by Matthew Cappucci
The Washington Post
[Comments by Steve Milloy as appearing on Junkscience.com: Provoked by yours truly on Twitter, Washington Post weather guy Matthew Cappucci tried to explain away 1930s US temperatures which are much hotter than current US temperatures. Unfortunately for Cappucci, he relied on Texas A&M climate bedwetter Andrew Dessler.]
A record-shattering heat wave in Europe brought readings topping 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). Hundreds of deaths have been attributed to the event, and five countries — Wales, England, Ireland, Scotland and Germany — set national heat records. In the United States, an even hotter bout of heat has been baking the Great Plains, with temperatures reaching 115 degrees in Oklahoma and Texas.
But while cities like Dallas, Fort Worth, Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Wichita are anticipated to have triple-digit highs essentially until further notice — with heat advisories blanketing the nation’s heartland — there’s a standout difference in the U.S. event: In the Plains, where much of the heat was concentrated, no state records have been broken so far, while the European heat waves set all-time records. In fact, even the hottest U.S. locations stayed 5 degrees shy of state record temperatures largely set during a multiyear drought more than eight decades ago.
The recent events, mostly unrelated, are tied together by one thing: Neither heat wave was caused by climate change, but both were pushed into extreme, record territory by the effects of human influence on the atmosphere…
Steve Milloy, an outspoken opponent of climate scientists and a former member of President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency transition team, frequently cites Dust Bowl-era observations in efforts to undermine recent climate warming.
“July 20, 2022 was hot in the US for sure. But not nearly as hot as July 20, 1934,” he tweeted on Tuesday, the day that both Mangum, Okla., and Wichita Falls, Tex., hit 115 degrees
