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NOAA Data Confirms July Was Hottest Month Ever Recorded
- RickJWagner 7y agoI live in Central Arkansas, which normally has hot summers. It looks like July was actually a little cooler for us this year. http://www.worldclimate.com/climate/us/arkansas/little-rock http://www.worldclimate.com/climate/us/arkansas/little-rock https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/little-rock-ar/72201/july-weather/326862 https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/little-rock-ar/72201/july-...
- Jtsummers 7y agoWasn't that sudden low the remnants of Barry passing through? Setting that aside, the rest of the first 20 days of the month are pretty much on target for the averages. Not sure if there are any weather events that coincide with the second cooling.
- jostmey 7y agoYeah, Dallas has been cooler this year than pasts. But we're just two data points in the world average.
- 2muchcoffeeman 7y agoThese sorts of comments show just how hard understanding complex systems is. We have to make it easy to grasp so we come up with things like “Global warming” or “climate change” for the general public. Which maybe indicates that the change is in a particular direction. But the climate is a system that can be influenced by many factors. I think what you should be worried about is repeated unseasonal weather. Too cool may be just as bad as too hot.
- sanxiyn 7y agoThe change is in a particular direction. The general public is not mistaken about that.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- ridewinter 7y agoSomewhere in Chile someone is yelling How can it be the hottest world month ever, it’s snowing outside!
- sak5sk 7y agoWeather is not climate. Climate change will trigger some places to be colder (at times) while overall hotter (on average). If you want to learn more, look into ocean currents, acidification and how fresh meltwater has an impact on currents / weather patterns. Here is a good Youtube channel for reference: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtZdUYUZr493AUh_EInBYxQ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtZdUYUZr493AUh_EInBYxQ
- RickJWagner 7y agoYeah, I get that. I was kind of hoping others might look, report how their July was. (I expect some hot European temperatures, not sure about the rest of the world.)
- systematical 7y agoPrediction: we'll break that record again in the next few years, then again, and again.
- rolltiide 7y agoHot and sunny Europe, a paradise for the most regulated decadent chauvinist purposes, thanks, I love it.
- dang 7y agoWould you please stop posting flamebait and unsubstantive comments? We've had to ask you this multiple times before. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- rolltiide 7y agoIts why I would like climate change though. European summer all year. And their legal brothels are anything but unsubstantive during summer. Replying to you is always a gamble but not everywhere with democratic consensus is based around silicon valley sensitivities
- minitoar 7y ago...and then shortly after that we may stop breaking it due to a lack of anyone to record it.
- ghouse 7y agoThe cost to mitigate global warming is much less than the cost that humanity will bear if it isn't mitigated. This is often argued as binary: 0) doing something will destroy the economy, 1) doing nothing will destroy the world. But in reality, there is quite a bit that can be done that doesn't cost that much. The innovators require the price signal. Externalities need to be internalized before the market can solve the problem at the least-cost.
- zaroth 7y agoFor starters, lets feed the cows some seaweed. IMO technology is very rapidly evolving which will drastically reduce emissions with very little negative trade-offs, and in fact, do so in an economically competitive fashion. The EV cars don’t just emit nothing, they are also better cars in almost every respect. The seaweed cows don’t just not fart methane, they grow fatter for less feed. The solar power isn’t just green, it’s cheaper and safer per GWh, and makes good use of fallow land while promoting biodiversity,... etc.
- pavs 7y agoAlso, quality Veggie burgers have been a thing for almost a decade now. With major fast-food chain and grocery stores are offering them. There are so many way to handle global warming issue, and yes individual contribution does matter, but the only way to move the needle in any meaningful way has to come from the top of the government and real actual meaningful policy and its implementation in a reasonable time. That is going to be very tough to do in the majority of the world government.
- slfnflctd 7y agoPerhaps we should reduce government subsidies to beef producers and start giving them to lab meat and veggie burger producers? My biggest problem with plant-based meat & cheese analogs at this point is that they cost more. It shouldn't take too much tweaking to at least bring them to parity.
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- chrdlu 7y agoWe can all do our part! Even though it is hard to actively contribute to fighting climate change every day, by becoming carbon neutral, we can grow a community to make a difference! The average American has a carbon footprint that can be offset with a $20 per month subscription. We need more money to flow into fighting climate change! I personally use Project Wren to offset my carbon footprint specifically through a tree planting projects! https://projectwren.com/ https://projectwren.com/
- numakerg 7y agoDoes ESO own any stock in this company? >The average American has a carbon footprint that can be offset with a $20 per month subscription You have a source on that?
