AFP: Dutch bask in warmest autumn in three centuries

[DeepModem Mom]

Dutch bask in warmest autumn in three centuries
Nov 19



The autumn of 2006 has been the warmest in the Netherlands for over 300 years, 12.5 percent hotter than the previous year which was already a record, meteorologists said.

"Beating the record by more than one degree centigrade, that is exceptional," the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute said in a statement.

The average temperature for the months leading up to November 17 was up to 13.5 degrees (56 degrees F), as compared to 12 degrees last year, which was already the hottest autumn on record....

At least three factors are responsible for the increased temperatures, the Institute said: global warming, winds from the south that have blown over the Netherlands more than in most years, and a slower cooling down after an exceptionally hot summer, especially in July.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/11/19/061119224718.1md4seio.html

[Bobbieo]

1. It was 86 degrees today In Yuma. AZ

Way above normal but wonderful!! BUT what will it be like six months from now when it is normally 100 degrees in May????

[lonestarnot]

7. Felt like 100 in Phoenix. Don't know what the official temp was

but hot will suffice.

[kestrel91316]

2. I think it got close to 100 in my section of Los Angeles today.

I had a garage sale, and it really was TOO HOT for it.

[Richard D]

3. Records broken . . .

. . . in much of the L.A. area today. Friggin hot.

[msongs]

4. hot maybe, but typical fall weather like this occurs often

like the nice 90 degree christmas days spent out by my pool picking oranges off the tree and watching the snow melt on san gorgonio mountain. :-)

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[Richard D]

6. True

But this heatwave has been going on for a long time, much longer than I remember happening in the fall here.

[kedrys]

5. My sister says it's been raining for a month in Montreal

with about 5 hours of sunshine in that time. It's been a while since I lived there, but I seem to remember this white substance called *snow*, which used to start sometime in October or something...?

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. I wish reporters wouldn't write crap like "12.5 percent hotter"

That's "12.5% more above the freezing point of water". It's only 0.5% hotter above absolute zero - which is the only possible temperature scale you could actually give a meaningful "percent hotter" figure in. But no-one uses that in everyday life, and it wouldn't really tell you anything useful.

If one average temperature was 0 degrees centigrade, and another 1 degree centigrade, would they say "it was infinitely hotter than the previous year"? No, of course not. They should learn to stick to comparisons with temperatures, not spurious statistics. 1.5 degrees above the previous record is quite alarming without some mathematical ignorance thrown in.

[Lisa]

9. good point ...

They -- the reporter, and presumably the editors too -- have mixed up the interval (e.g. temperature) and ratio (e.g. mass) types of scales.

Kind of like saying 20 deg C is twice as warm as 10 deg C.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

10. Hasn't been a particularly pleasant autumn here in eastern England...

...which is only a couple of hundred miles from the Netherlands.

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. Really? England overall has had an exceptionally warm autumn so far

The provisional mean value for the month is 16.3 °C, which is 3.2 °C above the 1961-1990 average,
which is in the exceptionally above average category. Warmest September in series, previous warmest was 1949, when 15.9 °C was recorded.

England & Wales, September 2006

The provisional mean value for the month is 12.7 °C, which is 2.5 °C above the 1961-1990 average. 3rd warmest in series. Warmest in series was 2001 when 13.1 °C was recorded.

England, October 2006

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

12. Heh. I think I'm being unscientific.

This is only my third winter here, and as a transplant from California I suspect that it's actually been warmer than I feel. :)