Comparative Catastrophes

The building collapse in Surfside, Florida apparently killed a few more than 150 people. It has been the subject of round-the-clock coverage by every cable news network, and the front page of every newspaper, for the week since it happened. Wolf Blitzer even moved himself down there -- this is even though there has been nothing in particular new to report for 23 3/4 of every one of those round-the-clock cycles. We still aren't sure why it happened, and therefore unsure what larger implications there may be, if any.

Meanwhile hundreds of people, at least -- we won't have a full appreciation of the death toll for quite a while -- have died in the historically unprecedented heat wave in the northwest. Okay, some of them were in Canada so it doesn't count, but still. Read this by Jeff Masters and Bob Henson at Yale Climate Connection. It will set your hair on fire. I'll just pull  a couple of highlights, but it goes on and on . . . 

“This is the most anomalous regional extreme heat event to occur anywhere on Earth since temperature records began. Nothing can compare,” said weather historian Christopher Burt, author of the book “Extreme Weather.” . . .

• Portland, Oregon, broke its longstanding all-time record high (107°F from 1965 and 1981) on three days in a row – a stunning feat for any all-time record – with highs of 108°F on Saturday, June 26; 112°F on Sunday; and 116°F on Monday. That 116°F is one degree higher than the average daily high on June 28 at Death Valley, California.

• Quillayute, Washington, broke its official all-time high by a truly astonishing 11°F, after hitting 110°F on Monday (old record: 99°F on August 9, 1981). Quillayute is located near the lush Hoh Rain Forest on the Olympic Peninsula, just three miles from the Pacific Ocean, and receives an average of 100 inches of precipitation per year.

• Jasper, Alberta, broke its all-time high of 36.7°C (98.1°F) on four days in a row, June 27-30, with highs of 37.3°C, 39.0°C, 40.3°C, and 41.1°C (99.1°F, 102.2°F, 104.5°F, and 106°F). . . .

Preliminary data from NOAA’s U.S. Records website shows that 55 U.S. stations had the highest temperatures in their history in the week ending June 28.

 

The heat has been accompanied by a vast outbreak of wildfires fueled sparked by dry thunderstorms, which totally destroyed the town of Lytton, Alberta and are filling cities with choking smoke. Oh yeah -- the forecast is that this may happen again at the end of next week, and maybe be even hotter.

I've seen barely a mention of it on cable news. But we do know why this is happening. And no, it isn't the "new normal," it's going to keep getting worse. And one of the two major political parties in the United States says it's all a hoax.

Before you make an idiot out of yourself with an ignorant comment, read the linked paper, which is written by two highly respected experts. It explains how climate change causes this and no, it has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the Gulf Stream, which by the way is on the opposite side of the country.