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Rush stated a study yesterday, that said 5 out of the 6 hottest years on record were prior to WWII.

I read Rush's transcript. He was very sloppy with a lot of things, but I don't think he said 5 out of 6. It was 5 out of 10.

Anthony Watts put together the following:

Top 10 GISS U.S. Temperature deviation (deg C) in New Order 8/7/2007

Year Old New
1934 1.23 1.25
1998 1.24 1.23
1921 1.12 1.15
2006 1.23 1.13
1931 1.08 1.08
1999 0.94 0.93
1953 0.91 0.90
1990 0.88 0.87
1938 0.85 0.86
1939 0.84 0.85

Here’s the old order of top 10 yearly temperatures.

Year Old New
1998 1.24 1.23
1934 1.23 1.25
2006 1.23 1.13
1921 1.12 1.15
1931 1.08 1.08
1999 0.94 0.93
1953 0.91 0.90
2001 0.90 0.76
1990 0.88 0.87
1938 0.85 0.86

This data doesn’t jive with what my memories tell me. I remember a drought in the late eighties that gave us temps so high in the midwest, that things virtually shut down for the weekends in summertime. I remember temps of 108 to 110 in areas that normally rarely see 100. I remember fairly large metropolitan areas were like ghost towns. No one was moving around, no cars on the streets, no animals in sight, no kids playing.

I distinctly remember having to pick up a friend and drive him across town about 3pm on a saturday because the heat killed his car. I think the official temp that day was 109 WITHOUT a heat index. My car started having trouble and we made it by shutting down the A/C and turning on the heater, rolling down the windows, and not stopping for any red lights or stop signs. It was miserable. We were young and couldn't afford good cars.

We never saw another car moving around in the entire city. Good thing too since we ran every light we saw. I even remember saying something like “I bet I could drive the wrong way all the way down such and such a street”. Then I did it.