Simply put, Washington, DC, weather is miserable at this time. It feels like the middle of August, at the moment, with temperatures nearing 100 degree with very high humidity. Life for many: air conditioned house to air conditioned car to air conditioned office, with too much sweat in the seconds moving from one air-conditioned space to another.
Right now, with temperatures predicted in the high 90s for most of the coming days, we're about to shatter the record for the hottest June on record (see Capital Climate). In fact, the current June average temperature of 79.5 degrees is 5 degrees above the norm and 0.3 degrees higher than a typical July.
A frequently heard question heard from 10 year olds and 70 year olds alike: If June is like this, what will August be like?
It remains, of course, impossible to state that any specific weather event results from climate change. After all, these high temperatures are not, on any specific day, yet setting records. And, even though the 2010 spring was the warmest one for Washington, DC, in recorded weather history, a single season, in a single region, does not 'establish' climate change.
In a counter-factual situation, if Washingtonians were wrapping themselves in sweaters (outside their overly air conditioned buildings) in June, with near record cold days day after day after day, with a season that set a record for average low temperatures, there is every reason to believe that James Inhofe, George Will, and the remainder of the anti-science and anti-reality denier echo chamber would be pontificating with truthiness-laden falsehoods seeking to undermine Americans' understanding of science and of the risks that climate change presents.
When it came to Washington's snowfall, Jim Inhofe even recruited his grandchildren to help make a snow fort as part of his disinformation. Have to wonder whether any of these kids' science teachers exposed them to basic science. After all, that big snowfall might actually be reflecting climate change. The basics: warmer temperatures leading to more evaporation with more moisture in the air leading to more severe precipitation events. And, oh by the way, global warming doesn't mean that winter disappears ... DC temperatures during the 'Snowmaggedon' weren't abnormally cold, they were simply 'winter'. There is a rather simple formula for this: below freezing temperatures + lots of moisture in the air typically = snow).
In contrast to their gleeful disinformation amid snowfall, Inhofe's and Will's silence in the face of sweltering temperatures is striking ... albeit not surprising.
Reinforcing the striking (not surprising) silence: not a word on how Arctic Ice "is cracking up and melting down at record rates so far this year" (Fish Out of Water). Following a very warm May and with temperatures near Siberia some 10 degrees about average, Arctic Ice is on track to, potentially, be the youngest (e.g., thinnest) that we've seen since serious ice tracking began with the least distribution: e.g., lowest total ice mass. Note that Arctic Ice is now, at this point, below 2007 levels at the same time and the current "record" for least ice mass came in September 2007. Unlike the 100 meters at the Olympics, breaking records on the low side is not a good thing when it comes to Arctic Ice.
Again, don't be surprised if prominent WashPost (disinformation) columnist George Will fails to put out a glib 500 word essay linking sweltering DC with melting ice in a calm for a concerted national action to end our fossil foolish addictions.
And, well, in the WashPost's typical faux and balanced typical routine, while multiple stories about the winter's snowstorms had quotations from global warming deniers questioning science, the Washington Post story on the record spring heat of the spring didn't even bother to mention climate change and put the situation into context.
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