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Earth United States

Across the US, Heat Keeps Breaking Records (opb.org) 185

The western United States is experiencing an unprecedented heat wave, with multiple states breaking temperature records in recent weeks. Palm Springs, California has been particularly affected, shattering its all-time high temperature record when it reached 124F (51.1C) last Friday. The National Weather Service reported that Palm Springs hit 122F (50C) on July 8, the highest temperature ever recorded for that date.

This extreme heat is not isolated to Palm Springs, as Arizona, Oregon, and Nevada have also seen record-breaking temperatures. Climate scientists attribute this intensifying heat to human-caused climate change. The heat wave comes as global temperatures continue to rise. According to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service, the world has been at or above the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold for 12 straight months as of June, a key marker in climate change discussions.
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Across the US, Heat Keeps Breaking Records

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  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 11, 2024 @11:14AM (#64618749)

    Across the US, Heat Keeps Breaking Records.

    I have no idea why this is happening but it is my deeply held belief that it is the Democrats' fault and you all have to respect that and accept it as the god blessed irrefutable truth.

    • is how crashed this hotdog shaped car into my climate. It's a mystery. It could be literally anyone.
    • Aka: "I've done nothing to help, and I'm all out of ideas!"

    • I wish I could laugh at that, but we're well past the point of the fascist pigs and other climate-change deniers being just the joke of the week,aren't we?
    • At some point, it'll be so hot that sticking one's head in the sand will be fatal.

  • Yes but (Score:4, Funny)

    by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ) on Thursday July 11, 2024 @11:15AM (#64618753)

    One place in the country has been below average, checkmate environmentalists!

    • yeah! And I saw a snowflake in Maine three years ago, so clearly they are all lying!
      • Gets hot somewhere, gets cooler somewhere else. The great lakes region has had gorgeous summers and mild winters past few years with plenty of precipitation. You cant start a fire in my yard if you wanted to. Everyone complains about shoveling snow, well, I can shovel snow, but you cant shovel hurricane winds & storm surges, or shovel a fire away.
    • by Junta ( 36770 )

      Also, it's just a fluke.

      When it's hotter, then "it's just weather, not climate" . On the other hand if it ever manages to snow "see, the climate is getting colder, not warmer!"

  • by Ol Olsoc ( 1175323 ) on Thursday July 11, 2024 @11:21AM (#64618767)
    Here in PA, We've had 2 heat waves already, and night temperatures often don't go below 77F (25C) this spring and summer.

    And yes, the use of Bunker fuel temporarily held off the increases, and no, resorting to purposely harming the earth by returning to its use is not a fix. It will make things worse in the end.

    We shoulda listened to the people who said this was going to happen a long, long time ago. But we didn't and now we have to put up with what we all caused.

    Best bet now is to go as green as possible, and encourage people and companies to stop de-sequestering carbon. But this is still going to be painful.

    • "and now we have to put up with what we all caused"

      I hereby decline this description for myself, and for most other Gen Xers and anyone born afterward. Have we technically contributed? Sure. But we were born into a solidly established system that made *anything* we did a Sophie's choice. And a lot of us have tried to tilt at these windmills only to be given a dozen excuses why it's unnecessary or not helpful, or outright denial of the problem, by the stupid old farts that chose convenience and profit over w

      • "and now we have to put up with what we all caused"

        I hereby decline this description for myself, and for most other Gen Xers and anyone born afterward.

        You have the advantage that you are not responsible for anything. Which is damn nice. That sounds sarcastic, but I find that there are some generations who are blameless in all matters

        Those olde fartes you demean. The boomers who are responsible for all problems? There is a problem with that. We didn't start it.

        The silent generation and greatest generation did. We boomers came up with the EPA, Created the pollution standards, and marched for a whole of things that GenXers and millennials think were so

    • by dbialac ( 320955 )

      Here in PA, We've had 2 heat waves already, and night temperatures often don't go below 77F (25C) this spring and summer.

      Subtropical climates aren't so bad. Look at Florida: grow corn and strawberries in the winter and mangoes in the summer.

      • Here in PA, We've had 2 heat waves already, and night temperatures often don't go below 77F (25C) this spring and summer.

        Subtropical climates aren't so bad. Look at Florida: grow corn and strawberries in the winter and mangoes in the summer.

