Is Georgia Really Being Affected by Global Warming?
I ran across an interesting map on the National Climate Data Center website that makes me question how much global warming has affected us here in Georgia. The map, shown below, plots the annual mean temperature trend in the state from 1985 through 2006:
It’s fairly obvious that the mean temperature has actually been decreasing over the past 112 years, by .06 degrees per decade. You can see that the stage has alternated between periods of relatively warm and relatively cool weather, with a colder than normal spell from the mid 50s through the early 80s, and a warmer than normal period from the early 80s on.
Of course, for many people alive today, that trend would cause us to think that it’s gotten warmer since childhood, hence the belief that we must be having global warming. Few people remember the warm temperatures recorded during the period from 1910 through 1935, when it was warmer than it is today. The warmest year recorded was back in 1923.
You can go to this page to create your own chart, or a table of mean temperatures.
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