Some of the hype over recent US temperature records got deflated when NASA corrected a Y2K temperature processing error found by Steve McIntyre.
(Aug. 13, 2007: McIntyre is upgrading server, and is temporarily posting c/o Anthony Watts’ Watts Up With That)
In Does Hansen’s Error “Matter?” ClimateAudit.org takes NASA to task for not clearly publicizing its corrections. NASA quietly corrected its GISS data of contiguous 48 states US temperature anomalies and corresponding US 48 state temperature anomaly graphs.
IceCap reports the new top 20 rankings. Dust bowl 1934 now holds the hottest temperature record, with 1931, 1938 and 1939 also in the top ten. Of recent years, 1998 drops to second, and only 2006 and 1999 remain in the top ten temperature records in the US 48 contiguous states. (The global temperature trends are apparently still rising.)
The very low publicity NASA gave to correcting these errors complements the effort by Al Gore et al. to demonize any skeptics of the magnitude of the anthropogenic global warming. e.g., Marc Sheppard explores this sorry trail from Greenpeace to this week’s proclamations.
Hmm. That outcry by the majority, when their funding is threatened by skeptics raising uncomfortable questions, seems to have a familiar ring to it! Especially when corrections are given so little publicity.