It was a very hot day in Stillwater, Oklahoma, about 115°F. Someone sent a photo to KFOR-TV, via FACEBOOK, showing part of a streetlight that had melted. The far-left blog Think Progress picked up the story. Global warming true believer Bill McKibben saw the story and, believing he finally had proof of global warming, took to Twitter, tweeting to Senator James Inhofe (Okla.) saying, “Senator Inhofe, God may be trying to get your attention. Check out this picture.”
Alas, ground truth intervened. People on the ground noted that there was a dumpster fire at that location. The fire melted the front two bulbs of the four-light street lamp.
The fact that only two of the four lamps were melted should have been a clue. Another clue is that glass does not melt at 115°F (glass begins to soften at a minimum temperature of over 1100 °F).
It seems the credulous will believe the incredible. This story shows the perils of confirmation bias (the tendency of people to believe information that confirms their beliefs).
See more of the story from two posts at WUWT here and here.
See also:
IPCC Admits Its Past Reports Were Junk
New study shows that 50% of warming claimed by IPCC is fake
The Case Against the IPCC and Proponents of Dangerous Anthropological Global Warming
wryheat 
Well, Jonathan, ya gotta’ admit those globes were definitely “warmed”. :+) ><
Yup, it was very localized “global” warming.
Deniers rev your engines….This is not about “local” July The Hottest Month Ever Recorded As Drought Reaches Two-Thirds Of U.S. |
July’s average temperature was the hottest on record
for the contiguous United States, according to the National Oceanic
Atmospheric Administration. The last 12 months have been the hottest
ever for the U.S., with over 27,000
high temperature records broken or tied so far this year. The hot
weather has only worsened dry conditions, as nearly two-thirds of the
U.S. faces a drought. NASA scientist James Hansen recently connected the
extreme heat to climate change, writing “there is virtually no explanation other than climate change.”
jfreed27 is misinformed, see: July 2012 not hottest according to NOAA data:
http://tucsoncitizen.com/wryheat/2012/08/10/july-2012-not-hottest-according-to-noaa-data/
and Most US maximum temperatures were in the 1930s:
http://tucsoncitizen.com/wryheat/2012/07/19/most-us-maximum-temperature-records-set-in-the-1930s/
We fiddle while Rome burns.
You reference your own article and an unpublished paper by Watts as evidence. The paper by Watts is critiqued in
http://www.skepticalscience.com/watts_new_paper_critique.html
as having numerous flaws. The level of science is quite high here, and the authors of the critique make
suggestions that might help
Watts get his analysis published.
If you want to know what NOAA says about its own data, which confirms July 2012 as hottest, read
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/
Just in time “fresh air” from Evil Inhofe and the owners of his soul aka free AGW from extremist Republicans and Christians – “Explosion sparks large fire at west Tulsa refinery” (By ZACK STOYCOFF – Tulsa World; newsok.com, 8/2/12).
Global warm egg on face, LOL!!
You bite off your nose to spite your face. 97% of published, peer-reviewed climate scientists have confirmed AGW, yet you cling to ideological purism, muttering “it’s all hogwash!”
Not the first time people would rather die than admit they were wrong. The Soviets plodded off in the same way, as did other cultures.
To jfreed27, your excitement is exceeded only by your ignorance. You’ve swallowed the CAGW Kool-aid.
Here’s where your 97% figure came from:
Also check out my posts on extreme weather, ocean acidification, arctic ice etc. by using my ARTICLE INDEX page.
Same to you fella!
115 degrees??? When is the last time THAT happened?
1936 according to NWS
Not so, according to Business Week”
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — More than 64 temperature records were
broken in Oklahoma during a scorching July, and additional ones fell across the
state Wednesday on the first day of August, according to the National Climatic
Data Center.
The National Weather Service reported that Guthrie, about 30
miles north of Oklahoma City, registered 114 degrees to break the statewide
record of 113 degrees, set at Meeker in 1896 and tied in Ralston last year.
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-08-02/64-okla-dot-temperature-records-fall-or-tied-in-july
These and many thousands of high temp records recently broken (far more than cold
records), plus other extremes: floods, derechos, sea level, storms, are the
signs of the “loaded dice”. Snake
eyes is coming up 10 x more often than usual. But, we can’t ditch this casino!
Streetlights? Do we really need these for a wake up call?
Meanwhile, the impacts of global warming are coming faster
than scientists predicted when the 2°C threshold was set. With only
0.8°C of warming, Arctic sea ice and polar ice caps are melting decades
ahead of predictions, oceanic warming and acidification are degrading
ecosystems in unforeseen ways, and extreme weather has increased in
stunning fashion. Civilization itself is at risk from the exponentially
accelerating decline of the planetary support system.
Looks like, with deniers help, we will move beyond the 2 deg C threshold. We are on track for 5 deg. C. Our children and grandchildren should never forgive us.
Same old tired stuff. Climate alarmism=the new religion. Here’s what George Carlin says about you “earth first” types: http://junkscience.com/2011/07/11/high-extinction-risk-from-climate-change/
O, Carlin! How like a god.
jfreed27 appears to be a true believer in the church of global warming. I came across a discussion here, check out the comments:
http://junkscience.com/2012/05/14/evolution-and-climate-change-should-be-taught-in-schools-say-states/