what caused high temps before global warming?

High temperature records are set by fluctuations away from the mean. Global warming is changing the long term mean, but fluctuations can still occur. As the Earth warms it will become easier to set record high temperatures, and harder to set record low temperatures, but either one can still occur. For a weather station with a long recording history, on any given day the chance of setting a new record high temperature may be 1 in 20, but the chance of setting a new record low temperature may be 1 in 200 (those numbers are for illustration, I don't know exactly what the chances are). Be careful not to confuse weather with climate, global warming is a statement about average conditions, not any particular

weather phenomenon.

EDIT: In response to Mikeb420's answer about the lack of accurate record keeping prior to the 1980's, that is just not true. Many places have accurate readings going back into the 19th century. You don't need any fancy equipment do digitally record temperatures--thermometers can be made that record the high or low until re-set. I think fewer and fewer minimum records are being set, not necessarily because of global warming but because of urbanization (another form or human caused warming).

The problem is that they have not kept accurate temperature records for more than 20-30 years. Before that, it was someone going out to their thermometer at set times throughout the day to record the current temperature. That is a very inaccurate way to record temperature. Now we have constant temperature monitoring. So when the temperature peaks at 2 pm or 5 pm, they have that as the recorded high of the day. Before, they could miss the high for the day because they did not check the temperature at the moment it was at it's daily peak. Basically, it could peak at 10 am and the record keeper had not checked the temperature until 2 pm when it dropped by about 5 degrees.

Also, if you look at local weather records, all of the record highs and lows are from about 1980-present. How can we say the record keeping was very accurate before that time then?

Variations in solar output, changes in the Earth's rotation, volcanic emissions, and sometimes CO2 - a lot more CO2 than we've emitted over the last 200 years.

But we do not have a firm grasp of the causes of every past warm period, especially on a multi-century scale.

The MWP for example (which was since it occurred the universally-accepted climate history, for centuries before the climate became a political issue, was re-written out of the climate history but is now accepted, even if AGW-believers still cling to the notion that it was slightly cooler than today's temperatures) - we do not know what caused that multi-century warm period.

Just stop thinking and listen to the drone who keeps saying "weather and climate" as if his point makes any sense.

Warming is

One theory with far more actual data to back it up is that fluctuations in solar activity are a major cause of changes in temperature.

One thing is for sure. If someone starts talking down to you for questioning their conclusion, they probably don't have much to back up that conclusion.

Just shut up and pay the carbon tax.

Well, global warming is by no means man-made. It's a natural cycle so that explains why there were high temperatures in the past.

The formation of the earth, the blast from the comet that took out the dinosaurs and the beginning of the industrial age in America and beyond. I hope this helps.

One cannot expect no consequences to arise from the constant abuse by humankind to earth.

Even if it wasn't global warming there would to be the issue of rising temperatures.

This is only the beginning....

Generally, an increase in solar radiation received by the Earth.

How do we know it's not that now? Pretty simple, we measure solar radiation (aka "solar forcing"). It's been going down lately:

"Recent oppositely directed trends in solar

climate forcings and the global mean surface

air temperature", Lockwood and Frolich (2007), Proc. R. Soc. A

doi:10.1098/rspa.2007.1880

http://www.pubs.royalsoc.ac.uk/media/proceedings_a...

News article at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6290228.stm

The earths natural cycle the same reason were experiencing high temps now. there is no man made global warming

About every 120,000 years, the earth goes through a warming period. We are currently in one of those periods. Only the complete insane (or those who want your money) believe we are causing the warming.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ice_Age_Tempera...

Schhh you ain't suppose to bring up that kind of stuff

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Ruin the party pooper you are

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When we all are getting scared silly of the big Heat Wave awaiting us

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And the high temps in the past are caused by the earths orbit

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It is not a stable orbit as we know of now

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In the last 3.something billion years the earth has had and eliptical (egg shaped) orbit

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We are in a almost perfect circular (round) orbit

And that kind of keeps thing on the even Steven side of the earths relation to the Sun

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Get my description

When we are in an eliptical orbit at one part of the year we are real far away from the sun and then at the opposite season we are in the Venus kind of close to the sun real and I do mean

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Real Hot time of the year

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Oh and the sun has about another 4 billion years till it burns out then, if we are still here, will mankind, what ever we will look like then, DO

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