years (2000, 2002, 2003, 2004) fell well down the leaderboard, behind even 1900.
Whether this pokes any significant holes in global warming theory is well beyond my expertise. Indeed, I rather doubt it. The projections aren’t based, after all, just on data from the last six years. Further, as Michael Asher points out, “the effect of the correction on global temperatures is minor (some 1-2% less warming than originally thought).”
Still, as he continues, “the effect on the US global warming propaganda machine could be huge.” Indeed, it seemingly rips the blade off Al Gore’s “hockey stick.”
