The Heat Isn't Just the Southwest US

I think the news that it's hitting 120 degrees in Phoenix today and being so hot all over the Southwest US is getting around. That seems clear.

What isn't also clear is the heat on another continent.

Heatwave scorches Europe, 

from London to Siberia

Europe sizzled in a continent-wide heatwave on Wednesday, with London seeing Britain's hottest June day since 1976 as Portugal battled to stamp out deadly forest fires.

More than 1,000 firefighters were still fighting to control the flames that broke out in central Portugal at the weekend, killing 64 people.

Cooler weather was aiding their efforts, but thermometers were still hovering around 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit)—a level matched across oven-like swathes of Europe, including Italy, Austria, the Netherlands and even alpine Switzerland.

Two forest fires have also broken out since Sunday on Croatia's southern Adriatic coast, prompting the authorities to evacuate 800 tourists, though the blazes have now been brought under control.In Italy, forecasters say the current heatwave could turn out to be the most intense in 15 years, with temperatures around eight degrees above the seasonal average—39 C in Milan and up to 30 in the Alps at an altitude of 1,000 metres (3,300 feet).

Britain saw its first five-day stretch of temperatures over 30 degrees in June since 1995—and the thermometer hit 33.9 C in west London, a UK record for the month since 1976.

In Guildford, southwest of the capital, a road surface melted on Tuesday, with motorists likening it to a bar of chocolate left out in the hot sun.

In Russia, Siberia was also suffering a heatwave, with temperatures of up to 37 Celsius in the city of Krasnoyarsk, Channel One television reported.

It's gotten so clear there's global warming, apparently, even the extreme Right Wing website, Breitbart,  posted the same story.

Heatwave scorches Europe, 

from London to Siberia

So, yeah, it looks like 2017 is shaping up to be, again, the new hottest year in recorded history.

Maybe we need those Paris Climate Accords after all.

Abnormal Weather

87 degrees yesterday.

In Missouri.

Northwest Missouri.

Mid-March.

Summertime temperatures.

Air conditioning. Again, in March.

Broke the day's record high.

And the last official day of Winter, to boot.

Additionally, Peru just got 10 times more rain than normal, creating horrific floods and flooding.

Abnormal El Nino in Peru unleashes 

deadly downpours;

Apocalyptic scenes as scores die 

in Peru floods

Apocalyptic scenes Peru flooding

There's also this.

February 2017: Earth's 2nd Warmest 

February and 4th Warmest Month

But always remember, kids...

Where we are right now, weatherwise

Florida has been in the 80's and very humid.

Southwest Missouri is far under the average for rainfall this year, to date.

New Mexico is extremely dry, still in drought conditions.

California has been in the low to mid- 80 degree weather range.    Most all Winter.

Meanwhile, Australia is burning and drying up, in severe, prolonged drought conditions.



You tell me.

Topsy-turvy Summer

It seems like we had August in June and July and we're having--what?--June in August?

I'll take this, for sure.

Here's hoping on that rain for Thursday.

Documentary coming out on climate change evidence

This is a new documentary that just came out of the Sundance Film Festival this year.

Apparently the man who shot it was formerly a global warming skeptic. What he saw and filmed changed his opinion on it completely.



You might watch for it. When it comes, it will likely be at the Tivoli Theater in Westport.

All that warm weather this year

Some statistics on this year's heat wave: First, so far this month, up to the 19th, "more than 2,200 warm temperature records have been set so far in March." Second, Winner, South Dakota, two days ago, "...hit 94°F—-the earliest 90° reading ever recorded in the Northern Plains." Next, "Canada is weathering record-breaking heat too: Winnipeg, Manitoba broke its record high for the past four days in a row, and hit 21°C (70°F) yesterday, its hottest temperature on record so early in the year. With today's forecast by Environment Canada and wunderground both calling for highs near 25°C (77°F), Winnipeg is likely to record its highest March temperature on record." It is at least extraordinary, no matter your beliefs. Link: http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/03/crazy-heat-wave-about-get

How this winter shaped up in temperatures

Click on picture for larger, easier viewing.