        And it grows Florida man and Florida woman. I can handle Florida in the Winter - before they decided to model themselves on mid 1920's Italy. Spent about 20 K there. That money goes elsewhere now.

    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Best bet now is to go as green as possible, and encourage people and companies to stop de-sequestering carbon. But this is still going to be painful.

      Indeed. But far too many people are still not listening and are deep in denial. Hence things will continue be made worse. Especially as there is no quick payoff. We are currently basically deciding whether human civilization will survive and we may be deciding in the next couple of decades whether the human race will survive. That will actually be something that takes 100-200 years to happen, but it does not look good.

      • Best bet now is to go as green as possible, and encourage people and companies to stop de-sequestering carbon. But this is still going to be painful.

        Indeed. But far too many people are still not listening and are deep in denial. Hence things will continue be made worse. Especially as there is no quick payoff. We are currently basically deciding whether human civilization will survive and we may be deciding in the next couple of decades whether the human race will survive. That will actually be something that takes 100-200 years to happen, but it does not look good.

        One big problem is that third world countries want to be exempt, or demand tribute to reduce their emissions. India demands 2.5 trillion USD, to start reducing emissions. China doesn't plan to start until 2030. https://ballotpedia.org/Fact_c... [ballotpedia.org]

        Are we going to go extinct? Probably not, unless we star nuking each other over climate refugees. While the hotter temps will cause more rain, it will not be distributed like it is today. So there will be people without enough water. As well, the breadbasket countr

        • by gweihir ( 88907 )

          One big problem is that third world countries want to be exempt,

          Basically almost everybody tries to get around doing anything effective. And that is why the human race, as a whole, is to immature to deal with this crisis. Hopefully a large enough fragment of civilization will survive and learn from this, but it will be on a much less nice planet if it happens. But remember 3 of 4 "homo something" are already extinct and climate played a major role in that. Hence losing the last one is really not that unthinkable.

  • First, Las Vegas hit a new all-time high of 120 degrees [npr.org]. Then, they had a new record of five consecutive days at or above 115 degrees [usnews.com].

    I was in Vegas one time (in July no less) and the one thing I quickly learned is never touch exposed metal on days like this.
  • by kbahey ( 102895 ) on Thursday July 11, 2024 @12:09PM (#64618919) Homepage

    Here is some anecdotal data from my backyard weather station (Southern Ontario, Canada).
    Absolute values are irrelevant, but it is the comparative values that matter. Same sensor, same placement ...

    2022: highest was 33.9C in June, with 17 days above 30C (2 in May, 6 in June, 6 in July, 2 in August, and 1 in September.

    2023: highest was 33.4C in September, and 11 days above 30C (2 in May, 2 in June, 4 in July, none in August, and 3 in September.

    2024: already got 35.2C in June, and 13 days already above 30C (1 in May, 8 in June, and 4 so far in July), with 2.5 months to go for the A/C season.

    El Nino did end a month or so ago, and an El Nina pattern has been detected.
    We will know later in the year if that translates into some cooling compared to the past 12 to 18 months.

    If records continue to be broken, then my guess is that we started on the runaway warming phase ...

    I hope I am wrong above this ...

    • You are. Just like every doomsayer.
  • Edmonton in Canada has seen days of ~38C (that is 98F for the Centigrade challenged) days recently. The weather all across North America have generated heat domes that are making life interesting in locations that are not accustomed to such temperatures.
  • On the central coast of California. Homes and businesses here do not have heating or cooling (literally -neither my house or my business has anything). We open or close the window to regulate temperature. Warm in the sun with a cool ocean breeze, overnight fog. Typically 50s to 60s(12-21c) in the summer, 40s to 50s (6-13c) with rain in the winter, maybe it hits 80s (28c) in August.

    This morning the water from the cold tap was above body temp. I had a nice warm all cold shower.

  • Yes it’s hot. Yes it’s trending hotter. Yes some people are not used to it. However the American SW aside, most places in the USA are not nearly as hot as the places the majority of the people on earth live. Most of the world’s population lives within 25 degrees of the equator. Most of those people don’t have a/c. Miami is 25 degrees from the equator. For about 18 months I lived on the edge of rainforest on the equator. I was outside most of the time. You got used to it. That was ho

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