The worst thing is that the years are not in order, though one would assume that they were. It makes it look like the years are getting hotter and hotter as time moves from left to right.
Which is what you did. There's no "large jump" in 2012. 2012 was one degree warmer than 1934, which in turn was a quarter degree warmer than 1999.
Besides, using the most extreme six points in the last century to paint a trend is awfully stupid anyway. With all of the data that was omitted, the temperature could have averaged 53.5 degrees from 1921 to 2006, then dropped to 45 degrees from 2007 to 2011 - indicating that we were suddenly falling into a new ice age punctuated by sparse years of extreme heat - and this graph(esque monstrosity) would look exactly the same.
This is a perfect example of information presentation that makes the people exposed to it stupider than they were before they saw it, because now they think that they know something.
edit: to be clearer - all this graphic is saying is that 2012 was the hottest year in the last 100 years.
Here's a mind-experiment; find a record value of anything that occurs in sequence. Take the previous 99 values of that sequence, and eliminate all but the top five values. Arrange those values from lowest to highest from left to right, ending with the record value.
Number of Participants in the Sleepy
Hollow Hog-Calling Competition During
Record Years of Participation in the
Sleepy Hollow Hog-Calling Competition
56 **
55 **
54 ** **
53 ** ** ** **
52 ** ** ** ** **
51 ** ** ** ** ** **
1991 1915 1914 2006 1931 2012
We learn that there has never been such an interest in the hog-calling competition before and that in 2012 it was significantly higher than ever before.
Which is what you did. There's no "large jump" in 2012. 2012 was one degree warmer than 1934, which in turn was a quarter degree warmer than 1999.
Besides, using the most extreme six points in the last century to paint a trend is awfully stupid anyway. With all of the data that was omitted, the temperature could have averaged 53.5 degrees from 1921 to 2006, then dropped to 45 degrees from 2007 to 2011 - indicating that we were suddenly falling into a new ice age punctuated by sparse years of extreme heat - and this graph(esque monstrosity) would look exactly the same.
This is a perfect example of information presentation that makes the people exposed to it stupider than they were before they saw it, because now they think that they know something.
edit: to be clearer - all this graphic is saying is that 2012 was the hottest year in the last 100 years.
Here's a mind-experiment; find a record value of anything that occurs in sequence. Take the previous 99 values of that sequence, and eliminate all but the top five values. Arrange those values from lowest to highest from left to right, ending with the record value.
Have we learned anything?