[The Fox Nation, accessed 7/29/09]

Food Chain: AccuWeather.com post moves through conservative media

AccuWeather.com. In a July 25 post titled “3,000 Low Temp Records Set This July!” on AccuWeather.com, Jesse Ferrell wrote:

First, some stats. 1,044 daily record low temperatures have been broken this month nationwide according to NCDC -- count record “low highs” and the number increases to 2,925, surely to pass 3,000 before the end of the month.

Drudge Report. On July 26 at 8:41 a.m. ET, the Drudge Report linked to Ferrell's AccuWeather.com post with the headline, “3,000 record low temps set in July... ”:

Newsmax.com. In a July 27 post titled "Record Lows in July Challenge Climate Change," Newsmax.com stated:

Global warming may be taking another black eye as AccuWeather.com reports an unusually cold July, which is most pronounced in the Northeast of the United States.

While it has been unusually hot in the Southwest, AccuWeather reports that 1,044 daily record low temperatures have been broken thus far in the month of July, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Fox Nation. On July 28, Fox Nation posted the headline “Record Low Temps in July Challenge 'Climate Change,' ” linking to the Newsmax.com post.

“Record Low Temps in July” do not “challenge” climate change

Author of AccuWeather.com report disputed that his findings “challenge climate change.” Following Drudge's link, Ferrell updated his original post with “A FEW CLARIFICATIONS FOR DRUDGE READERS,” in which he noted, "The article was not meant to be a commentary on Climate Change or Global Warming. ... Cold OR warm outbreaks, by themselves, are not signs of Climate Change."

Ferrell later added, "My blog entry was not meant to cover all the weather on the Globe in July, it was meant to cover the unusually cool weather that most of the U.S. has experienced this month. I even went out of my way to mention the Southwest Heat Wave, but clearly some readers were only skimming." Further, in his post, Ferrell reported that "[t]he year, overall, from a records perspective, is still biased to record-breaking highs" [emphases in original].

Climate scientists reject notion that short-term changes in weather bear any relevance to the global warming debate. As Media Matters for America has previously noted, according to a March 2, 2008, New York Times article, climate scientists -- including at least one who has disputed aspects of the scientific consensus on global warming -- completely reject the notion that short-term changes in weather, let alone “record low temps” in July, bear any relevance to the global warming debate.

Fox Nation echoes conservative pattern of claiming short-term weather changes dispute global warming

Conservatives, including Matt Drudge, have previously suggested that a few days of cold weather trump climate change science. As Media Matters has noted, on March 2, Drudge posted the headline " 'Largest public protest of global warming' ever in USA faces DC March snowstorm!" which was later echoed by other conservative media figures.