Dear Editor:

In 1975, Gerald Ford was president, the USSR was a world power, and Microsoft was founded. On Aug. 2 and 3 of that year, ten Maine towns set their current record high temperatures, including Newcastle at 101°F and Portland that tied their 1911 record of 103°F.   

Fifty years later little has changed. Maine’s record high temperature of 105°F, set in1911, is now 114 years old. Since 1900 Portland’s temperature has exceeded 100°F in only six of the 125 years. In the last 50 years, Portland has reached 100°F only once. The average age of the record highs of the 28 tracked towns in Maine is now 58 years old.

The U.S. data is like Maine’s. The U.S. all-time record high, set in 1913 still stands. Three states set an all-time record in the 1800s. Thirty-five states set their records prior to 1937. Only four states have set a new record since 2000. The average age of the record high of the 50 states is now 83 years old.

The record high temperature dates for the world’s continents are; Africa - 1931, Antarctica - 2020, Asia - 1942, Australia - 1960, Europe - 2021, North America - 1913, and South America - 1905. The average age of the record highs of the 7 continents is now 68 years old.

These numbers are from tracked, qualified, and maintained weather stations, not media headlines. What we have is not a world on fire, but gaslighting and massive fraud.

Joe Grant

Wiscasset