Hellscapes Are Already Here
Forecasters Keep It Simple: Burn, Baby, Burn!
Summer is almost here. Or maybe I should say “the planet decided not to wait.”
While we in Southern California have experienced a longer May Grey and June Gloom than usual, big parts of the northern hemisphere are already recording dangerously high temperatures. And, trust me, our turn is coming soon.
I forgot to ask Rush Limbaugh (he’s a source-part of his penance) if the heat waves being observed throughout the world are hotter than hell, but I’m certain residents of those places are considering the question.
Drum roll…
Texas and Louisiana are sharing a heat wave with Mexico and Central America. Daytime temperatures are already over one hundred degrees Fahrenheit along the Rio Grande, with heat index readings greater than 120° along part of the Gulf of Mexico coast.
Today, heat advisories were extended to parts of New Orleans and parts of Mississippi and expected to last through the weekend. The forecast for the region for the rest of June is for temperatures above average.
Locations in Mexico have been shattering records recently, with 116.6° recorded at Ciudad Altamirano, and mile-high Guadalajara rising to an unbelievable 104.9°.
Temperatures have been abnormal and unprecedented for weeks in much of the Caribbean, including Central America. The June record for the coastal city of Trujillo in Honduras was broken this week, reaching 100.4°.
Portions of Puerto Rico lost power last week as heat indexes in that part of the Caribbean reached as high as 125°.
May 2023 globally, according to NASA, had a temperature anomaly of two thirds of a degree above the 1991-2020 normal and was the 3rd hottest May behind May 2020 and May 2016.
Canada was the most above average country in May, setting the stage for the more than 2,300 fires which have already consumed about 9,142,899 acres of forest, far higher than the 674,357 acres that burn, on average, by this point in the season.
Hey, and guess what? The smoke from those fires is moving from the Midwest toward the east coast, where incredible pollution in NYC was memorialized last week with stunning images.
Continuing on our tour of the world’s hot spots, South Africa has been seeing record setting temperatures for weeks. European Russia all the way to Mongolia is also experiencing a heat wave, with temperatures in the Xinjiang portion of China exceeding 120 and the capital city of Beijing reaching 103°.
The Middle East is just roasting away, with temperatures in Iran, Oman and Emirates reaching 120° along with. Records have also been broken in the Scottish Highlands and Norway.
Water temperatures in portions of the Atlantic are the warmest on record. Globally, the world’s oceans have been running at record high temperatures since March. The warm waters are contributing to warmer air temperatures and higher humidity, which makes the air feel even hotter.
Speaking of the Atlantic, the first indications of a hurricane formed overnight just off the West Coast of Africa. People in the Lesser Antilles will be hoping for a wind shear to develop, which will reduce their chances of a destructive weather event.
Finally, Shell Oil has just announced they’re going to increase their annual spending on oil and gas production, while restricting its outlays for renewable energy projects. I’ll bet they’re planning some stock buybacks to ensure their wealthy investors can afford sea walls for the coastal properties.
Cold, Hard Truths Told
Dingus of the Week: Senators Who Can’t Read So Good Via Lyz @ Men Yell At Me Substack
This week, when asked about the indictment of the former president Donald Trump, many senators confessed to not having read the document.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa)
Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.)
Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT)
All told the Bulwark they had not read the indictment. But the most concerning response came from Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), who noted he hadn’t read the indictment, “I haven’t read it at all. I’m not a legal analyst. I’m gonna leave that to the professionals to tell us about it. I’ve read everything I can of secondary sources of it, but not the original.”
Mr. Grassley, sir, you were the head of the judiciary committee under the now-indicted president. If anyone in the Senate has any ability to analyze this indictment, it would be you, sir. SIR!
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Six years after plunging into Saturn, the Cassini spacecraft discovers phosphate in Enceladus' ocean Via Daily Kos. Viva microorganisms!
Back when it was still exploring Saturn, Cassini flew through this plume area and took samples with the CDA. Last fall a subset of our researchers were doing some geochemical modeling based in part on that data, considering what the pH of the ocean is, how long it’s been there, what else is in it, and what the rock beneath it is likely made of. They found that not only should phosphorus be present in significant amounts in Enceladus’ ocean, but it should be predominantly in the form of phosphate, the form that life can use most effectively.
But no one had ever gone back through the Cassini plume data to actually look for phosphate! Modeling isn’t always right, after all, so these researchers decided to do just that.
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Republicans Declare Banning Universal Free School Meals a 2024 Priority Via New Republic. Keep the kids starving so they won’t have impure thoughts.
States across the country are moving to provide universal free school meals to all our children. Meanwhile, Republicans are trying to stop them from doing just that.
The Republican Study Committee (of which some three-quarters of House Republicans are members) on Wednesday released its desired 2024 budget, in which the party boldly declares its priority to eliminate the Community Eligibility Provision, or CEP, from the School Lunch Program. Why? Because “CEP allows certain schools to provide free school lunches regardless of the individual eligibility of each student.”
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Brilliant and insightful as always. Thanks, Doug.