Enjoy the warm temperatures while you can. That is, enjoy the warm days with a grain of proverbial salt. These warm days are actually bad things.
Scientists are reporting that February broke global temperature margins at record levels. Stories about the data used words such as: jaw-dropping, stunning, shocker, climate emergency, bombshell, extraordinary, frightening, and unprecedented.
NASA recorded temperatures 1.35 degrees celcius (2.43 F) warmer than average in February. The previous record was set way back in January of 2016, the month prior, at 1.15 degrees celcius above average.
Readers will recall that 2 degrees celcius above average is considered by many to be the maximum we’ll be able to sustain before dangerous impacts result.
bye bye gone
“Readers will recall…” – That went out with iceboxes and wax cylinder phonographs.
Tick Tick Tick
Readers Recalling in 2011.
(My ice melted and the wax cylinders have become candles.)
March beat February - even hotter
“Compared to the 20th-century average, March was 1.07C hotter across the globe, according to the JMA figures, while February was 1.04C higher. The JMA measurements go back to 1891 and show that every one of the last 11 months has been the hottest ever recorded for that month.”
link
Hottest April ever recorded
Oh yeah, by the way….
“April 2016 was the hottest April on record globally – and the seventh month in a row to have broken global temperature records.
The latest figures smashed the previous record for April by the largest margin ever recorded.”
and
“Figures released by Nasa over the weekend show the global temperature of land and sea was 1.11C warmer in April than the average temperature for April during the period 1951-1980.”
May, too.
Bet you’ll never guess….
May was a record breaking month as well:
“NASA put May at 1.67°F (0.93°C) warmer than the 1951-1980 average for the month, the first month since October 2015 to be less than 1.8°F (1°C) above average in their dataset, which extends back to 1880.” say the Guardian.
In related news:
“Scientists warn that global warming target will be overshot within two decades, as annual concentrations of CO2 set to pass 400 parts per million in 2016” and “The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says that CO2 concentrations must be stabilised at 450ppm to have a fair chance of avoiding global warming above 2C, which could carry catastrophic consequences…. Doing that that will require a 40-70% emissions cut by 2050, compared to 2010 levels, and zero emissions by the end of the century.”
Hottest ever June
Hottest ever June. From the Guardian:
“According to two US agencies – Nasa and Noaa – June 2016 was 0.9C hotter than the average for the 20th century, and the hottest June in the record which goes back to 1880. It broke the previous record, set in 2015, by 0.02C.
The 14-month streak of record-breaking temperatures was the longest in the 137-year record. And it has been 40 years since the world saw a June that was below the 20th century average.”
2016 is expected to be the hottest year on record.
Completely up to us to solve this
We keep breaking records. So much so, we’ve really broken planet Earth. We’re in uncharted territory.
From the Guardian:
“The planet is warming at a pace not experienced within the past 1,000 years, at least, making it “very unlikely” that the world will stay within a crucial temperature limit agreed by nations just last year, according to Nasa’s top climate scientist.”
This comes a day after another story about how some scientists would like to consider this a new era – an era starting in about 1950 and colored by nuclear waste, plastics, and warming all due to humans. It’s a human- influenced epoch they are calling the Anthropocene.
As Linus once said – “We’re doomed!”
Surviving for many centuries and beyond
Warming is only part of it…World human population reached it’s viable sustainability by 1965 when the population was 3.5 billion people. As far as sustainability goes it’s all downhill from here.
However, we are not doomed. Now that corporations are people too, they are already in a separation stage from NASA going to their private wealthy means to liftoff as rapidly as they can.
The people who remain land-bound will be divided by those who suffer and those who survive, somewhat commiserate with those with wealth and those not (as usual, naturally).
However, one way or the other some humans will survive for many centuries and beyond, both on earth and in space.
Moreover, despite what too many non-scientist and anti-science idiots say about science, it is science, untainted by religion’s death culture, the war machine and general stupidity, that will takes us to the future.
Not so sure, myself
Of course, “science” got us into this as much as it will save us – power, electricity, engines, machines, bombs, fracking, chemicals, robots, and so on.
Things seem worse rather than better, overall. With help from religion, war, and general stupidity, of course, which will not go away no matter how hard we try to shake them.
I doubt humans will survive this. I certainly couldn’t take a summer of 130 degree weather, mixed with other regular severe weather events, in addition to wars and stupidity.
If anyone does survive, it won’t be a world in balance. What would be the point? A survival game? Wheee!
First the Bad news
It’s a survival game already. With many illusions and diversions, and a few still tame places left. In a post civilized civilization, only difference will be that a-Gnarchy will reign.
so much to consider
130 degrees with cooperation and intelligence might be another matter, of course.
But, it would be more like us to head toward anarchy. That begs the question, how does one best plan for anarchy? Should we aim to pioneer anarchist business and government in town,whatever that might look like, to be ahead of the curve, able to face anything that comes our way? Put that energy to use somehow?
