Pressure Causes Temperature? It’s Time to Climb Down from “Mount Stupid”
May 28th, 2026 by Roy W. Spencer, Ph. D.
There was a recent weeks-long exchange of emails between many climate people — professional and amateur — regarding the idea that air pressure (in combination with absorbed solar energy) is what causes temperature. There were insults launched at those who refused to believe what a certain physics-trained person says should be a revolution in our understanding of planetary temperatures. That person even managed to get a paper published in a journal that (in my opinion) used reviewers who were in over their heads on the subject.
The whole ordeal makes me think of the Dunning-Kruger Effect, which is the tendency for people who start to understand a complex subject to overestimate their level of understanding. This then leads to a point of peak overconfidence (climbing “Mount Stupid”), which then gradually relaxes as more is learned and the person increasingly realizes that the subject is more complicated and nuanced than they originally thought.
I claim that the person in question who thinks [pressure + absorbed solar energy = temperature] is still stuck on Mount Stupid.
The reason I bring this up again (I’ve preached on it before) is that many have been misled into believing the “theory”. As a result, I have spent many years responding to questions from the public (including science-savvy citizens) regarding the issue. Many have been convinced by the “theory”, and have joined the proponent of the theory on Mount Stupid.
After lurking in the weeks-long email discussion, I finally responded with the following summary of the issue. I have removed the person’s name to protect the not-so-innocent.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/05/29/pressure-causes-temperature-its-time-to-climb-down-from-mount-stupid/
