# Has the world actually been cooling since 2002? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 19, 2014, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-actually-been-cooling-since-2002/681728 "2014-02-19T19:32:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 21
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-actually-been-cooling-since-2002/681728/401 "2014-03-03T16:18:04Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > What you have here is just poisoning the well, if you want to bring issues from the pit be my guest over here. > > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17158205&postcount=180](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17158205&postcount=180) > > And everyone else is invited as it is clear that you are only being selective on what was discussed, your attempt at making RaftPeople to be at the same level as FX is really silly: Yup, that’s called poisoning the well. I’d be happy if you just lightened up some, a compromise of sorts. For example, I’m not posting on every thread. I think this to be polite behavior, giving space to posters who are sick of what I post. I know they’re out there, lurking … [wolfish grin] … and they’re entitled to discuss this subject without my constantly nipping at their butts. I’d much rather read a relatively interruption-free discourse between **wolfpup** and **RaftPeople** than a bunch of hoopla about “climategate” (whatever the hell that is). ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-actually-been-cooling-since-2002/681728/402 "2014-03-03T16:32:24Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > What you have here is just poisoning the well, if you want to bring issues from the pit be my guest over here. > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17158205&postcount=180](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17158205&postcount=180) > > And everyone else is invited as it is clear that you are only being selective on what was discussed, your attempt at making RaftPeople to be at the same level as FX is really silly: **GIGO** , you poisoned the well from the minute I engaged you in discussions about this stuff. I had no idea what you were on about, why my analysis had to be coming from “denier” web sites, etc. etc. In my entire time on this board, I have never experienced such a level of wrong interpretation of what is posted, snarkiness due to that interpretation and a lack of debate about the actual facts and logic. I am not just saying that. I enjoy thinking about and debating these types of complex problems, and I’ve been wondering lately if there is some other forum on the web where I can discuss this with people without all of the baggage you seem to be bringing to these discussions. That is the first time I’ve ever been pushed to look for a forum other than the SDMB to discuss/debate a topic. Seriously, you’re behavior towards me and others in this thread and others has pushed me to search for a place where a real discussion can take place that has much less baggage on each post. When you don’t acknowledge or understand even basic counter points that must be addressed, then your credibility is damaged irreparably. I have about a 0.1% expectation that you would read any post, be able to understand the point and either accept it if valid or counter it if invalid. Instead you infer a position 10 miles down the road, assume any acknowledgement of anything will somehow make the “deniers” win and you dig in and send back something that doesn’t really address the point. You harp on **FX** about this thread, but I challenge you to find something in the OP that is not factual and accurate. If you want to be part of a good discussion about this topic, and if you have good information you think others could benefit from please take this advice: Quit thinking there are deniers and non-deniers. Quit behaving like this is a debate that can be won or lost - it’s a process to gain understanding and the process is not over, it’s just begun. Quit inferring bad motives on other posters. Quit thinking about any of that crap that does not freaking matter. Just focus on facts, opinions and logic. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-actually-been-cooling-since-2002/681728/403 "2014-03-03T16:41:21Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > **GIGO** , you poisoned the well from the minute I engaged you in discussions about this stuff. I had no idea what you were on about, why my analysis had to be coming from “denier” web sites, etc. etc. 😕 FX linked to WUWT, the premiere denier site, and to a person that is not a climate change researcher. His cherry picks and general idea are coming from denial sources as it is his refusal to acknowledge what expert voices are telling us. Even your affirmation that “you don’t acknowledge or understand even basic counter points that must be addressed, then your credibility is damaged irreparably.” is not based on any good evidence as even resident scientists on the SDMB are not saying that, not even in private. Since you miss something as important as that, we can dismiss the rest of your rant against me, you need to concentrate on the science but specially on what the scientists are telling FX, he is still wrong in the end. That FX is not at your level is clear as you do acknowledge the value of models, and the warming that is happening. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-actually-been-cooling-since-2002/681728/404 "2014-03-03T17:02:52Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > 😕 > > FX linked to WUWT, the premiere denier site, and to a person that is not a climate change researcher. His cherry picks and general idea are coming from denial sources as it is his refusal to acknowledge what expert voices are telling us. > > Even your affirmation that “you don’t acknowledge or understand even basic counter points that must be addressed, then your credibility is damaged irreparably.” is not based on any good evidence as even resident scientists on the SDMB are not saying that, not even in private. > > Since you miss something as important as that, we can dismiss the rest of your rant against me, you need to concentrate on the science but specially on what the scientists are telling FX, he is still wrong in the end. That FX is not at your level is clear as you do acknowledge the value of models, and the warming that is happening. Ok, let’s ignore most of that post and focus on one thing as an example of you either not even reading posts or simply not comprehending. If I asked **FX** the following question, would he answer yes or no? “Has the planet been warming since 1900?” ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-actually-been-cooling-since-2002/681728/405 "2014-03-03T17:08:08Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > Ok, let’s ignore most of that post and focus on one thing as an example of you either not even reading posts or simply not comprehending. > > If I asked **FX** the following question, would he answer yes or no? > “Has the planet been warming since 1900?” He would likely say No, but he did try to do so before with very specific locations like the north Atlantic. Again, as \*\*wolfpup \*\*reported his cherry picking from the OP and continuous refusal to listen to even the ones managing the sites he uses is the issue. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-actually-been-cooling-since-2002/681728/406 "2014-03-03T17:42:36Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > You harp on **FX** about this thread, but I challenge you to find something in the OP that is not factual and accurate. Hell man, find anything in the entire thread that I wrote that is wrong. I will be your best buddy if you can show me a single error. It’s really hard to find a cogent science minded person who is willing to do the work to correct me on a source. You know what’s really really funny to me? I actually did deliberately and knowingly put in one huge, glaring, really obvious error in the OP. So far nobody has noticed. Much less used it to beat me into submission. If nobody posts about it today, I’m going to have to debunk myself. No, it doesn’t change the basic facts, but it is an error, and one that is easy to show. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-actually-been-cooling-since-2002/681728/407 "2014-03-03T17:45:11Z")
And here is [a peer reviewed paper by Cohen et al](http://www.tos.org/oceanography/archive/26-4_cohen.pdf) again, that shows clearly and with all the facts, why my assertion about the winter trend pulling the global mean down is based on the science and the data. I was not aware of it at the time I wrote the OP. They agree with my seasonal analysis, and make that clear on page 158 ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-actually-been-cooling-since-2002/681728/408 "2014-03-03T18:16:22Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > And here is [a peer reviewed paper by Cohen et al](http://www.tos.org/oceanography/archive/26-4_cohen.pdf) again, that shows clearly and with all the facts, why my assertion about the winter trend pulling the global mean down is based on the science and the data. > > I was not aware of it at the time I wrote the OP. They agree with my seasonal analysis, and make that clear on page 158 Not really, you are cherry pinking only winter. > [@](#): > > CONCLUSIONS > The winter of 2012/2013 continued > a string of severe winters across the > Northern Hemisphere continents. While > coupled models predict that warming > due to anthropogenic forcing would be > greatest in the boreal winter season, over > the past two to three decades, the warming > trend has been muted in the winter > season over \*\*some \*\*Northern Hemisphere > land areas, **while warming has continued > in the other three seasons** In reality the paper makes the point that was made before, uncertainty is not your friend, the surprises that are coming from climate change are the main reason why scientists do recommend that we should control our emissions. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-actually-been-cooling-since-2002/681728/409 "2014-03-03T18:16:45Z")
> [@](#): > > If I asked FX the following question, would he answer yes or no? > “Has the planet been warming since 1900?” > [@GIGObuster](#): > > He would likely say No… If I remembering correctly, **FX** has said that anyone that doesn’t think the planet has warmed since 1900 is not paying attention. So let’s do the final piece of the test: **FX** , do you think the planet has warmed since 1900? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-actually-been-cooling-since-2002/681728/410 "2014-03-03T18:22:57Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > If I remembering correctly, **FX** has said that anyone that doesn’t think the planet has warmed since 1900 is not paying attention. > > So let’s do the final piece of the test: > **FX** , do you think the planet has warmed since 1900? :sigh: I said also “but with a cherry pick”, the main point that you are missing is his present and past maneuvers regarding the temperature record, but his main point is to continue to ignore the big picture and claim that there is now a “pause” that is not really here, nor predicted. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-actually-been-cooling-since-2002/681728/411 "2014-03-03T18:41:41Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > :sigh: I said also “but with a cherry pick”, the main point that you are missing is his present and past maneuvers regarding the temperature record, but his main point is to continue to ignore the big picture and claim that there is now a “pause” that is not really here, nor predicted. The question is about warming since 1900 only. It’s a simple yes or no. This is exactly your problem - you can’t talk about any one point independently - you lump them all together in a giant hairball of a function and out the other side pops one of two positions: 1 - Global warming is happening 2 - Global warming is NOT happening Did you want to change your answer about **FX’s** position regarding warming since 1900? Do you still think, when we focus on that one fact, that his answer will be “no”? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-actually-been-cooling-since-2002/681728/412 "2014-03-03T18:55:37Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > The question is about warming since 1900 only. > > It’s a simple yes or no. > > This is exactly your problem - you can’t talk about any one point independently - you lump them all together in a giant hairball of a function and out the other side pops one of two positions: > 1 - Global warming is happening > 2 - Global warming is NOT happening > > Did you want to change your answer about **FX’s** position regarding warming since 1900? > > Do you still think, when we focus on that one fact, that his answer will be “no”? It should be clear what was the answer already, and I’m not changing the answer as I added a conditional: for his 1900 question the answer is yes, for his efforts in his OP the answer is no. As for other simple questions, can you then answer this one? Do you think FX agrees with what his sources that manage the data that he is mishandling are telling him here?: [http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/news/20140121/](http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/news/20140121/) > [@](#): > > NASA Finds 2013 Sustained Long-Term Climate Warming Trend > > Posted Jan. 21, 2014 > > NASA scientists say 2013 tied with 2009 and 2006 for the seventh warmest year since 1880, continuing a long-term trend of rising global temperatures. > Maps of 2013 global temperature anomaly and trend > > With the exception of 1998, the 10 warmest years in the 134-year record all have occurred since 2000, with 2010 and 2005 ranking as the warmest years on record. > > NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York, which analyzes global surface temperatures on an ongoing basis, released an updated report Tuesday on temperatures around the globe in 2013. The comparison shows how Earth continues to experience temperatures warmer than those measured several decades ago. > > The average temperature in 2013 was 58.3 degrees Fahrenheit (14.6 degrees Celsius), which is 1.1 °F (0.6 °C) warmer than the mid-20th century baseline. The average global temperature has risen about 1.4 °F (0.8 °C) since 1880, according to the new analysis. Exact rankings for individual years are sensitive to data inputs and analysis methods. > > “Long-term trends in surface temperatures are unusual and 2013 adds to the evidence for ongoing climate change,” GISS climatologist Gavin Schmidt said. “While one year or one season can be affected by random weather events, this analysis shows the necessity for continued, long-term monitoring.” > > Scientists emphasize that weather patterns always will cause fluctuations in average temperatures from year to year, but the continued increases in greenhouse gas levels in Earth’s atmosphere are driving a long-term rise in global temperatures. Each successive year will not necessarily be warmer than the year before, but with the current level of greenhouse gas emissions, scientists expect each successive decade to be warmer than the previous. One can also look at the graph and realize that the warming trend is apparent in the previous decade. That BTW was the third post in this thread, so we should had finished this a long time ago, the answer to the OP remains NO. But someone else can not accept that. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-actually-been-cooling-since-2002/681728/413 "2014-03-03T19:07:35Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > It should be clear what was the answer already, and I’m not changing the answer as I added a conditional: for his 1900 question the answer is yes, for his efforts in his OP the answer is no. You’re first answer was that he would say “No” and then talked about something that had nothing to do with warming since 1900. Then you say you aren’t changing the answer but his answer for 1900 would be “Yes”. That is far from clear. So, I’m going to give you the most generous interpretation and say that you’re answer is “yes”, **FX** most likely thinks the planet has been warming since 1900. Is this correct? I will respond to your other stuff only after we retire this point clearly. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-actually-been-cooling-since-2002/681728/414 "2014-03-03T19:15:12Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > You harp on **FX** about this thread, but I challenge you to find something in the OP that is not factual and accurate. [EDIT: I realize that comment wasn’t directed to me, but I wanted to respond to the challenge anyway. :)] I already pointed out that 2002 is a cherry-picked start year and doesn’t show the representative trend of 21st century warming, and furthermore that most of the OP uses trends for individual months, and furthermore still uses a temperature map with a trend analysis instead of anomalies which further exaggerates the skew of the unusually warm start year. If you bypass all the misleading spin and just plot the data I posted as a straightforward graph of annual temperatures, you see the true picture: the 21st century shows a relatively slow rate of warming compared to the latter half of the 20th; if you happen to pick 2002 as the start year, and use proper annual averages, you can show a unique and not representative trendline with no statistically significant change in either direction. So the OP is a sort of “blind man and the elephant” argumentative fallacy: the individual items aren’t false, but they are incomplete and anomalous and don’t support the conclusion that is claimed. To compound the problem, the conclusion would be irrelevant to a meaningful discussion of AGW even if it was true. On a related note, the paper linked in the OP is similar to the Balmaseda and England papers in proposing internal variability due to changes in ocean heat uptake as the basis for the present slowdown in the rate of warming, which confirms that climate forcings are of course still occurring but being temporarily damped. Which of course also implies that the radiative energy imbalance hasn’t changed and sooner or later the consequences will be manifest. So if one wanted to start a discussion on the basis of that paper, it wouldn’t be centered