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Bytram writes in via IRC with two hot stories about the weather:
Records Tumble as Europe Swelters in Heatwave
Submitted via IRC for Bytram
Records tumble as Europe swelters in heatwave
Belgium and the Netherlands have recorded their highest ever temperatures, in a heatwave searing Western Europe.
The Belgian town of Kleine Brogel in Limburg province hit 39.9C (102F), the hottest since records began in 1833.
A Eurostar train broke down in the extreme heat, trapping passengers.
The southern Dutch city of Eindhoven saw 39.3C, the highest temperature recorded since the Dutch royal meteorological institute began in 1901.
The highest temperature recorded in Paris - 40.4C in 1947 - is expected to be surpassed on Thursday.
Luxembourg is on red alert for the south and the capital - with top temperatures possibly climbing to 40C on Wednesday and even higher on Thursday.
Europe's Record-setting Heatwave to Spike Even Higher
Submitted via IRC for Bytram
Europe's record-setting heatwave to spike even higher
A dangerously intense heatwave across much of Europe is to spike even higher Thursday after already breaking records in several countries, impacting rail traffic and sending people in search of shade and water.
Paris was expected to see the mercury soar to as much as 41 or 42 degrees Celsius, breaking a 70-year-plus record of 40.4C (104.7 Fahrenheit) and turning the UNESCO-listed capital into a baking urban bowl.
Britain's Met Office predicted a chance that the UK record of 38.5C, which was recorded in Faversham, Kent, in August 2004, would also be exceeded on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands all recorded their all-time highest temperatures.
Thursday was forecast to be the peak of Europe's latest heatwave—the second in less than a month and impetus for new focus to be given to climate change. Cooler weather with rain was expected to provide relief from Friday.
The body-sapping, leaden, shrivelling heat was posing difficulties for humans, animals and crops across the continent.
The northern third of France, including Paris, was under a red alert while the rest of the country had a yellow warning and water-use restrictions were in force.
Cyclists in the Tour de France in southern France had to puff their way over the course in well over 30C.
In the Netherlands, farmers have been leaving their cows outside to sleep, rather than bringing them in at night, while Dutch media said hundreds of pigs died when a ventilator failed at Middelharnis.
On Wednesday, the southern Dutch town of Gilze-Rijen experienced 38.8C heat, surpassing a record dating back 75 years.
Belgium registered an all-time high of 39.9C at the Kleine-Brogel military base, beating a record that dated back to June 1947.
And Germany's western town of Geilenkirche sweltered through 40.5C.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 26 2019, @02:23PM (3 children)
*RECORDED* highest ever temperatures
FTFY.
and in the Netherlands and UK this goes back actually a bit over 200 years.
(Score: 5, Touché) by AthanasiusKircher on Friday July 26 2019, @03:00PM (1 child)
Indeed. The very idea of a "record" is that it is recorded by a human officially. I may have "caught a fish THIS big!" but it's not a "record-setting" fish unless some official person was there to actually measure it and write it down.
With that it mind, let us review the supposed lack of "precision" Mr. Buzzard would have us believe these journalists are guilty of. Let's look just at the summary to begin:
Hmm... nowhere do I see "highest temperature ever" stated without qualification that it is the highest temperature RECORDED. I reviewed the entire BBC article, and nowhere do I see that Mr. Buzzard's "imprecise" language being used.
So, let's try the other article, shall we?
Hmm... again, lots of mentions of "records." No unqualified statements in the rest of the article either. About the closest we come to Mr. Buzzard's imprecise language are these two statements:
The second statement lists "all-time high," but that's clearly qualified by "back to 1947" in the same sentence. Obviously. Because that's the definition of "all-time high" when you're talking about RECORDS! Thus, the first sentence should be read the same way. They RECORDED an "all-time high" in their RECORDS.
I have to commend Mr. Buzzard for his general lack of trolling in the past year compared to previously, but I don't believe he's stupid enough not to read what the articles clearly say and instead imagine them to be saying something else. He's hoping to start a fight about journalist exaggeration around climate change. Shame!
Both of the articles here use clear language. The BBC lacks anything like what Mr. Buzzard claims. The other article has a few qualified sentences, but nowhere does it say, "Place X experienced an ALL-TIME HIGH in history!" Instead, they all "recorded" in "records." Again, that's what records are about. Nobody here is saying Rolf from Germany might not have caught a fish the size of a bus in 1463 while sweltering through a hotter day than we have now. But there's no RECORD of it, so maybe the fish wasn't quite that big, and maybe the temps weren't that hot... or maybe they were. But it wasn't RECORDED.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday July 27 2019, @02:24AM
No, I was just being pedantic. People whose business is the English language yet still manage to suck ass at it annoy me.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday July 27 2019, @02:23AM
"recorded their highest ever temperatures" does not mean what you think it means. For that it would need to be "recorded their highest ever recorded temperatures". As written it is a verb not an adjective and does not modify the noun "temperatures".
My rights don't end where your fear begins.