[Coral-List] Record setting cold in south Florida

[Steve Mussman]

   Just wanted to clarify a significant point. In a recent post
   I made reference to a NOAA website that testified to the fact
   that the combined global land and ocean surface temperature
   for October 2009 was the sixth warmest October on record.
   (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/?report=global&year=2009&month=10)
   At the same time I pointed out an âalternateâ NOAA site was giving
   contradictory evidence for the same period. This is incorrect as the
   site was the same only it referenced national data rather than the
   global analysis. The national data indicated that the same time period
   (Oct.2009) was for the nation as a whole, the third coolest October on
   record.
   (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/?report=national&year=2009&month=10)
   This is again indicative of the fact that one can easily cherry pick data to
   support conflicting positions relating to climate warming v. cooling trends.
   Although, choosing short-term data for a selective area seems suspect
   to me, it is often used convincingly to affect public perceptions.
   Sorry for the confusion this may have caused and for the continuation of a
   thread that some find superfluous.
   Steve