New analysis by an environmental watchdog finds that mainstream media selectively report high temperatures from Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport to bolster climate change claims, while overlooking lower readings from other local weather stations and historical data showing significant temperature variability. Steven Milloy, an environmental and public health consultant, challenged the narrative of unprecedented heat on his platform JunkScience.com, highlighting discrepancies in temperature reporting and the influence of urban heat island effects.
The mainstream media has been warning that Phoenix is experiencing very high temperatures this summer, claiming that is a result of climate change. They point to the highest temperatures that weather stations report, which are taken from locations like Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. It has higher temperatures due to all the concrete and airplane exhaust. Some of the other weather stations around Phoenix consistently report lower temperatures, but the media never pulls the weather from them.
The temperature in Phoenix typically fluctuates year to year, with some years hotter than others. Phoenix is located in a desert, and in this modern era of social media, alerts, and texting, there are now numerous frequent warnings about heat, creating an impression that the desert’s predictably high temperatures are alarming.
But according to the National Weather Service (NWS), Phoenix has also experienced some very low temperatures this summer. The NWS reported that on June 1, at the airport, the highest temperature was 90. The historic average for June 1 there was far higher, 100.4. On June 22, the highest temperature there was 98, while the historic high average was 105.8. On June 25, the highest temperature was 102, while the historic high average was 106.2. On July 3, the highest temperature was 101, while the historic high average was 106.8. On July 4, the highest temperature was 102, while the historic high average was 106.9.
The record temperatures in history on those days were far higher. For example, on July 3, the record high was 117 — 16 degrees higher than this year. The media selectively omitted reporting the lower temperature days.
During the winter, there have been several days in recent years where the temperature in Phoenix was 32 degrees or lower; they occurred in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2019. Both 2022 and 2023 experienced lower winter temperatures than normal, dipping to the mid-30s. Due to La Niña, last winter was slightly warmer than usual.
The hottest year in Arizona’s history was 2017, not this summer or last summer. While average temperatures have reportedly increased since the last century, there is no analysis of how much this is due to other factors, such as the increasing amount of concrete in the expanding city. Many of the weather stations are located in areas surrounded by pavement, buildings, and vehicles, and in direct sunlight. Urban areas are typically 1–7 degrees hotter than rural areas due to the urban heat island effect. Additionally, years ago, such as in the 1950s, weather stations only captured the temperature once or twice a day, so they did not capture the peak temperatures of each day.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) acknowledged that between 2016 and 2022, the average temperature on earth decreased. Milloy said the NOAA claims that the temperature has been gradually increasing since 1970, but actual thermometers don’t reflect this; they reveal no increase. He said NOAA adjusted the data in a “black box process.” He referenced an article that came out on RealClimateScience.com showing the NOAA’s graphs versus the raw data from the thermometers.
Milloy said in a 2023 article for the Wall Street Journal that it was inaccurate to claim that July 3 and 4 that year were the hottest two days in 125,000 years. Milloy, who is also a senior legal fellow at the Energy and Environment Legal Institute, said there was no satellite data from 125,000 years ago. The temperature was reportedly an average of 62.6 degrees worldwide those two days, but Milloy said it was probably closer to 57.5 degrees. The higher temperature “was derived from the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer, which relies on a mix of satellite temperature data and computer-model guesstimation to calculate estimates of temperature.” Instead, “actual surface temperature measurements taken around the world” revealed the lower temperature, which showed no spike in July, he said.
Milloy said in an article for Fox News that while CO2 levels have been increasing since 1998, the global temperature has not similarly increased, remaining almost the same. He presented a graph that showed a stark divergence between the two.
The hype over climate change is having a troubling effect on mental health. A survey of over 15,000 people aged 16-25 in the U.S. published in the renowned medical journal The Lancet found that nearly 43 percent said concern about climate change impacts their mental health. The mainstream media made similar claims about Phoenix heat in 2023.
– – –
Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Downtown Phoenix” by Trevor Huxham CCNC2.0.
