Without using the text, one should be able to guess that a “normal” temperature would refer to an average temperature. The text, tells us that normal temperatures are in fact an average—an average mean temperature based on thirty years worth of recorded temperature data (Ahrens, 2008, p.69). In the example provided in the text, we are shown a table displaying the recorded data from 1970-2000 (Ahrens, p.69, figure 2). Averaging that dataset reveals a “normal” or mean average temperature of 68°F for the community. A more common, or mode, temperature for the dataset is 60°F. Though, as explained in the text, it could be possible to call a temperature falling within the temperature range given from the lowest to the highest record within that thirty years worth of data “normal”, though it would be even more misleading as it would be taking the definition very loosely.
Frequently, especially after the viewers have expressed negative opinions on the television meteorologists giving misleading information, I have seen the “weatherman” go back and explain that the “normal” temps are averages over a period of time, and that what the more common temperature lies elsewhere. On rare occasions I have seen the weatherman go so far as to explain how an odd event in our history affected the dataset by either raising or lowering the “normal” by a degree or two.
References
Ahrens, C. Donald (2008). Essentials of Meteorology, An Invitation to the Atmosphere, Fifth Edition. Belmont, CA. Brooks/Cole, Thomson Learning, Inc.
Mirrored from Being Jeremiah Palmer.
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