Statistics and deniers, or 1934=Barry Bonds

Some recently revised official American meteorological data created some statistical blips in the weather records of past years. And that, of course, set off a global warming of the blogosphere, a veritable firestorm of conspiracy charges and "told-you-so" crowing from the "off-my-cloud" deniers of global warming. Today comes a clarifying blog from Gavin over on RealClimate.

Gavin reflects on how any public discussion of global warming inevitably brings out the parade of charges and suspicions that data is being mined for nefarious financial and political purposes. "However, there is clearly a latent and deeply felt wish in some sectors for the whole problem of global warming to be reduced to a statistical quirk or a mistake. This lead [sic] to some truly death-defying leaping to conclusions when this issue hit the blogosphere."

With the newly revised U.S. stats it now seems 1934 stands as the hottest year in U.S. recorded meteorlogical history. Hot times were had in 1998, but it now falls to second, merely the Hank Aaron of global warming.