NOAA’s Hottest January Relies On Dodgy Russian Data

By Paul Homewood

WUWT uncovers some very dodgy looking Russian temperature data:

Other data shows the USA wasn’t even close to a record.

By Anthony Watts

In a report generating substantial media attention this month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) claimed January 2020 was the hottest January on record. In reality, the claim relies on substantial speculation, dubious reporting methods, and a large, very suspicious, extremely warm reported heat patch covering most of Russia.

The January 2020 Climate Assessment Report, released by NOAA’s National Center for Environmental Information (NCEI), was accompanied by a map showing a giant red menace of extraordinary asserted warmth extending from the Russian border with Poland well into Siberia. Yet, the asserted hot spot appears nowhere else.

Figure 1: Map of temperature departure provided by NOAA/NCEII. Note the huge red spot over Russia.

Meanwhile, in the United States, Alaska was abnormally cold, and the contiguous United States wasn’t even close to a record.

Full post here.

I would add a couple of points to Anthony’s analysis.

We see similar dodgy looking hot spots over Russia in previous Januaries, not to mention December 2019:

https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/201912

Secondly, satellite measurements, while indicating warmer than usual air, don’t support NOAA’s claims of a 5C+ anomaly. Both UAH and NOAA use the same 1981-2010 baseline.