For global average
temperatures,
the common phrase
“in recorded history”
is always inaccurate.
Recorded history
goes back about
5,000 years, to the
invention of writing.
But at NASA
and NOAA - GISS,
recorded history
begins in 1880:
-- Almost entirely
Northern Hemisphere
history, from 1800
until about 1920.
-- And still not much
Southern Hemisphere
history until after
World War II.
For our planet,
we were recently told:
“The average temperature
across land and ocean surfaces
last month was +2.09 degrees
Fahrenheit (1.16 degrees Celsius)
warmer than the 20th century
average.”
No one with sense
would believe the
temperature across
the entire 500 million
square kilometers
of the Earth’s land
and sea surface
was really measured
to two decimal places !
For the Arctic,
we are told:
“The warm
temperatures shrank
Arctic sea ice to its
11th-lowest extent,
covering 251,000
square miles.”
"Lowest" would
be important to us,
but "11th-lowest"
in history is not
very impressive !
Especially when
the Arctic sea ice
extent "history"
is only 40 years
of satellite records !
For Antarctica,
we were told:
“Antarctic sea ice
fared better,
with satellite
records
mapping its
extent at
1.54 million
square miles,
which is
near the average
for this time of year,
according to the
NOAA report.”
But never mind
Antarctica -- ice
"near the average"
is not worth
mentioning !