Madison’s had a heat advisory in effect for days — like most of the eastern portion of the US. This reminded me of Rick Stryker’s 2014 admonition to dismiss climate change.

Since I got the terrible news at econbrowser that 2014 is the hottest year on record, I’ve been sitting alone at Stryker mansion in my shorts and Hawaiian shirt with the AC cranked up, desperately trying to stay to cool. Good thing it’s January. I’ve also been trying to keep a positive attitude by listening to some music. But I can’t shake the feeling that the planet is doomed. 0.04C hotter than 2005, and in only 9 years.

But in all my dark brooding, an idea started to form. Isn’t the earth a really complex system? And aren’t these temperatures measured with error? Maybe the temperature anomaly isn’t just a number. Maybe, just maybe..it’s a random variable. And if it’s a random variable, it has variance. And maybe, just maybe, if we did a hypothesis test we might not be able to claim that 2014 is any hotter than 2005 statistically.

Yes, I know it’s thin but it’s all I’ve got.

So, a little update:

Source: NOAA, accessed 7/3/2026.

Where has Rick Stryker gone?