We have just ended a remarkably hot and dry summer. This is how weather works – it changes from day to day, from month to month and from year to year. There is nothing strange by this, just as it usually is, only this Summer was exceptionally hot and dry.

Let us look at the temperature for July 2018 (Fig. 1a). In Europe and West Asia, it was 1.5-2.0 °C warmer than normal (the average of the last 10 years). On a global scale, however, temperature was quite normal. All talk about “extreme heat” does not apply on a global scale, only on a regional sector of Europe and West Asia. Hence, the map shows regional variations in weather over the globe.

Now, let us compare the global temperature patterns for July 2018 and 2017 (Fig. 1b). What we see is similar map of regional variations in weather over the globe. But there are two remarkable facts:

• Skandinavia and Balticum were exceptionally cold in 2017 (but warm in 2018)
• Argentine was extremely warm in 2017 (but extremely cold 2018)

Consequently, the fact is that July 2918 and 2017 rather are each others’ opposite in regional weather. Obviously, one cannot talk about “trends” in one or the other direction. The truth is quite different from the scenario of a general warming, which the climate lobbyists claim.

During the summer, this misuse of facts has been astonishing in Sweden. It is simple to understand why this has been the case: there it is the approaching general election, which make activists take on spreading of “fake news”.

The maps (Fig. 1) documents reality – it is the maps that apply: not the claims by climate lobbyists.

Nils-Axel Mörner

Associate Professor,

Head of Paleogeophysics & Geodynamics at Stockholm University (1991-2005)

Author of more than 650 scientific papers and several books

President of Independent Committee on Geoethics

Figure 1

Figure1. Surface air temperature for July 2018 (a: above) and July 2017 (b: below) compared to the average of the last 10 years (www.climate4you.com).