Links tagged “heatwave”

In short, the US climate is in most ways less extreme than it used to be. Temperatures are less extreme at both ends of the scale, storms less severe and droughts far less damaging. While it is now slightly warmer, this appears to have been largely beneficial.

Wildfires now burn only a fraction of the acreage they did prior to WW2

Sea-level rise is currently no higher than around the mid-20th century

Tornadoes are now less common than they used to be, particularly the stronger ones.

Floods are not getting worse

Hurricanes are not becoming either more frequent or powerful.

Summers were hotter in the 1930s than in any recent years.

Little or no rise in temperatures since the mid-1990s.

Delingpole: In 1859, Los Angeles County recorded temperatures of 133 degrees F. (The ‘record-breaking temperature claimed by Newsom was a relatively balmy 121 degrees F). According to the 1859 San Francisco Chronicle, cited by Tony Heller:

"In…eastern parts of Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties, the mercury rose in the shade to the startling figure of 133 degrees.

Cattle full in flesh perished in the fields and birds dropped lifeless from the trees in the withering blast."

It wasn’t just warmer back in 1859. Even as recently as 1983, it was significantly hotter at this time of year in downtown Los Angeles – 4.1 degrees F hotter, in fact, than the recent claimed ‘record’ temperatures.

In fact last month’s heatwave in LA was not unusually severe by historical standards, as the local temperature charts below will  demonstrate. So how come according to the charts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) this August saw record-breaking temperatures in the Los Angeles region (known as Division 6 – South Coast Drainage)?

Todd Myers: "The largest number of acres burned in the past five years was in 2018, when temperatures in E. Washington were cooler than this year. By way of contrast, 2017 was an extremely quiet fire year, but average temperature was 3 degrees warmer than the busy 2018 fire season. Additionally, 2014 was an extremely bad fire year, but average Summer temperatures were lower than the very quiet year of 2017. Precipitation was also very similar. Simply pointing to temperatures and even precipitation obviously doesn’t tell the whole story, nor is it a useful surrogate for fire activity."

Paul Homewood's polar report:

'Arctic sea ice extent, while low this year, is running well above the record low in 2012.'

'Arctic temperatures are not “rising twice as fast as the global average”. Indeed they have nor risen at all since 2004, and current temperatures are similar to those in the 1930s and 40s.'

'Greenland's growth in the ice sheet this year has been virtually in line with 1981-2010 mean, following one of the shortest melt seasons in recent years'

NOAA reported in 2019 that 'Greenland’s outlet glaciers have barely shrunk at all in the last eight years'

Antarctic 'sea ice extent is expanding well above the mean as it approaches its maximum extent'