How warm it is--and has been

This is how warm it was yesterday and how obviously warm it's been lately, as we all know: Last evening, as I was driving home out in the country, I realized bugs--BUGS, mind you--were flying past my windshield as though it were, I don't know, at least May. I tell you, this is pretty crazy. March 7 and bugs flying toward my car and windshield. Yikes. It's still very officially Winter, for pity's sake!

Climate change deniers out there?

For any and all climate change deniers out there, please see the above photo. From the internet last evening: "Ghorama is an island located in West Bengal, India, that is eroding into the ocean due to a dramatic increase in the sea level. The photographer posed locals on disappearing segments of the island. According to the artist, locals who still live on the larger segment of the island expect to be relocated within the next 25 years." (Photo: Daesung Lee/Sipa Press) There's the glaciers and ice caps melting and then there's this. Ignore any- and everything else if you wish, but you can't deny these things. Link: http://news.yahoo.com/photos/snapshots-1320966603-slideshow/#crsl=%252Fphotos%252Fsnapshots-1320966603-slideshow%252Fsnapshots111312-photo-1326482674.html

I refuse to get on the "global warming bandwagon" but...

As I said, I refuse to get in on the global warming mob because I think it's crucial to watch the "bigger picture" and not go by a cold day or hot spell. That said, I have also pointed out that a "bigger picture" does, I think, come from the melting of the ice caps and glaciers 'round the world. Now, today, comes this little tidbit of information having to do with last month's temperatures: "All 50 States Have Set High Temperature Records This July." Yep, that's what it said. With July's data now in the books, we got hot last month, coast to coast. But wait! There's more! "There have been 2,068 record high daily maximum temperatures in the United States..." And yet more: "More remarkably, and consistent with the expected effect of higher greenhouse gas concentrations, nights have been even warmer — 4,638 record high daily minimum temperatures were recorded, 3.4 percent of all readings." How will this month fare? Who can say? It could go either way, certainly, but as I say this, it's 106 or 107 degrees outside here in Kansas City. As for hope in the future, there is also an article over at Think Progress telling of "GOP Congressman: If We Take The Senate And White House In 2012, The EPA Will Be ‘Discontinued.’" Not very hopeful. Apparently the rich and corporations don't care for clean air, water and soil after all. Links: http://thinkprogress.org/green/2011/07/25/277576/all-states-high-temperatures-july/; http://thinkprogress.org/green/2011/07/27/280925/gop-2012-epa/

Heatwave

Heat warnings from last evening until next Friday evening right now. Keep cool out there, y'all.

100 Places to Go Before They Disappear

On Earth Day, for Earth Day, today, from Yahoo! News:


For Earth Day, Yahoo! News interviewed Gaute Hogh, publisher of the book 100 Places to Go Before They Disappear (distributed by Abrams in the U.S.). Hogh was inspired to produce the book after witnessing the effects of global warming in his native Denmark. He wanted to show how natural beauty around the globe could be forever altered by climate change.


One of these many places that could be severely affected--Kauai, Hawai'i

Kauai, the fourth largest Hawaiian island, is famous for its tropical beauty and lush mountains. Global warming could disrupt its distinct “cloud forest”ecosystem, pushing life-giving moisture to higher elevations. Home to the hummingbird-like honeycreeper, a rare and colorful animal that sips nectar from flowers, this cool zone is vital to Kauai’s verdant environment. Deforestation and non-indigenous species like pigs and goats have also decimated the honeycreeper’s habitat in recent years and the bird is now in danger of going extinct.  See more at links below.

Or we could start to change how we live so it's more sustainable.


It's our choice.


Here's hoping we can change quickly enough to make a difference.


Links:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_newsroom/20110421/sc_yblog_newsroom/photos-of-endangered-places-around-the-world
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Endangered-Places-Around-World/ss/events/sc/042011climateplaces

Spring?

All right, it's been dark and cold and snowy and icy and a really awful, old-fashioned January around here--in fact, over much of the US that gets a real winter--but the forecast for tomorrow is 55 degrees AND trout season officially opens tomorrow.

Spring can't be that far away now, right?

Enjoy the sunshine, y'all.

Links:  http://www.kansascity.com/2011/02/26/2684492/outdoors-digest-missouri-trout.html

Still don't believe in climate change, eh?

For any and all who don't believe there is "climate change" happening now and/or that the glaciers and ice caps are melting, this one's for you:

If an island state vanishes, is it still a nation?

By CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special CorrespondentMon Dec 6, 2:27 pm ET
CANCUN, Mexico – Encroaching seas in the far Pacific are raising the salt level in the wells of the Marshall Islands. Waves threaten to cut one sliver of an island in two. "It's getting worse," says Kaminaga Kaminaga, the tiny nation's climate change coordinator.

The rising ocean raises questions, too: What happens if the 61,000 Marshallese must abandon their low-lying atolls? Would they still be a nation? With a U.N. seat? With control of their old fisheries and their undersea minerals? Where would they live, and how would they make a living? Who, precisely, would they and their children become?

For years global negotiations to act on climate change have dragged on, with little to show. Parties to the 193-nation U.N. climate treaty are meeting again in this Caribbean resort, but no one expects decisive action to roll back the industrial, agricultural and transport emissions blamed for global warming — and consequently for swelling seas.

From 7,000 miles (11,000 kilometers) away, the people of the Marshalls — and of Kiribati, Tuvalu and other atoll nations beyond — can only wonder how many more years they'll be able to cope.

Just don't tell me the climate isn't changing or that it isn't changing rapidly.  Can we officially be done with that now?  

Please?

Link:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101206/ap_on_sc/climate_disappearing_nations

Possible unusual ice melt

From and according to the post: "Thousands of walruses gathered together in a dangerous "haul out" on the coast of Alaska earlier this month. Scientists say the walruses came ashore in such large numbers because their normal habitats, Arctic ice floes, are melting." I don't know if this is true and some scientists or natives would have to tell us if this is typical, annual activity or if this is unusual. Note that this is from National Geographic, whom I believe is trustworthy in their information and don't use false data to emotionalize or take a position. All I'm saying is, if it is unusual and truly due to heavier than usual ice melt, things are moving along quickly, regarding ice melt and global warming.

What news report is going to change the "anti-global climate change" group's mind?

Breaking news report: NASA: First half of 2010 breaks the thermometer — despite “recent minimum of solar irradiance” July 10, 2010 Following fast on the heels of the hottest Jan-May — and spring — in the temperature record, it’s also the hottest Jan-June on record in the NASA dataset. It’s all the more powerful evidence of human-caused warming “because it occurs when the recent minimum of solar irradiance is having its maximum cooling effect,” as a recent must-read NASA paper notes. What further, additional science--hard data--will it take until we all agree on the science that something is afoot here and that there is at least some global climate change we need to take into consideration for our safety and our future existence? Fortunately for us, our military already believes it's something we need to believe in as a possibility and analyze, if for no other reason but possible national security. Link to original post: http://climateprogress.org/2010/07/10/nasa-hottest-year-solar-minimum/

No climate change, eh, Mike?

According to rocket scientist and local meteorologist Mike Thompson, there isn't any such thing as climate change or global warming.

This news comes to us today from a fellow blogger at Bottom Line Communications and Tony at TKC (see links below).

According to Bottom Line: "Veteran WDAF-FOX4 meteorologist Mike Thompson went on the "KCMO Morning Show With Chris Stigall" on KCMO-710 AM (12/2) taking the controversial stance that global warming is not man-made."

Who knows what that's supposed to mean.

Does he mean it's fictitious and made up or does he mean there is such a thing as global warming but it's "man-made"?

Who can say?

All I know, Mike, is that the ice caps and glaciers are melting and, if you'd read the article link below, from CNN, you'd see that people in Alaska are losing ground--literally, they're losing permafrost, earth, and homes, etc.--right out from under them.

"Coastal erosion has been an issue for decades here, but rising global temperatures have started to thaw the permafrost that once helped anchor this village in place. Sea ice that protects Shishmaref's coast from erosion melts earlier in the spring and forms later in the fall. As a result, the increasingly mushy and exposed soil along Shishmaref's shore is falling into the water in snowmobile-sized chunks."

How do you 'splain that, Mike?


Links: http://www.bottomlinecom.com/kcnews/thompsonglobalwarming.html

http://www.tonyskansascity.com/2008/04/mike-thompson-compares-global-warming.html

http://www.tonyskansascity.com/2009/12/kansas-city-weather-newsie-mike.html

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/12/03/shishmaref.alaska.climate.change/