Yahoo Movies Fact check: 2022 was the third hottest summer in recorded U.S. history
The claim: 2022 had the 17th-hottest summer
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently came out with sizzling new findings: 2022 had the third-hottest summer on record.
But some social media users are claiming this isn't actually the case.
"Biden says this has been the 3rd hottest summer since records were kept," reads one Sept. 17 Facebook post that received more than 800 shares in three days. "For the record, U.S. records have been kept since 1895. The three hottest summers were 1936, 1934, and 1901...in that order. This was the 17th hottest summer, using the mean average of recorded temperatures. --Official NOAA temperature data."
This isn't true, though.
The summer of 2022 was the third-hottest summer in recorded history, not the 17th. President Joe Biden has not openly commented on the report.
USA TODAY reached out to several users who shared the post for comment.
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Experts say 2022 was the third-hottest summer on record
Despite the Facebook post claiming its data is from NOAA, Karin Gleason, a climatologist for the association's National Centers for Environmental Information, said this is false.
"For the contiguous U.S., June-August 2022 was indeed the third-warmest summer on record - since 1895 - with an average temperature of 73.92°F," Gleason said in an email. "This is 0.08°F shy of the record warm summer that occurred in both 1936 and 2021."
The summers of 1936 and 2021 are tied for being the hottest on record, according to NOAA data. The same data shows several other errors in the Facebook post: 1934 had the seventh-hottest summer, not the second, and 1901 had the 21st-hottest summer, not the third.
White House Assistant Press Secretary Abdullah Hasan told USA TODAY there is no record of Biden commenting on the atmospheric report.
Our rating: False
Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that 2022 had the 17th-hottest summer. Gleason confirmed it was the third-hottest summer on record. There is no evidence Biden has commented on the report.
Our fact-check sources:
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, accessed Sept. 20, U.S. sweltered through third-hottest summer on record | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (noaa.gov)
Climate at a Glance, Sept. 9, Climate at a Glance | National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) (noaa.gov)
Karin Gleason, Sept. 20, Email interview with USA TODAY
National Centers for Environmental Information, accessed Sept. 22, National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)
Abdullah Hasan, Sept. 22-26, Email exchange with USA TODAY
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: 2022 was the third hottest summer in U.S. history
