I'd posted the articles refuting the blatant exaggerations of the Alaska temperature rises here a couple weeks ago. But that does not stop Raines' editorial page from knowingly reiterating nonsense that supports their anti-Bush radical enviro agenda. The end justifies the means.

from andrewsullivan.com...

More checkable untruths in a New York Times editorial. Here's what they wrote yesterday in another classic hack-liberal editorial about global warming:
Then came a more narrowly focused but equally disturbing report by The Times's Timothy Egan about Alaska, where an astonishing seven-degree increase in average temperatures over 30 years has led to melting permafrost, sagging roads, dying forests, unexpected forest fires and disruption of marine life.
Here's what the Alaska Climate Research Center has said about that Egan piece:
The article "Alaska, No Longer So Frigid, Starts to Crack, Burn, and Sag" written by Timothy Egan, stated that the average temperature has risen seven degrees in the last 30 years. This statement was repeated in an editorial by Bob Herbert of 24 June 2002. This statement is incorrect. The correct warming for Alaska is about 1/3 of the quoted amount for the last climatological mean 1971 to 2000 (see table below). It should be pointed out that the table presents data from first class weather stations, which are professionally maintained and generate high quality data. The three stations, Barrow, Fairbanks, and Anchorage, represent a cross section of Alaska from north to south. Further, Barrow, situated in Northern Alaska, which gave the largest temperature increase, is the only long-term first class meteorological weather station in Northern Alaska. All changes are based upon the time period 1971 to 2000 and are compiled from a linear trend.
Now this correction has been around since June 24. So has this chart which shows average temperatures in Alaska for the last century, in which the century-long rise has been around 2 degrees Fahrenheit. The Egan piece's assertion of such a temperature rise has no basis in fact whatsoever. It's made up. It's a non-fact. It has expired in verifiability. It has gone to rest among the fjords of Alaska. It is an ex-fact. So when will the Times correct this mistake? And when will they stop broadcasting it as if it were something they should be proud of?
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But no, the apologists say, we MUST believe and act now on radical economic measures because, because it might be true!