OPINION:
Climate alarmists and their government-funded media allies are targeting the key battleground state of Wisconsin with false heat claims to scare voters.
A poorly written paper by a climate activist group claims there are more hot summer nights around the globe because of climate change. The Wisconsin media sensationalize the paper and predict a rapid increase in hot summer nights in Wisconsin, too. The undeniable truth, however — and proved by the federal government’s own climate data — is there is a long-term and ongoing decline in the number of hot summer nights in Wisconsin.
The propaganda website Climate Central published a paper titled “Faster nighttime warming due to climate change is impacting sleep quality around the globe.” The paper is flawed in many important respects, but those flaws are irrelevant for the purposes of this piece. The topic at hand is the Wisconsin media establishment citing the paper as “proof” supporting their sensational reports of a dramatic increase in the frequency of Wisconsin’s warm summer nights.
Taxpayer-funded Wisconsin Public Radio, for example, published a July 8 article titled “Too hot to sleep? New report says climate change causing more hot nights in Wisconsin.”
The WPR article states: “In Wisconsin, eight cities saw anywhere from 92 to 138 additional warmer nights in the last decade than they would have seen without human-induced climate change. On average, the cities ranged from between nine to 14 more hot nights per year.”
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published a similar article, “Nights in Wisconsin cities have become hotter. The cost is beyond just loss of sleep.”
The Journal Sentinel says: “The stakes are high — prolonged sleeplessness can cause brain fog, worsen anxiety and depression, and even increase risk of heart attack and stroke. Experts say this is one more example of the effects of human-caused climate change, and that vulnerable populations will feel them disproportionately.”
Assuming for the sake of argument that colder weather facilitates sound sleep and warmer weather makes sleep more difficult, the actual temperature data shows no increase in Wisconsin’s hot summer nights.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration publishes state-specific climate data. The NOAA online publication “State Climate Summaries — Wisconsin” defines exceptionally warm summer nights as those in which temperatures do not fall below 70 degrees. According to the NOAA data, the frequency of Wisconsin’s exceptionally warm summer nights peaked in the early 1930s and has been consistently declining in the 90 years since. After averaging approximately seven such exceptionally warm nights per year in the 1930s and 1940s, Wisconsin is averaging less than five such exceptionally warm nights per year now.
Exceptionally hot summer days are also in decline in the Badger State. NOAA reports that the frequency of hot summer days with temperatures exceeding 95 degrees peaked in the early 1930s and has consistently declined since. Through the 1930s and 1940s, Wisconsin averaged more than five hot summer days with temperatures exceeding 95 degrees. During the past two decades, the number has been less than two sweltering summer days per year.
NOAA also reports Wisconsin summer precipitation and yearly precipitation have consistently increased in recent decades, making drought far less common than 50 or 100 years ago. As a result, Wisconsin corn production set a record in 2023. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, “Corn for grain production in 2023 was estimated at a record high 15.3 billion bushels, up 12% from the 2022 estimate.”
Wisconsin maple syrup production set records in 2022, continuing a long-term trend of increasing production.
In 2023, Wisconsin also set a record for cranberry production.
The list could go on.
It is not surprising that climate activists are targeting key battleground states like Wisconsin to try to influence the outcome of the 2024 elections. To avoid embarrassment and a further loss of credibility, however, they should at least make claims that are plausibly supported by facts.
• James Taylor (jtaylor@heartland.org) is president of The Heartland Institute.
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