On Last Day of Summer, Post Reveals a Not-So-Hot Summer in DC

September 22nd, 2006 12:18 PM

Today's the last full day of astronomical summer, and so in a sidebar on the Metro page of the September 22 Washington Post, the paper gives its readers a few handy stats about the weather this meteorological summer (June 1-August 31).

[Meteorological summer is a convention commonly used to examine data that provides consistency from year to year rather than adhering to the slightly different dates for seasonal changes on the solstices and equinoxes.]

Anyway, in D.C. at least, it was only the 19th warmest on record, as recorded since 1871. What's more, the average temperature in summer was 78.5 degrees. Toasty, but not exactly scalding, except for the late July-early August heat wave, where 101 was the hottest temperature achieved in Washington on August 3.

Of course, it's the spikes in temperature, the heat waves, that the media latched on to to in order to mount the soap box on global warming.

For example, on August 1, the MRC's Business & Media Institute recorded how CBS glommed on to the notion that global warming is a settled, incontrovertible issue during the midst of a heat wave.

And now with Al Gore and Richard Branson making the rounds in uncritical media appearances, it's the perfect time to suggest some enjoyable light fall reading:

  • Fire & Ice: BMI's look into over 100 years of media misreporting on climate change
  • Summer Rerun: a look at the media's summer lovin', Al Gore-style