- tunesmith 7y agoThe average American has a 20-ton / year carbon footprint. Offsetting 20 tons per year has a cost that ranges depending on what service you use. I've seen estimates of $6-10/ton - $20/month is $12/ton. Edit: for the average american footprint, you can easily find the stat that the US emitted 5.268 GtCO2 in 2018. There are 327.16 million people in the US. From that I get more like 16 tons/year per person, so 20 is out of date. Of course, we have to get to zero with sequestration on top of that.
- rtpg 7y agoIf we were thinking big picture, would this mean that the US gov't could basically spend $72 billion a year to zero out the carbon contribution of America? Cheaper than the Iraq war....
- tunesmith 7y agoNot really, because there's an implied capacity for offsetting carbon. That's what it costs now, but as more people participate, the cost will undoubtedly go up.
- Leader2light 7y agoMichigan has not seemed so bad. Granted I run AC all the time anyway.
- teslabox 7y agoJuly is hotter than January, even though the planet is closer to the sun in January, because there is more land in the northern hemisphere than the Southern Hemisphere. There was a submission ~3 months ago regarding this phenomenon: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20012565 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20012565 I’m certain there’s a submarine agenda behind most of these “hottest month EVAR” stories. /methinks it’d be much more productive to focus on making human society more resilient, than to focus on a single variable (“carbon”). I followed /u/RickJWagner’s comment’s link to accuweather, and saw a story expressing concern about this year’s coming harvest [0]. Instead of focusing on immediate problems, the NY Times and others fixate on the one variable the experts have been collecting data for, and say “see this confirms the one-variable model is right!” >> [...] Noam Chomsky has a characteristically dry and precise version of the story: “Science is a bit like the joke about the drunk who is looking under a lamppost for a key that he has lost on the other side of the street, because that’s where the light is. It has no other choice.” >> So historians, mystics, scientists and drunks have something in common: they all tend to seek the truth where the process of seeking is easy, rather than where truth is. - https://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2016/03/the-streetlight-effect-a-metaphor-for-knowledge-and-ignorance.html https://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2016/03/the-street... The problems of a fragile climate are always with us. [0] https://m.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/why-there-is-shock-and-distrust-among-us-farmers/70009090 https://m.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/why-there-is-shock...
- numakerg 7y agoWhat point are you trying to make?
- elchief 7y agoHe thinks we only started recording temperatures in January, I guess
- beders 7y agoDo you have a link to a study that has better science in it than the IPCC report? Is there a such a study? If not, maybe, just maybe, the climate scientist are right and the ever increasing CO2 is the culprit. Maybe.
- egdod 7y ago... by 0.05 degrees Fahrenheit. I wonder what the error bars are on that number.
- fny 7y agoLikely the same or better than the other predictions?
- jahewson 7y agoThat’s the increase in the global average, over just three years ago!
- sokoloff 7y agoIt’s still a fair point to wonder whether that’s +0.05F +/- 0.001F or +/-0.07F I suspect it’s more like the former, but I also wonder.
- the8472 7y agoIf the records were rising by 1 degree per year we would already be toast. That the increases are so small means that we'll only be toast in a century or two instead if nothing changes. modulo tipping points.
- egdod 7y agoThat’s not at all what I asked.
- abootstrapper 7y agoThere is a bipartisan carbon fee and dividend bill in the United States Congress right now with 59 sponsors[1], called The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (H.R. 763)[2]. This bill puts a fee on fossil fuels that grows over time. The money collected (minus administrative costs) is paid back to every American to spend as they see fit. Citizen's Climate Lobby is a bipartisan organization of regular people trying to get this bill passed. Please check out CCL and write your representative[3] to ask them to sponsor H.R. 763. It's our best shot at lowering green house gasses quickly. [1] https://energyinnovationact.org/ https://energyinnovationact.org/ [2] https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/763 https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/763 [3] https://citizensclimatelobby.org/write-your-representative/#/48/ https://citizensclimatelobby.org/write-your-representative/#...
- sanxiyn 7y agoI am not familiar with US politics, but looking at your link, the bill is sponsored by 58 Democrats and 1 Republicans. Is it a usual practice to describe such bills as bipartisan?
