There Is No Such Thing As "normal"

You're absolutely right!

It's 12 here today. Our record high for today is 72. Average is about 45. Tomorrow cares nothing about historical averages, and is planning a high of 16. Saturday, in an attempt to show Friday up for copying today, is planning to be rainy and not very cold.

Word is Sunday is pissed about this and is planning to snow on everyone just because it can.

The median temperature ….not the normal. The median is not the normal.

Yeah, John, I've had the cold water running in my kitchen and my bathroom for a week now so the pipes don't freeze in the basement. (John and I are on opposite sides of the same state. He gets the Lake Michigan cold and I get the Lake Huron cold).

I'd rather put up with this than the 45 inches of snow my son has on his lawn in Massachusetts.

I just saw a meme that said: I like all four seasons, do we have to have them all in one week?

the word 'average' is a common definition of the word 'normal.'
common definitions are ones that are highly accepted.
is this a real problem for some?
lol

Actually average is NOT normal. Median is normal. Average is add up everything and divide by the count. Median is the count of the most common value.

For example, 2.4 kids, or something like that is average, but having .4 child is NEVER normal!

You would have to define the context and definition of the world normal to say nothing is ever normal is just absurd.

That's easy "NO"

The Earth's climate is (and always has been) dynamic and fluid.

You can't assign a human number to it and make it "stick".

Average, Normal, Median. Doesn't mean a thing to the climate.

It is what it is today. Not up, down, high or low. It is what it is.

10-12,000 years ago where Mary and I live we had a mile of ice covering the ground. We both have ice today, but even though it feels like it sometimes, it is not a mile thick.

Which one is "correct"? The mile of ice then of the foot of ice now?

You are correct about the air and water being dynamic fluids. Today we have a pretty good understanding of dynamic fluids which allows us to predict on a gross scale what the effect of conditions today will have on tomorrow. We also know what effect greenhouse gases have on the system and can predict what can happen when the balance of them in the atmosphere changes. We can only do this on a relatively macro scale so we don't know for sure if next month will be warmer than the mean of the previous 100 years but it pretty much a given that it will be globally .

My median day is eight hours in a cubicle.

Well we use the word normal to really say what we are expecting. As you said, the temp last year is irrelevant to today, but our expectation is relevant. So normal becomes some weighted average (like temperatures during the ice age or not), region, who know. But it's importance is as 'what's expected', not scientific accuracy or benchmarks.
-- mary ellen anderson

Normally I would say winter is cold.

I need half a second.. I will be right back...

Ok. I'm back after half a second:


Normal synonyms:

natural
orderly
ordinary
standard
accustomed
acknowledged
regular
routine
traditional
typical
average
commonplace
general
median.


(Source: http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/normal )