1934 still not the hottest

I read again with interest Mr Phillimore's latest missive (September 3) and I'm afraid he is still wrong.

NASA has not apologised for getting its temperatures wrong and 1934 is still not listed on its site as the hottest year on record. Contrary to what he wrote, it is not "unarguable that the hottest year recorded by NASA in the last hundred years was 1934".

The correction Mr Phillimore is basing his latest diatribe upon is a minor correction to the surface temperatures of the USA, not the world, not even that of all of North America.

This area represents only two per cent of the surface area of the world and the "error" was less than 0.02 degrees C. Presumably even Mr Phillimore understands the difference between the USA and the globe.

Even after this correction the world's hottest years on record are 1998 and 2005. 1934 doesn't enter the top five, as Mr Phillimore could see if he cared to check the NASA website. But, I suspect, the facts as presented would only get in the way of his prejudices.

Mr Phillimore accuses others of being naive and likes to patronise them. In future, perhaps he would like to learn a little more about the subject before spouting off about things he clearly doesn't understand.

Harvey Unwin, Randlay