Media Extrapolating A Trend From A Single Data Point: 2018 Heatwave Edition

by P. Homewood, September 5, 2018 in NotaLotofPeopleKnowThat


This article in something called Inside Climate News seems to be typical of many I have seen this year:  Because we have had much attention in the media on heat waves this year, there must be an upward trend in heat waves and that is a warning signal that man-made global warming is destroying the planet.  Typical of these articles are a couple of features

  1. Declaration of a trend without any actual trend data, but just a single data point of events this year

  2. Unstated implication that there must be a trend because the author can’t remember another year when heat wave stories were so prevalent in the media

  3. Unproven link to man-made global warming, because I guess both involve warmth.