Warming and cooling are trends, not absolute temperatures.
Global warming is global, not local.
Clean Air legislation removed particulates that had been acting to cool.
Etc.
Right....I know that. I was simply using Rolle's theorem of the mean from calculus. If they used all of the data that was known in the 70's that showed a cooling trend, by 1998 they had all of that data plus another 20 years, which showed a warming trend, then you can prove, mathematically that there was a time when things were just right so to speak. 1988 would have been the perfect halfway point, thus my comment.
BTW, I don't follow the particulates in the atmosphere causing cooling. Renowned and world famous climatologist Seth MacFarlane said that Venus is hot because of cloud cover and particulates trapping heat. And how could the US Clean Air legislation have made there be less particulates, when China and India pump out way more than we ever did?