{"id":341276,"date":"2024-09-01T10:38:07","date_gmt":"2024-09-01T08:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=341276"},"modified":"2024-09-01T10:38:10","modified_gmt":"2024-09-01T08:38:10","slug":"stick-to-finance-financial-times-weather-is-not-getting-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=341276","title":{"rendered":"Stick to Finance, Financial Times; Weather is Not Getting Worse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From ClimateRealism<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Linnea Lueken<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent article in the Financial Times<\/em> (paywalled) features a discussion between writer Attracta Mooney and Celeste Saulo, the current secretary-general of the United Nations World Meteorological Organization. Claims made in the post include that 2023 and 2024 were the hottest years on record, that recent global wildfires and drought in parts of the Mediterranean are caused by climate change, and that extreme weather in general is getting worse. These claims are false. Data undermine and often directly contradict such assertions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The article, titled \u201cMeteorologist Celeste Saulo: \u2018Climate change is not a movie. This is real life\u2019<\/a>,\u201d is mostly a flowery biographical piece about Saulo, whom the author sat down with to enjoy an insultingly decadent French lunch in Geneva, Switzerland, while they discussed how the rest of us need to cut way back on our standard of living. Writer Mooney begins the piece by discussing how it was hot in Geneva, implying that \u201calmost 30\u00b0C\u201d (86\u00b0F) is very hot for August. A quick search online<\/a> shows that while on the high end of the spectrum, it is still within Geneva\u2019s normal range for August; highs in the 80s are not unusual for Geneva as summer nears its end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mooney writes \u201c[w]ith wildfires burning in Greece and Turkey, large chunks of the Mediterranean parched as drought spreads across the region, and all just weeks after the world experienced its hottest days on record,\u201d continuing that 2023 \u201cwas the hottest on record<\/a> and 2024 is on course<\/a> to be even warmer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saulo concurred with Mooney\u2019s framing. Mooney goes further to report that the U.N. secretary-general, Saulo\u2019s boss, agrees that \u201cwe need to start adapting to a warming world where wildfires, heatwaves, floods, droughts and other extreme weather events are more intense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem is, all of this is false, and as a meteorologist Saulo should know this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wildfires are certainly not becoming more intense or widespread, for one. Global wildfire tracking<\/a> done by NASA satellites as well as the European Space Agency show that there has been a gradual decline in global burned area, not an increase. (See figure below)<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Total acreage burned by fires each year between 2003 and 2015. Trend line in red indicates a steady decline. Source: \u201cNASA detects drop in global fires,\u201d NASA website, June 29, 2017.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Drought is likewise not becoming more of a problem, and the region that Mooney chose to highlight, the Mediterranean, is explicitly one which is known for having hot, dry summers. The Mediterranean even has a climate type named after it, the \u201cMediterranean climate,\u201d which describes<\/a> a climate with \u201cirregular rainfall with most of the rainfall in winter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, the United Nations, which employs Saulo, reports with \u201chigh confidence\u201d that precipitation has actually increased over the mid-latitudes of the northern hemisphere at least, and has \u201clow confidence\u201d about negative trends globally, as discussed in Climate at a Glance: Drought<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to the \u201chottest year on record,\u201d much of that media frenzy was just that \u2013 media hype lacking factual basis to make the claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is plenty of evidence, such as results from the carbon-dating<\/a> of trees from the middle ages recently exposed by retreating glaciers, which points to other periods in relatively recent history being hotter than at<\/a> present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, a lot of the \u201crecord breaking heat\u201d measurements were merely tenths<\/a> of a degree hotter than previous measurements, which is hardly alarming, and are likely either statistical anomalies resulting from the reanalysis of data put out by flawed climate models<\/a> or the result of the biased urban heat island effect, as discussed Climate Realism, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data was also misused; for example, many stories in July 2023 breathlessly claimed that the 3rd<\/sup> and 4th<\/sup> of July were the hottest days of all time based on a \u201cdataset\u201d that was not actually displaying measured temperatures, or data at all but but rather modelled simulations of temperatures. The University of Maine\u2019s Climate Reanalyzer was where the claim originated. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Organization publicly distance<\/a>d itself from the claim, explaining that the model output is \u201cnot suitable\u201d as real temperature measurements for the purpose of keeping a climate record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is in fact any trend of increasingly extreme weather<\/a>, as Saulo must know, otherwise why would the only evidence she cites for the claim be the alleged \u201c28 disaster events\u201d in the United States which cost \u201cat least $1bn each in 2023.\u201d As a writer for the Financial Times<\/em>, surely Mooney knows that the costs of disasters are not necessarily evidence of worsening disasters, at all; other factors go into it, like the increasing value of property and the expanding bullseye effect<\/a>. Climate Realism<\/em> has pointed this out several times, including here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The juxtaposition throughout the article of the two discussing climate change and policy, including how people need to change the way they eat and take vacations, with frequent breaks to discuss how nice their lunch in prosperous Geneva was, was a bizarre writing choice for a journalist trying to emphasize urgency when it comes to climate action. The Financial Times<\/em> should stick to what it is known for \u2013 financial news and analysis\u2014and leave the climate puff pieces to other outlets, especially if the depths of their climate reporting efforts are to uncritically publish falsehoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent article in the Financial Times (paywalled) features a discussion between writer Attracta Mooney and Celeste Saulo, the current secretary-general of the United Nations World Meteorological Organization. Claims made in the post include that 2023 and 2024 were the hottest years on record, that recent global wildfires and drought in parts of the Mediterranean are caused by climate change, and that extreme weather in general is getting worse. These claims are false. Data undermine and often directly contradict such assertions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":341277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818056,691819743,691818410,691821865,691830436,691830437],"class_list":{"0":"post-341276","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-climate-change","9":"tag-climate-propaganda","10":"tag-european-space-agency","11":"tag-financial-times","12":"tag-geneva-switzerland","13":"tag-nasa-satellites","15":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/0geneva-6977952_1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1qMs","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":305055,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=305055","url_meta":{"origin":341276,"position":0},"title":"\u201cThe climate crisis is not gender neutral\u201d, says WMO\u2019s Celeste Saulo","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"26\/02\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The old joke continues:\u00a0World To End Tomorrow: Women, Minorities Hardest Hit","rel":"","context":"In \"Celeste Saulo\"","block_context":{"text":"Celeste Saulo","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=celeste-saulo"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0d7a804b624e32c520d270755a00ae0c642663050.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0d7a804b624e32c520d270755a00ae0c642663050.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0d7a804b624e32c520d270755a00ae0c642663050.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0d7a804b624e32c520d270755a00ae0c642663050.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0d7a804b624e32c520d270755a00ae0c642663050.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":416672,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=416672","url_meta":{"origin":341276,"position":1},"title":"Wrong, Financial Times, the Arab Region Faces No Climate Emergency","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"09\/12\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"A recent (paywalled) Financial Times (FT) article, \u201c\u2018Too hot to handle\u2019: climate change pushing Arab region to limits, says WMO,\u201d claims that the Arab region is being simultaneously hammered both by increasing heatwaves, droughts, and paradoxically, more flooding, and extreme rainfall, all due to human use of fossil fuels. 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