LYMAN — Oh, so hot, this summer is a thought on people’s mind, but in truth and actuality, summer heat is an occurrence, which happens yearly.

And, to prove the point, core drillings in the past reported the earth was much hotter and also much colder in the past. This has been reported repeatedly in scientific journals.

And, as far as Bridger Valley not getting hot, yes it does. Years ago my brother, sister and I spent the summer fencing in the back pastures of the ranch. Sweltering under the 90-95 degrees in the hot sun and being baked as we put in posts, carried and laid wire and pounded staples. Yes, it was hot.

Archeologists deemed years ago they thought the reason the Medicine Wheel in Wyoming in the Big Horn Mountains was built so high because the earth was hot, and the people moved higher above the basin to get away from the heat. The structure is located at an altitude of 9642 feet, near the summit of Medicine Mountain.

The Medicine Wheel is a large stone structure made of local white limestone laid upon a bedrock of limestone. It is both a place of sacred ceremony and scientific inquiry.

The cultural history of the Big Horn Mountains, home to the Big Horn Medicine Wheel, dates back over ten thousand years. However, the Wheel rests within the Crow homeland, an area that the Crow say was given to them by the Creator when No Vitals, the visionary Crow Leader (circa 1400–1600), had his vision of stars descending into tobacco blossoms while he fasted and prayed on the highest mountain in the Bighorns (Cloud Peak). The Crow stated the Wheel was already present when they came into the area.

And new to the climate change crisis scenario, it was reported Argentina, which is now in its winter season, recorded its hottest winter day temperature ever. In Buenos Aires Tuesday, thermometers in Argentina’s capital crossing the 30-degree Celsius mark (86 degrees Fahrenheit), the hottest start of August in 117 years of records, according to the country’s National Meteorological Service. Tuesday also marked the first time since 2014 that the 30-degree mark was crossed during the Southern Hemisphere’s winter.

Climate Central released a report after an analysis of 4,700 cities and 200 countries. “Researchers determined more than four-fifths of the world’s population experienced at least a day of temperatures that were at least three times more likely because of climate change.”

This analysis was based on previous ‘peer-reviewed’ research, but “the new results have not undergone peer-review.”

According to Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day in the Cowboy State Daily article by Kevin Killough Tuesday, Day said, “The catastrophic heat being reported in many media circles doesn’t reflect reality. What’s happening is a lot of cherry picking of information, and then amplification of that cherry-picked information.”

That is typical of a report that a day in July the world had experienced the hottest day ever. The information came out that the reports these records were based on a modeling system which started being used in 1979. What about all of the years and years before? No records.

This is what was reported by Day Tuesday concerning the above issue. “As far as the ‘hottest ever on record,’ those daily records only go back to 1979. From there, temperatures are derived from proxy data, which can’t tell you day-to-day.

According to the Cowboy State Daily report Tuesday, Aug. 1, Abcarian’s Sunday Op-Ed said, “…with fears of COVID-19 vanishing, people are out having fun. Yet, she warns the “the headlines are alarming.” According to other specialists, “The headlines about widespread heat waves are alarming, but the reality isn’t.”

In a 2018 peer-reviewed study in Weather, Climate and Society the study found the mortality risk from extreme heat events in the United States has declined since 1970. And, according to the International Disaster Database, climate-related deaths have fallen 98% since 1920.

As for the hype by the national media and others about the on-slaught of extreme heat problems and more, Day calls the reports on unprecedented heat this summer “media misinformation.”

According to temperature anomaly data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction Climate Data Assimilation System (CDAS), most of the U.S. has been at average or below average temperatures for the past 60 days. The temperature anomaly is a departure from a long-term average. In addition, even according to Utah television weather reports, their 100-degree days are just a drop in the bucket of what they recorded last year.

“A study in the medical journal The Lancet found that 600,000 people die globally from heat while 4.5 million die from cold.”

Bjorn Lomborg, Danish author and president of the think tank Copenhagen Consensus Center, estimated 166,000 deaths are avoided every year due to rising temperatures.

Day went on to explain the difference between weather and climate by saying, “The definition of climate is the sum of all weather. So, taking single events — whether it’s a heat wave, flood or hurricane — and blaming it on climate change is reflective of this confusion.”