I entered science to follow evidence… not narratives. Most researchers still do, yet each time a “new record” pops up from a thermometer hemmed in by taxiways and jet engines, the integrity I signed up to protect takes another hit. [some emphasis, links added]
Last month, I caught Tampa’s 100 °F “all-time high” red-handed.
The spike lined up with a Delta jet idling next to the sensor, a textbook case of combustion heat dressed up as climate change.
As I wrote then, we have seen this scam before… manufactured records from poorly located stations ring-fenced by tarmac and exhaust.
Now the playbook lands at Phoenix Sky Harbor. On 7 August 2025, the National Weather Service trumpeted a graphic declaring 118 °F — a new August record.
What the graphic left out:
- The 118°F reading lasted no more than five minutes.
- It occurred at 3:40 pm, 3:50 pm, 3:55 pm, and 4:00 pm, smack in the afternoon departure rush.
- Winds blew west at 7-9 kts, gusting past 17 kts, steering engine exhaust directly onto the sensor, which sits just 80 m east of Runway 25.
- The moment departures thinned, the temperature slipped back to 117°F, matching the previous mark.
That single, exhaust-driven blip will now live forever in national climate datasets, nudging trendlines upward and gifting climate alarmists another talking point.
This is not science; this is taxpayer-funded fraud that siphons wealth and freedom under a veneer of “records.”
Irrational Fear is written by climatologist Dr. Matthew Wielicki and is reader-supported. If you value what you have read here, please consider subscribing and supporting the work that goes into it.
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With all that Concreate Asphalt and Pavement cities are always hotter in the summer then the Countryside since dark colors absorb the heat and light colors reflect it
Where I live in country Australia, the temperature is often 10 degrees C higher in the local town compared to temperatures outside of the town boundaries. In mid summer the difference can be higher because the town centre is in a dip in the land where heat accumulates because the town centre is protected from any wind-drift. We can feel the temperature difference when we drive out of town and into the nearby rural area.
“Runway 25”
But on a map, those runways are East/West, 90° or 270°, depending on approach.
The author didn’t make a mistake. It means that the magnetic compass bearing along that runway is somewhere from 245° to 255°, rounded to the nearest 10. SOP around the world.
The ASOS and AWAS weather stations at airports are installed near runways to measure weather conditions which affect engine thrust and wing lift. They are not installed to measure weather conditions in locations suitable for climate change measurements.
Yup. There’s an airport in Wyoming at about 8,000 feet if memory (from the 1970’s) serves, where on hot afternoons, no takeoffs are allowed.
Come on Ed, don’t let facts ruin a good “Climate Change” story! But yep, it makes sense to have weather stations near airports to measure wind and temperatures local to the airport. There are times when flights taking off from the Phoenix airport are under weight restrictions due to lack of lift from thinner air caused by the heat.