around “has it been cooling since this one year I picked out?” which is not its subject at all, either from a cherry-picked year or any other. It would be focused on what will happen when oceans are no longer in this benign cycle of taking up more heat than usual. I note that it’s the frequent habit of FX to post links to blogs or papers that are either irrelevant to the topic or don’t say what he thinks they do, and occasionally say the opposite, like the link to the paper on UV variations (I think it was Ermolli et al.) that confirmed what I had just finished saying on the subject. > [@FXMastermind](#): > > Hell man, find anything in the entire thread that I wrote that is wrong. I will be your best buddy if you can show me a single error. It’s really hard to find a cogent science minded person who is willing to do the work to correct me on a source. Not hard at all. [This post was wrong](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17122677&postcount=27) in every respect. [I showed why here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17123960&postcount=37). I’ve pointed out at least a dozen other examples. [This one](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17030924&postcount=135), although in a different thread, remains my all-time favorite. I also like [this one](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17068419&postcount=1704) which demonstrates a lack of understanding, not just of feedbacks, but of basic physics. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-actually-been-cooling-since-2002/681728/415 "2014-03-03T19:24:15Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I already pointed out that 2002 is a cherry-picked start year and doesn’t show the representative trend of 21st century warming,… How can 2002 be cherry picked if the discussion is about what has happened since 2002? It’s not supposed to be representative of the trend of the 21st century. The discussion isn’t “has the planet been warming since 1900?”. And it isn’t “has the cooling/plateau since 2002 has countered all the warming since 1900?”. This is what it is: “the climate is a complex dynamic system, how do we account for the cooling/plateau since 2002?” I don’t have time now but I will check your counter examples about **FX** later. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-actually-been-cooling-since-2002/681728/416 "2014-03-03T19:32:08Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > So, I’m going to give you the most generous interpretation and say that you’re answer is “yes”, **FX** most likely thinks the planet has been warming since 1900. > > Is this correct? Yes, as we clarified that FX is wrong on the OP. > [@RaftPeople](#): > > I will respond to your other stuff only after we retire this point clearly. So, will he say that he agrees to what the experts told us? The context shows no progress so far. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-actually-been-cooling-since-2002/681728/417 "2014-03-03T19:44:34Z")
I think the planet has been warming for 10,000 years … so I’ll pick door #1 ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-actually-been-cooling-since-2002/681728/418 "2014-03-03T19:44:42Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Yes, as we clarified that FX is wrong on the OP. You’re answer is still not entirely clear. You mixed the word “yes” in with some other thought that makes we still wonder what you believe. Do you think **FX** believes the planet has warmed since 1900? Please, pretty please, just respond in a way that is crystal clear if you think the answer is “yes” or the answer is “no”, thank you. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-actually-been-cooling-since-2002/681728/419 "2014-03-03T20:05:39Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > You’re answer is still not entirely clear. You mixed the word “yes” in with some other thought that makes we still wonder what you believe. > Do you think **FX** believes the planet has warmed since 1900? > > Please, pretty please, just respond in a way that is crystal clear if you think the answer is “yes” or the answer is “no”, thank you. 😕 This is FX who we already know is not willing to deal with what the experts report regarding his OP and how wrong he is as shown by me and \*\*wolfpup \*\*many times. The answer is yes for his 1900 question. The order of the cleanliness you demand does not change the overall conclusion. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-actually-been-cooling-since-2002/681728/420 "2014-03-03T20:06:00Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > **FX** , do you think the planet has warmed since 1900? I know it for a fact, and can show you the ways in which the global mean has changed, as well as how much different regions have warmed, as well as the places that have not warmed, or even cooled. It’s science. > [@RaftPeople](#): > > How can 2002 be cherry picked if the discussion is about what has happened since 2002? It’s not supposed to be representative of the trend of the 21st century. As I said before, I used 2002 because that is the year even the GISS surface station database shows no change, or a very slight drop in the averaged annual mean. Here is [every January since 2002](http://woodfortrees.org/plot/uah/from:2002/every:12/plot/rss/from:2002/every:12/plot/gistemp/from:2002/every:12/plot/hadcrut4gl/from:2002/every:12/plot/hadcrut3gl/from:2002/every:12) for five major data sets of global mean temperature anomalies. (does not include the NCDC data) [Here is every mid summer](http://woodfortrees.org/plot/uah/from:2002.5/every:12/plot/rss/from:2002.5/every:12/plot/gistemp/from:2002.5/every:12/plot/hadcrut4gl/from:2002.5/every:12/plot/hadcrut3gl/from:2002.5/every:12) for the same time period. It may be hard to see, but summers are not cooling for most of the world. It’s only the winters that show a clear cooling trend. Most unexpected, and very interesting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-actually-been-cooling-since-2002/681728.md?page=20) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-world-actually-been-cooling-since-2002/681728.md?page=22)