- big_chungus 7y agoNo, it's not. In fact, bills which actually want to be bipartisan often go out of their way to make around half of the original, top-line sponsors from each party.
- skosch 7y agoGood question. Republicans in particular need to worry about primary challenges in their science-illiterate districts, and many may be wary of attaching their name to this directly. But there are a good handful of deep red congresspeople who are happy to discuss policy details around carbon pricing, even if they can't politically afford cosponsorship [0]. I imagine that several of those may be willing to vote for such a bill. This is why it's particularly important to write to conservative lawmakers – most of them understand that this makes economic sense, but citizens have to demonstrate to them that they won't lose votes over this kind of legislation. Also, consider that if Democrats gain control of the Senate in 2020, they can pass this easily, and once such a fee-and-dividend scheme is around for a few years, it will likely become very popular with citizens (because of the dividends [1]) and big business (because of the predictability, compared to regulations/bans/subsidies/political favoritism [2]), so it won't be easy to get rid of it again. Instead, the battleground will shift, as we currently see in Canada, to "how fast do we increase the price per ton?" and "which industries get special treatment?". [0] https://citizensclimatelobby.org/climate-solutions-caucus/ https://citizensclimatelobby.org/climate-solutions-caucus/ [1] https://citizensclimatelobby.org/household-impact-study/ https://citizensclimatelobby.org/household-impact-study/ [2] https://www.clcouncil.org/ https://www.clcouncil.org/
- momokoko 7y agoDoes anyone have any references to philosophical discussions about whether or not global warming should be stopped?
- keiferski 7y agoCheck out the references part of this article: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/climate-science/ https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/climate-science/
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- throwawaynoaa7 7y agoOdd. But NOAA's own data also confirms this July was the 65th coldest on record? [1] Hard to make sense of what's coming out of NOAA these days... [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMldKLR0Vwc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMldKLR0Vwc
- zmmmmm 7y agoHmm, who shall I believe the official publication from NOAA [1] that states in the title July was the hottest month? Or a reintrepretation of their data posted on YouTube by a notorious and discredited climate denier [2]. [1] https://www.noaa.gov/news/july-2019-was-hottest-month-on-record-for-planet https://www.noaa.gov/news/july-2019-was-hottest-month-on-rec... [2] https://tonyhellerakastevengoddard.com/who-is-tony-heller/ https://tonyhellerakastevengoddard.com/who-is-tony-heller/
- briantakita 7y ago> [2] https://tonyhellerakastevengoddard.com/who-is-tony-heller/ https://tonyhellerakastevengoddard.com/who-is-tony-heller/ So website that is an vitriol-ridden ad hominem attack discredits his usage of source news articles, data analysis, graphs, & logic? None of his arguments are addressed...
- lozenge 7y agoThe first half of the video is about the US, which is completely irrelevant. After that, he points out cold areas in a map, but does no calculations. The announcement was about a global average. Then, he clips off the ocean in the land-ocean dataset, comparing it to the land dataset. They are different datasets with different methodologies which he doesn't understand or go in to. Any difference must be intentional. Then, he goes to lower troposphere temperatures, but again this varies from the surface temperature for well known reasons. In conclusion, he didn't make any actual "arguments" at all.
- zmmmmm 7y ago> None of his arguments are addressed... It is so much easier to make up lies than it is to disprove them that at some point, yes, you do have to rely on people's reputation before you start investing huge effort into disproving their statements. So yes, if you can easily show someone is a crackpot, liar or heavily motivated by a bias that is likely to make them unreliable, prove that and move on.
- yters 7y agoWhat percentage of the earth's temperature history have we recorded?
- Baeocystin 7y agoAll of it. At various granularities of measurement. For what we would consider modern, direct methodologies, about 150 years. Think mid- to late 1800's.
- yters 7y agoSo, are you saying this is the hottest July in 4.5 billion years, or that this is the hottest July in 150 years, which is 0.00003% of the earth's history? Two fairly different claims.
- Baeocystin 7y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_periods_and_events_in_climate_history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_periods_and_events_in_... You may find this information useful.
- yters 7y agoNot especially. A bunch of data and theories with very loose granularity. Plus, it seems temperatures were hotter today than in the past. Does this cause problems for the current claim? Why, why not?
