There have been a number of stories in the news in recent weeks about the number of record high temperatures that are being set around the world. You might wonder if this is becoming more frequent than in previous decades. Here is a careful analysis by climatologist Brian Brettschneider looking at the number of record highs, lows, and low max and high min temperatures to see whether or not the number of extremes is increasing. What he shows is that while the 1930s have the highest number of record max temperatures, there were very few record highs in the 1960s and 1970s, but the numbers have been creeping back up since then. What is more obvious are the decreases in low minimum temperature records and the increases in high nighttime minimum temperatures. You can read the analysis at Forbes here.
