Climate Deniers, Super Typhoon Haiyan Is Looking At You

One year after superstorm Sandy became the largest Atlantic hurricane on record, Super Typhoon Haiyan just became the strongest landfalling tropical cyclone on record, hitting the Philippines with sustained winds of 190-195mph and gusts to 235mph. That's as strong as a top-of-the-scale EF-5 tornado ... except Haiyan's eye is eight miles wide.

Why is the storm so historically strong? NOAA blames warm deep water. When climate science deniers claim a global warming "pause," the heat isn't missing - it's right there lurking in the ocean, waiting to put super typhoons on steroids.

Better burn all the coal and oil while we still can.

Welcome to Your New Climate: July Shatters DC Heat Records

When I first moved to the DC area, one of the things I appreciated most was that the summer evenings were absolutely perfect. No need to grab a sweatshirt or a blanket before heading out to the backyard or Westover Beer Garden - DC summer evenings have been just right.

But the summer of 2011 has been different. No backyards, no beer gardens, just an endless search for the safety of air conditioning.

First, let's talk about the record-hot days. In today's Washington Post, Capital Weather Gang's Jason Samenow details the carnage:

Relentless and punishing, July’s heat was unrivaled in 140 years of Washington, D.C., weather record-keeping. The July temperature averaged 84.5 degrees at Reagan National Airport — Washington’s official weather station — more than a degree above July 2010 and July 1993, which previously held the mark for hottest month.

The high temperature was at least 90 on 25 occasions, the most on record.

And what about the nights? So much for just right - July nights were just plain hot:

There were seven days in July with low temperatures of 80 or higher. During the entire period from 1871 to 1930, only three such days occurred, all in 1876.

The Washington Post deserves credit for daring to speak the truth - that heat waves like this are exactly what climate scientists have predicted as a consequence of global warming fueled by man-made carbon pollution. While global temperature data for July will take time to compile, we know June was the 7th-hottest on record and 2011 has been the 11th-hottest year on record so far.

As for me, maybe I gave up on New England weather too soon. Thanks to global warming - still accelerating unabated thanks to Congress' refusal to lead at home or abroad - those perfect nights can now be found somewhere north of here.

Photo via Flickr's Tom Faulkner Photographs

Heat Wave Humor: This Soup Tastes Salty

Spotted this morning in front of Zola Wine Kitchen on E St NW at 9th:

I'll be heading there for lunch - soup may be a bit heavy today, but the southwestern chicken salad wrap sounds great on a steamy Anthropocene afternoon.

If June Is This Hot, What Will July & August Be Like?

Before our planet's warming trend began showing up in full force around 1980, the DC area averaged about 7 or 8 days per year of 95+ degree heat. But as the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang reports, in 2011 we're likely to have had 5 scorchers by June 9th:

A huge dome of steamy hot high pressure - responsible for more than 600 high temperature records since Saturday - shifts toward the East Coast starting tomorrow, Wednesday.

Over the weekend, this sultry airmass brought historically hot temperatures to Houston, Texas which reached 105 degrees Sunday, its warmest June day in history. The Houston Chronicle reported new record highs were set there in five of the first six days in June. The Sunday records in both Houston and Galveston shattered old records by seven degrees. [...]

Here in Washington, D.C., we have already had three days at or above 95 degrees in 2011 and should tack on two more Wednesday and Thursday. Capital Weather Gang’s Ian Livingston indicates the long term average for 95+ degree days over an entire summer is 7 to 8, but that number has increased to 11 over the last 30 years.

Short-term weather patterns should never be confused with long-term climate trends - but in this case, they match. The first four months of 2011 were the 14th-hottest on record, nearly a full degree above our 20th-century average.

If we begin cutting carbon pollution now, we can avoid the worst effects of the climate crisis. But how can we make progress when virtually the entire leadership of the Republican Party is committed to denying it's getting hotter, never mind finding solutions to the problem?

UPDATE: It's now forecast to hit 100 degrees in the DC region on Thursday.

Photo via Flickr's OakleyOriginals

An April Reminder of the Anthropocene

DC's had an odd spring - stretches of cool, damp weather mixed with record highs. After Thurgood Marshall BWI Airport set a record high of 81 on March 18, Monday's forecast of 88 threatens the records of 91 at National, 87 at Dulles and 85 at BWI. Then we're right back down to lows in the 40s on Tuesday & Wednesday.

Globally, the trend remains clear - NOAA's National Climatic Data Center reports January-February temperatures were 0.72 degrees F above the average for the 1900s. That means that the first 2 months of 2011 tied for the 17th-hottest on record.

The March edition of National Geographic took an in-depth look at the Anthropocene: Age of Man. This NOAA graphic highlights some of the extreme weather events around the world in February:

Los Angeles Breaks Record for Hottest Temperature

2010's tied for the hottest year on record so far. Over the weekend, DC tied the record for most 90 degree days in one year. And now America's 2nd-largest city has broken its record for highest temperature:

As of 12:50 p.m.: downtown L.A. had hit 113 degrees, a record high. Stuart Seto, a forecaster for the National Weather Service, said that's the hottest temperature recorded at the downtown station since record-keeping began in 1877.

Nothing to see here, right California GOP Senate candidate Carly Fiorina? No need to buy any less Middle Eastern oil or burn any less mountaintop-removed coal? Just all a coincidence, or sunspots, or something?

Anthropocene: Not So Good For Maples

I spent the weekend visiting Every Day Father. One day this summer, it hit 97 degrees. That same day, the maple tree in his backyard dropped 80% of its leaves.

Clearly, this tree needs to heed Joe Barton's advice and start adapting to the Anthropocene. Get on that, maple tree!

DC Shatters Record for Hottest June

All the details at Capital Weather Gang:

Freak Floods? Or the New Normal?

UPDATE 6/14: And now floods hit Oklahoma City. An OKC official tells CNN, "Areas are flooding that have never flooded before."

Just weeks after flooding in Tennessee, Kentucky & Mississippi killed at least 31 people, floods in Arkansas killed at least 16 people this week. 

Should we keep calling this "freak floods" or "extreme weather"? Or, given that these kinds of severe storms are exactly what climate scientists have been predicting, do we have to re-adjust what we consider "normal"?

As Brad Johnson tweeted, welcome to the Anthropocene.