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The Arizona Republic has an article this morning about world weather records and who investigates them and arbitrates what are real records.
It’s not a weather record until he says it is
U.N. taps professor at Arizona State to create global archive

The purpose is to establish an authoritative tracking and record of weather extremes, which will help scientists understand weather patterns and climate shifts over time. A sharp increase in record-setting extremes could provide clues to the Earth’s climate shift.

How’d he get into this? “Cerveny got interested in weather as a child in Nebraska. His family’s hilltop farm was on the edge of town, and the sheriff would drive to their house in bad weather to watch for tornadoes. If the sheriff saw one, he would radio in so the town could sound warning sirens.”
His thoughts on On global warming:

“I don’t think it’s going to be catastrophic. We’re going to have to change and develop sustainability ideas to handle the change. But I was once asked by students, ‘Are we going to be around in 20 or 30 years?’ Well, yes, we’re going to be around. It’s going to be a different place, but we’re going to be around.

The World Meteorological Organization recently launched a Web site that archives world weather/climate extremes. Here are some examples from the site, wmo.asu.edu/….

Indicators of change

…As Cerveny considers such data, he ponders whether extreme events are an indicator of global climate change. No one can point to a new record rainfall or heat spell and declare it’s a sign of global warming, he says. But if more records occur, they could indicate a climate change. Any determination depends on their accuracy….