Updraft: March 4, 2008 Archive

Climate Conundrum

Posted at 8:53 AM on March 4, 2008 by Craig Edwards

Who doesn’t love giving the weather caster grief? I often remind my good friends that I am called to be a messenger not a manufacturer of weather elements. That’s the brand I’ve chosen for my website and the essence of my climate change presentation.

For decades, I always thought it would have been better to be a climatologist and examine the extremes of observed weather. Like the sports caster announcing the results from last night’s contests. But lately, the climate debate is the place to grab some excitement.

Last week, on the podcast, jet streaming, the weather geeks along with Pete Boulay shed some light on the new climate records that incorporate a longer history of reported weather conditions around the Twin Cities, known as Threadex. It was a great discussion that was very informative.

Just when I thought the data was in order, I spied some additional historical climate information on the weather page of the newspaper. The State Climate Office and NOAA have certified temperatures in Minneapolis/St. Paul dating back to 1871. However, the historical records listed in the local paper showed daily records as far back as the 1830s.

Yikes! What a conundrum. I’ll just remain a meteorologist who tries to read the signs to make a forecast and be content with moments of brilliant accuracy.
CE