A national report comparing temperatures across American cities said
Detroit’s average rose 1.2 degrees between 2000 and 2007, compared to
the average over the previous 30 years.
That shows that the nation needs to act now to curb the greenhouse
gases that contribute to global warming, said Environment Michigan,
which issued the report in downtown Detroit Thursday. Across the U.S.,
the average was 0.5 degrees higher during the past seven years at 90%
of the stations measured. Detroit’s temperature increase wasn’t the
highest in Michigan.
The report, compiled from weather data at
255 stations nationwide, showed that temperatures were more than 2
degrees higher in the past seven years compared to historical averages
at Alpena, Marquette and Sault Ste. Marie.
Bill Deedler,
meteorologist for the National Weather Service in White Lake Township,
said while he believes there is global warming, relying solely on data
from weather stations, many of which are at airports, could be
misleading.
Detroit Metro Airport has more concrete and more
buildings than it did 30 years ago, which absorb more heat, creating
“heat islands” that raise temperatures, especially at night. The Great
Lakes have been shallower and warmer in recent years compared to
decades ago, and that can also raise overnight temperatures near the
lakes, he said.
The Nobel prize-winning International Panel on
Climate Change concluded that temperatures are increasing worldwide,
but used a wide variety of data to come to that conclusion.
