This article appeared on the front page above the fold in today’s Raleigh News and Observer. The clear implication is that global warming has come to North Carolina and it is having and impact on plant life. If the author, John Murawski, checked on he web site of  The State Climate Office of North Carolina, which would seem to be a logical starting point for any journalist doing a story of this kind, he would have found the following statements:

“The annual statewide average temperature for NC from 1895-2007 is given in Figure 2, along with the linear trend of the data. If one focused only on the period since the mid-1970s, a clear warming signal is seen. This corresponds well with warming observed in global average temperatures from the best satellite data. However, a review of the entire period of record suggests that the warming since the mid-1970s may not be unprecedented, especially when compared with the warming observed from 1910-1950. Overall, the trend over the 113-year period is flat, with no long-term trend over the period.”

“local climate variability is so high in NC that significant trends are difficult to deduce.”

“…when we separate average temperatures into daily maximum and minimums (highs and lows), we can start to see some meaningful trends. While maximum temperatures show no trend, we do see a significant trend in minimum temperature (morning lows) in urban areas. Minimum temperatures are increasing in many urban areas. These minimum temperature trends are significant, but are not linked to the broader global warming. Indeed, we do not see similar trends at rural locations, suggesting that the observed changes in minimum temperatures are associated with urbanization of our cities and surrounding areas.