Massive heat dome to scorch the Southwest, could smash longstanding records By Andrew Freedman "An unusually severe heat wave is projected to roast the Southwest beginning late this week and lasting into next. At the peak of the heat, Phoenix may come close to its all-time record high temperature of 122 degrees Fahrenheit, with extraordinary heat in Las Vegas and Death Valley, California as well. "Even Los Angeles could hit 100 degrees on Sunday and Monday. "The heat wave will come courtesy of a huge bulge, or ridge, in the jet stream that is going to set up across the South Central U.S. and progressively intensify. "Based on computer model projections, the high pressure area, which will pump warm, relatively dry air into the Southwest, may set records for a specific meteorological parameter (geopotential height anomaly) that helps measure the unusualness of high pressure ridges such as this one. SEE ALSO: Earth's hot streak continues with warmest May since at least 1880 "Residents of the Southwest are accustomed to hot weather, particularly the dry heat that can occur prior to the annual summer monsoon season, when conditions are more humid and showers and thunderstorms are common. "However, this heat wave will be extreme, and the National Weather Service is warning it is dangerous, given the risk of heat-related illnesses such as heat stroke. "Phoenix has only hit 120 degrees Fahrenheit or higher three times before, and the forecast high on Monday is just that — 120. "The sprawling desert city's all-time record high temperature could even be met or exceeded during this heat wave, though that's not a sure bet. Other all-time records are also in jeopardy, including a high of 117 degrees Fahrenheit in Tucson, and 124 degrees in Yuma. "Phoenix has had four straight record highs so far this month, and recorded the earliest 115-degree reading since record-keeping began there in 1895, according to Bob Henson of Weather Underground. "In general, temperatures will run about 20 degrees above average across the Southwest, and excessive heat watches are in effect in Arizona, New Mexico and parts of California. "Above average temperatures will also be found to the northeast, into Colorado, Utah, Texas, Kansas and then dangerously hot and humid conditions are likely for the Southeast early next week as well. Once again, record highs are crushing record lows this year So far this year, record highs in the U.S. are far outpacing record lows, which is a gap that has widened in the past several years. According to the National Centers for Environmental Information, there have been 12,061 daily record highs tied or broken so far this year, compared to 1,892 daily record lows during the same period. "The increasingly imbalanced ratio of record highs to lows is an indicator of how climate change is altering the weather in favor of more warm extremes across the country. "This trend is likely to continue, and even grow worse, if emissions of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels continue apace. "A study published Tuesday in the journal Climatic Change found that a business-as-usual emissions path would mean that by 2061-2080, summers in large parts of North and South America, Central Europe, Asia and Africa would have a greater than 90 percent chance of being warmer than any summer in the historic record. "In other words, this means that virtually every summer would be as warm as the hottest seen to date." http://mashable.com/2016/06/14/sout...d=mash-com-social-huffpo-partner#WaMx2hY2mSq6
BUSINESS Big Coal Funded This Prominent Climate Change Denier, Docs Reveal Scientist Roy Spencer is one of dozens of creditors named in Peabody Energy’s bankruptcy documents. 06/14/2016 06:09 pm ET "One of the world’s largest coal companies, Peabody Energy, paid a prominent scientist and dozens of others to promote climate change denial, new documents reveal. "The company’s list of creditors, filed to comply with financial disclosure requirements as part of its recent bankruptcy, shows just how many different organizations and individuals Peabody Energy paid to deny climate change. The watchdog group Center for Media and Democracy published a breakdown of creditors that details their affiliations. "One such creditor is Roy Spencer, who teaches at the University of Alabama, Huntsville. Spencer, a vocal denier of climate change science who writes a popular blog, has a Ph.D. in meteorology from University of Wisconsin-Madison and was once employed by NASA, according to his website. The Senate often asks him to testify about climate science. "Spencer’s website claims he “has never been asked by any oil company to perform any kind of service. Not even Exxon-Mobil.” "Yet, Peabody Energy’s bankruptcy documents show that Spencer is a creditor..." More >>
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A Climate Fix So Risky, Critics Say Don’t Even Study It Here’s a scary thought: What if we’re too late to stop devastating climate change? We talk a lot about prevention. Harvard physicist David Keith says we should be thinking about triage. Keith is researching solar geoengineering—spraying aerosols into the upper atmosphere that act as tiny mirrors, reflecting some sunlight back to space and cooling the planet. His lab built a mini-atmosphere to test how different aerosols might react. Unsolvable: Scientists Race to Heal Climate With Fake Trees and Sun Shields While other countries have research programs on solar geoengineering, in the U.S., just studying it has been controversial. Critics argue that the potential unknown effects could be dire and that a cooling remedy could weaken our will to curb emissions. Keith says we need to know more about geoengineering before we dismiss it. “It’s a deep question,” he says, “why people seem to be more concerned about deliberate tinkering that actually aims to reduce environmental risk than they are about all sorts of hideous ways we’ve damaged the environment.” http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-fix-so-risky-critics-say-don-t-even-study-it
Oh. Wow. And what is the point of this chart? You know, the Pointed Man says that a point in every direction is the same as no point at all.
