It is in the Data: No Speculation, No Misinformation, Climate Change is Real

When we turn on our PC one of the first images that we may see is one about “saying these three words …” is a prelude to dementia. Or, drinking this in the morning “is sure to advance dementia….” Or something equivalent. There is no data to support these claims, no medical evidence whatsoever. These “influencers” try to sell something, a product, an idea, or perhaps just fear, based on, well, literally nothing. Science is not involved.

Let us contrast this with scientists’ study of Earth’s climate and changes that are happening. They gather data from a variety of sources over time, and the longer and more data available, the better and the stronger the conclusion.

There are many excellent organizations doing quality work on climate science. One is Berkeley Earth [berkeleyearth.org]. The global map here titled, “New Station Locations” is an example of the way science is conducted. They had about 57,000 global weather stations supplying millions of temperature datapoints dating to 1750 [land] and 1850 [oceans].

When the U.S administration in 2025 began to close science agency offices, laboratories, reduce funding for science and force out, or layoff, some 10,000 Ph.D. STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, Math] scientists, [Science 29 January 2026 p428] Berkeley Earth staff were concerned about their reliance on existing government data sets and future data sources. So, they expanded their global network by an additional 15,000 weather stations as seen on the map here.

They have identified all the datasets and sources, and are available to everyone, with the goal of total transparency.

Scientists can then interpret the data with conclusions made based on that data, with the results often submitted to a scientific journal for possible publication. There, the submitted paper undergoes a peer review where other scientists in the field [at least two] read, evaluate, and comment on the paper. If and only if, the paper passes this scrutiny will it be published in a reputable journal.

This is the path climate science, indeed all the sciences, has taken in the past century and more. Our administration can stop collecting data by shutting down the collection site or, take down websites that contain irreplaceable data, and they have done both, but the facts remain.

Yale Environment 360, September 17, 2026, published an interesting article titled “Why Germany is Building an Ark for U.S. Climate Data” by Christian Schwagerl. It details action taken in Germany to ensure that U.S. data is not lost.

There is deep concern among scientists and researchers globally that the U.S. “administration could meddle with critical U.S. climate data. In response, scientists are preparing to transfer vast troves of that data to repositories in Germany.” [See Yale reference above]. One site is in the German Climate Computing Center in Hamburg. They plan to “add about 5 petabytes of storage capacity for the U.S. climate data to the 254 petabytes of data already stored there.” That is a lot of storage space!

So, what is some of this data telling us? Let’s look at rising sea levels, air temperature records, and later frosts in the Fall.

One data set is presented in a graph and bar chart from Climate Central [September 27, 2023] and is included here, titled, “Rising Seas, More Flooding.”

There are two parts to this illustration. The left axis in red is the Sea level rise [inches] over the past century; the right axis in blue are High tide flood days. The connection is obvious.

The more the sea rises, the more flood days that happen. If you are in a coastal community this can cause real problems for a homeowner.

Then we have another bar chart titled, “October 2026 was the warmest October on record.” The almost 90-year record speaks for itself. [Chart taken from Bill McKibben “The Crucial Years” 11/3/26.] The gradual rise in temperature for October over the past almost 60 years is obvious.

And finally, we have another graph from Climate Central from June 2026 for the city of Detroit titled, “Later First Frost, Longer Fall Allergies.” It shows that in 2025, over the past almost 60 years, the first frost occurs 22 days later than it once did.

This and That:

**Americans paid $150 billion more for gas in 2026 than last year due to war in the Mideast. [CleanTechnica 11/8/26].

**There are now over 250,000 charge points in the U.S. for electric vehicles. That is up 20% from a year ago. [CleanTechnica 7/14/26].

**Chinese Universities Surge in Global Rankings as U.S Schools Slip.” China has four of the five top slots. [New York Times, 2026/1/15.]

**The “Largest battery-electric aircraft completes first flight at PBG.” [Plattsburgh, Press Republican, August 15, 2026.]

**The University of Vermont recently issued “The Vermont Climate Assessment” report. “VCA 2025 is designed to help Vermonters make informed decisions in a changing climate.” [VT Digger, 11/8/26.”

And, so it goes.

The scientific career of Raymond N. Johnson, Ph.D., spanned 30 years in research and development as an organic/analytical chemist. He is currently founder and director of the Institute of Climate Studies USA (www.ICSUSA.org). Climate Science is published monthly.

Sources

1. berkeleyearth.org
2. Science, 29 January 2026
3. Climate Central, 27 September 2023
4. Chart taken from Bill McKibben “The Crucial Years”, 3 November 2026
5. CleanTechnica, 8 November 2026
6. CleanTechnica, 14 July 2026
7. New York Times
8. Plattsburgh, 15 August 2026 — Press Republican