Tricking by Cherry Picking
There are varying meanings for the term “cherry picking”. The first one is natural, literal, and involves cherry trees. The sports expression derived from either hockey or basketball is a player that rarely enters the defensive zone and merely waits in more neutral territory in anticipation of an opportunity to score. In statistics, it is purposefully selecting data that fits one’s biased narrative or desire.
The linked story from wattsupwiththat.com is a wholesale grab in statistical cherry-picking and involves heat waves. From the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), at first glance, bar charts confirm an acceleration in heat waves. These appear first on the page prior to any content definitions or foundation.
From the graphs, one is convinced that heat waves have become more frequent and with greater duration and higher intensities. Not so fast Gretzky!
Once the documentation is read, the graphs take on a totally different appearance. First, the X axis always starts in 1960. Why does it not start earlier? That is because, if you view the graph labeled “US Annual Heat Wave Index 1895 – 2020” below, you’ll find that those are the decades when a reduction of heat waves, from previous decades, started. In fact, the 1960s had the lowest heat wave index in the entire 125-year period of measuring such things.
Further, we discover that the graphs are not for the nation, but cherry-picked cities. And, once migration patterns, growth, and urban heat island effects are introduced the graphs take on a totally different meaning. Once the BS evaporates, the 1930s had the highest number and intensity of heat waves.
Dr. Calvin Beisner does a masterful job in explaining this entire charade in the linked wattsupwiththat.com article.
While this type of misleading material occurs constantly in the legacy media and websites advocating for anthropogenic climate change, it’s not something one expects of the federal government. This is from an administration that wanted to form a “Disinformation Governance Board”.