Shall build up resources to fight for order when things break down? Plan to lock up lots of frustrated people?
If we knew Irene was to hit again, would we prepare? (Note: we are actually doing things in town to prepare for future flood events, but mostly as it relates to property.) If we knew it would hit each year, how would those plans change?
Shocked.
“Preliminary NASA data show August 2016 as the hottest August on record, tied with July 2016 for the hottest month ever recorded.”
California drought may be a new normal
New study shows California dryness may be the new normal for them.
http://www.nature.com/articles/srep33325
It’s very geeky (a scientific report):
“Taken together, paleoclimatological and paleoceanographic records indicate a system sensitive to radiative forcing which can generate centennial or longer changes in the hydroclimatology of California.”
ie – this could last 100 years.
alright, Mr. Demille, I'm ready for my close-up
There’s also a substantial drought underway right here, the streams and brooks are dry..among other effects. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say…”Well, weather’s, been great, if this is Global Warming…I’ll take it”. I’ve heard similar sentiments about (Less snow), and beach goers pumped that oceans are staying warmer longer.
It’s not unlike the famous delusional Norma Desmond…Except maybe a bit more catastrophic for everyone.
Is there any other story worth telling?
Arctic sea ice shrinks to lowest level ever recorded.
“Even though this year didn’t set a record, “we have reinforced the overall downward trend. There is no evidence of recovery here,” Serreze said. “We’ve always known that the Arctic is going to be the early warning system for climate change. What we’ve seen this year is reinforcing that.”
This year’s minimum level is nearly 2.56m sq km smaller than the 1979 to 2000 average. That’s the size of Alaska and Texas combined.
“It’s a tremendous loss that we’re looking at here,” Serreze said.”
Sept 20, 2016 letter
Scientists write a letter:
“An Open Letter Regarding Climate Change From
Concerned Members of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences
Human-caused climate change is not a belief, a hoax, or a conspiracy. It is a physical reality. Fossil fuels powered the Industrial Revolution. But the burning of oil, coal, and gas also caused most of the historical increase in atmospheric levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases. This increase in greenhouse gases is changing Earth’s climate.
Our fingerprints on the climate system are visible everywhere. They are seen in warming of the oceans, the land surface, and the lower atmosphere. They are identifiable in sea level rise, altered rainfall patterns, retreat of Arctic sea ice, ocean acidification, and many other aspects of the climate system. Human-caused climate change is not something far removed from our day-to-day experience, affecting only the remote Arctic. It is present here and now, in our own country, in our own states, and in our own communities.
During the Presidential primary campaign, claims were made that the Earth is not warming, or that warming is due to purely natural causes outside of human control. Such claims are inconsistent with reality.
Others argued that no action is warranted until we have absolute certainty about human impacts on climate. Absolute certainty is unattainable. We are certain beyond a reasonable doubt, however, that the problem of human-caused climate change is real, serious, and immediate, and that this problem poses significant risks: to our ability to thrive and build a better future, to national security, to human health and food production, and to the interconnected web of living systems.
The basic science of how greenhouse gases trap heat is clear, and has been for over a century. Ultimately, the strength of that basic science brought the governments of the world to Paris in December 2015. They went to Paris despite pronounced differences in systems of government, in national self-interest, in culpability for past emissions of greenhouse gases, and in vulnerability to future climate change. The leaders of over 190 countries recognized that the problem of human-caused climate change is a danger to present and future citizens of our planet. They made national commitments to address this problem. It was a small but historic and vital first step towards more enlightened stewardship of Earth’s climate system.
From studies of changes in temperature and sea level over the last million years, we know that the climate system has tipping points. Our proximity to these tipping points is uncertain. We know, however, that rapid warming of the planet increases the risk of crossing climatic points of no return, possibly setting in motion large-scale ocean circulation changes, the loss of major ice sheets, and species extinctions. The climatic consequences of exceeding such thresholds are not confined to the next one or two electoral cycles. They have lifetimes of many thousands of years.
The political system also has tipping points. Thus it is of great concern that the Republican nominee for President has advocated U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Accord. A “Parexit” would send a clear signal to the rest of the world: “The United States does not care about the global problem of human-caused climate change. You are on your own.” Such a decision would make it far more difficult to develop effective global strategies for mitigating and adapting to climate change. The consequences of opting out of the global community would be severe and long-lasting – for our planet’s climate and for the international credibility of the United States.
The United States can and must be a major player in developing innovative solutions to the problem of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. Nations that find innovative ways of decarbonizing energy systems and sequestering CO2 will be the economic leaders of the 21st century. Walking away from Paris makes it less likely that the U.S. will have a global leadership role, politically, economically, or morally. We cannot afford to cross that tipping point.
The following signers of this letter do so as individual NAS members and not on behalf of the NAS itself or their Institutions. ”
see the list here:
http://responsiblescientists.org
I’ll add that Trump thinks it is a hoax and Clinton pretty much dropped it as an issue after Sanders conceded.