We should be doing this now. Very small amounts. Along with all the other things. It does nothing for ocean acidification however which is another cause of ecosystem disruption. Something that also never gets mentioned and I'm not sure why, is that mankind has never lived with background CO2 levels this high. They are about 30% higher than mankind has ever seen. What is this doing to us? Do we have any idea? Is it somehow altering rational thought processes and making us like Trump?
In the birthplace of U.S. oil, methane gas is leaking everywhere A mail box sits on an abandoned well pipe near blooming peonies, logs snag on metal casings rising out of a creek, children swing next to rusted pump jacks. In Pennsylvania, birthplace of the U.S. oil industry, century-old abandoned oil wells have long been part of the landscape. Nobody gave much thought to it when many were left unplugged or filled haphazardly with dirt, lumber and cannon balls that slipped or rotted away. But the holes -- hundreds of thousands of them pockmark the state -- are the focus of growing alarm, especially those in close proximity to new wells fracked in the Marcellus shale formation, the nation’s largest natural-gas field. They leak methane, which contaminates water, adds to global warming and occasionally explodes; four people have been killed in the past dozen years. We had so much methane in our water, the inspector told us not to smoke a cigar or light a candle in the bath,” said Joe Thomas, a machinist who lives with his wife, Cheryl, on a 40-acre farm with at least 60 abandoned wells. Patches of emerald-hued oil leech to the surface, transforming the ground into a soupy mess. Hundreds like the Thomases live over lost wells.... http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/mark...s-is-leaking-everywhere/ar-AAhkd3A?li=BBnb7Kz
New NASA plane could eliminate gas-guzzling airliners (CNN)At NASA, an experiment is underway that could upend the aviation industry: A fully electric plane. As electric cars roll out across the world -- nixing the need to pay soaring fuel prices - NASA is looking to the skies, unveiling the X-57, or "Maxwell". NASA says Maxwell could be on the runway within four years. Maxwell, a single-seater plane that bears a striking resemblance to a Cessna, uses electric propulsion rather than burning fuel. The craft would have 14 electric motors in total, dotted on the wings. The project is part of NASA's $790 million "New Aviation Horizons" initiative: an ambitious 10-year program to see the replacement of the roaring, gas-guzzling commercial jetliners we use today, with a quieter, greener alternative. At a conference in Washington on Friday, Charles F. Bolden Jr, the NASA administrator, said, "the X-57 will take the first giant step in opening a new era of aviation." NASA says Maxwell could be on the runway within four years, quickly followed by a series of five larger electric planes, capable of holding more passengers and cargo. While Maxwell is still a prototype, earlier this year, NASA researchers achieved success on a much smaller scale, successfully testing a small electric-powered plane called the Greased Lightning GL-10. NASA earlier this year successfully tested Greased Lightning, a small electric plane. A YouTube video of Greased Lightning's remotely-controlled inaugural flight has been viewed more than a million times. Of course, Maxwell wouldn't be the first plane to operate without a drop of fuel. In April, the Solar Impulse touched down in California after a two-and-a-half day flight across the Pacific. That plane was operated by solar power. But speed was not its strong suit, reaching just 30 to 40 mph. Maxwell, on the other hand, is predicted to reach speeds of 175 mph. If successful, NASA says the technologies applied to get Maxwell in the skies, could be translated to the private sector - something that could transform travel as we know it. http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/18/aviation/nasa-electric-plane/?iid=ob_article_organicsidebar_expansion