Media cite UMaine Climate Reanalyzer in reporting about ‘unofficial hottest day on record’
The Associated Press, CNN, The Guardian, The Independent, Mother Jones, Marketplace, Forbes, The Hill, IFLScience, New Scientist, People, Washington Post, the Boston Globe, UPI, Vox and Maine Public cited the University of Maine Climate Change Institute’s Climate Reanalyzer to report that July 3 and 4 were Earth’s unofficial hottest days on record. The record is preliminary, pending approval from gold-standard climate measurement entities like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. The Climate Reanalyzer was developed by Sean Birkel, Maine state climatologist and assistant professor with a joint appointment in University of Maine Cooperative Extension and the UMaine Climate Change Institute. When speaking with AP, Birkel said while the daily figures are unofficial, they provide a useful snapshot of what’s happening as a result of global warming. According to AP, “think of it as the temperature of someone who’s ill, he said: It tells you something might be wrong, but you need longer-term records to work like a doctor’s exam for a complete picture.”. Time, U.S. News and World Report, Politico, PBS News Hour, the Los Angeles Times, the Bangor Daily News, WGME (Channel 13 in Portland), NBC News, CBC, Australian Broadcasting Company, Africa News and other outlets shared the AP report. MSN shared the New Scientist report.