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The hottest American presidency since the 19th century: George W. Bush’s
The hottest American presidency since the 19th century: George W. Bush’sThe Fix
By Philip Bump August 18 at 3:26 PM
In 1922, a headline appeared in The Washington Post that would seem very much at home today.
The report focused on a report from an expedition undertaken in Norway, as Snopes.com uncovered. It wasn't widespread warming of the sort we see today.
But, interestingly, that period was also uncommonly warm in the United States. Some of the hottest Junes, Julys and Septembers in recorded American history happened in 1921 and 1922, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. And that leads to a weird phenomenon.
Preliminary estimates suggest that the July just completed, July 2015, was the warmest month in recorded history. Not just the warmest July; not just the warmest in the United States -- the warmest month that mankind has ever measured. In light of that, and given President Obama's focus on the warming climate, we were curious which American president actually oversaw the hottest period in United States history. ... The answer? Warren Harding.
....
(Notice that the vertical axis begins at 40 degrees Fahrenheit, to highlight the change. We assigned months to whichever president held office for the majority of said months. Also, this is only for the lower 48 states.) ... That's misleading, though. Unlike most presidents, Harding had an imbalance between the summer months in which he was in office and the winter months. He was president during three Julys (1921, 1922 and 1923) but only two Januarys, for instance. (A similar effect can be seen with John Kennedy, whose presidency was also cut short and wasn't a round number of years.) That, and the fact that some of those months were unusually hot, skews his average.
By Philip Bump August 18 at 3:26 PM
In 1922, a headline appeared in The Washington Post that would seem very much at home today.
The report focused on a report from an expedition undertaken in Norway, as Snopes.com uncovered. It wasn't widespread warming of the sort we see today.
But, interestingly, that period was also uncommonly warm in the United States. Some of the hottest Junes, Julys and Septembers in recorded American history happened in 1921 and 1922, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. And that leads to a weird phenomenon.
Preliminary estimates suggest that the July just completed, July 2015, was the warmest month in recorded history. Not just the warmest July; not just the warmest in the United States -- the warmest month that mankind has ever measured. In light of that, and given President Obama's focus on the warming climate, we were curious which American president actually oversaw the hottest period in United States history. ... The answer? Warren Harding.
....
(Notice that the vertical axis begins at 40 degrees Fahrenheit, to highlight the change. We assigned months to whichever president held office for the majority of said months. Also, this is only for the lower 48 states.) ... That's misleading, though. Unlike most presidents, Harding had an imbalance between the summer months in which he was in office and the winter months. He was president during three Julys (1921, 1922 and 1923) but only two Januarys, for instance. (A similar effect can be seen with John Kennedy, whose presidency was also cut short and wasn't a round number of years.) That, and the fact that some of those months were unusually hot, skews his average.