- Baeocystin 7y agoDrill in to the links instead of dismissing them with a handwave, and you'll find what you're looking for. For example, here's a list of known climatic forcing events: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Events_that_forced_the_climate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Events_that_forced_th... They help us verify models, and see what sort changes one can expect when disruptions to the system happen. To answer your specific question: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/GlobalWarming/page3.php https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/GlobalWarming/pag... It's the rate of change that's the problem. What used to take thousands of years is now taking decades. If that doesn't seem like a big deal, think of the difference between stopping a car with normal braking action vs. crashing in to a brick wall. In both cases, the car changes its velocity by the same amount. It's the rate of change that causes the difference in trauma levels.
- throwaway010718 7y agoAs much as I want to believe climate change can mitigated by individuals making conscientious decisions, it seems as naive as telling someone in 1970 that if they care about the smog then they can just buy a catalytic converter for their own car. Climate change progress, like the catalytic converter, will be 1% innovation and 99% legislation. If you care about this problem please vote. Voting is arguably the most important action you can take.
- edejong 7y agoNo, voting is passive. Be politically active: talk to your neighbors, at your local sports club, at work and at local events on climate change. Contact your local legislators. Give options to local polluters by researching options for subsidies. Write to your congressmen and ask for the most pressing local actions. Democracy does not start with a vote. That’s just a step in a large process.
- jtolmar 7y agoVoting is the victory lap. Organize.
- mrhappyunhappy 7y agoAny ideas for organizing at scale?
- anthay 7y agoJoin XR? https://rebellion.earth/ https://rebellion.earth/
- jtolmar 7y agoRead No Shortcuts [1]. But in summary, determine the group of people you want to organize (a bounded group, not "everyone"), reach out to people (face to face conversations), identify community leaders who are on board, try doing a small bit of activism, and see what percent of your target group showed up. Identify leaders who got people to show up, and look for different leaders where they didn't work. Repeat, using any success as incentive to get more people interested in participating next time. [1] https://global.oup.com/academic/product/no-shortcuts-9780190624712?cc=us&lang=en& https://global.oup.com/academic/product/no-shortcuts-9780190...
- malandrew 7y agoYou have a sphere. How do you distribute sensors over the surface of the sphere so you can accurate measure the true average temperature of the sphere? If you have one sensor, you can't measure an average. Add a sensor on the other size and you have a better chance of measuring an average but still a lot of room for error. Now add 100 more. If they are evenly distribute over the surface of the sphere you're likely to get a reasonable approximation of average. If, however, all those sensors are cluster around a single pole, then you effectively get accurate of measurement comparable to when you only had a single sensor. With this all in mind how are the world's sensors whose data is the basis of this article arranged on Planet Earth and do we know how much that deviates from actual average temperature? The reason I pose this because the majority of people live in places with temperatures agreeable to the human body and many of the humanities sensors will be measuring these places but won't include what's happening in all the other areas of the world that are generally outside that livable range. Just something to think about when we talk about global averages.
- sanxiyn 7y agoThis is an important point which I think should not be downvoted. You can review locations of the world's sensors using World Meteorological Organization's OSCAR system here: https://oscar.wmo.int/surface/ https://oscar.wmo.int/surface/ Note that "surface" is both land and ocean. It is used as opposed to satellite. On the other hand, while you were thinking about global averages, how come you didn't discover WMO's database? I think it is relatively easy to discover if you try just a bit.
- CriticalCathed 7y agoCan we start publicly shaming the people who are standing in the way of preserving the species? It is a matter of the long term survival of civilization. Their feelings do not matter anymore.
- i_am_nomad 7y agoShame is an unpredictable and often counterproductive motivator. Much more reliable in shaping human behavior are greed and terror. Make of that what you will.
- dang 7y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20645243 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20645243 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20588080 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20588080
- crististm 7y agoHottest probably where they measured. This year (2019) was one with the most rain and coldest spring and summer in many years where I live. We started joking that "winter wants to spend summer holiday with us". Romania
- patientplatypus 7y agoAnd yet the highest commented post on this site as of this comment is about some schmuck who invented a "marijuana breathalyzer". The reason this shit is getting worse is we're all collectively trying to make a buck without giving a shit that the world is on fire all around us. Humanity is going to perish purely out of our own stupidity.
- Proven 7y agoAnd I haven’t noticed a thing, my air conditioning has been operating normally.