<div>As our recent cooler than normal weather on the Palouse led some local residents to rejoice that indeed anthropogenic global warming is a hoax, let's hope they are correct! Because down under they have been experiencing a record breaking heat wave, at the beginning of what is their Fall season in March. </div>
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<div>Read these temperature data carefully, because this is a way serious heat wave, over a large area, over a period of weeks. Of course, this does not prove, any more than our local cold weather recently disproved, the theory of long term global warming from human sourced CO2 emissions. It does, however, perhaps put into perspective that it is the global average temperature over decades that reveals or refutes climate change, not local seasonal variations, some of which are predicted to potentially be cooler than in the past, even in a warming global climate. </div>
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<div>This March, 2008 heat wave in Australia to some extent cancels out the cool weather locally, and some of the cooler global average temperatures during January and February 2008 (NOAA ranks climatological winter (Dec. Jan. Feb.) 2007-8 as the 16th warmest globally, land and sea combined, since record keeping started in the 1800s), in the yearly global average temperature that will be figured for 2008:</div>
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<div><a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/announcements/media_releases/ho/20080320.shtml">http://www.bom.gov.au/announcements/media_releases/ho/20080320.shtml</a></div>
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<div><a href="http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/20080313_coolest.html">http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/20080313_coolest.html</a></div>
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<div>Adelaide had 15 consecutive days above 35 °C and 13 consecutive days above 37.8 °C (100°F), breaking the previous records of 8 and 7 days respectively. These represent new records for any Australian capital city. Also breaking consecutive day records were Ceduna which had 12 days over 35°C, Mildura which had 14 days over 35 °C, and Kyancutta which had 13 days over 40°C.</div>
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<p>In addition to the prolonged heat wave conditions, a number of record high temperatures for March were set, both for daily maximum and overnight minimums.</p>
<p>In Tasmania, Hobart reached 37.3 °C on 14 March which matched the record March high temperature from 13 March in 1940. At nearby Campania, the temperature reached 38.0 °C – the highest March temperature ever recorded in Tasmania.</p>
<p>In Western Australia, Eyre set a new all-time Australian record for the range of temperatures observed in one day. The overnight minimum of 6.8°C warmed to a maximum of a 44.2°C on 5 March, setting a new record single-day temperature range of 37.4 C.</p>
<p>Not only were the days hot, but warm nights also made sleep uncomfortable for many. Records for the hottest March nights were set in both Adelaide (30.2°C overnight on 13/14 March) and Melbourne (26.9°C overnight on 17/18 March.)</p>
<p>Mean maximum temperatures for the period 1 – 17 March are running far above average, with some locations in South Australia 12°C or more above their normal March value.</p>
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<p>Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett</p></div>