Let’s play “Connect the Dots”:
1) It’s bad, and its going to get worse as the week goes on.
Sunday’s Heat Index for Newton, Iowa: Guess? Try 126. Madison, MN: 119.
Unusual, yes (but don't forget Europe's 2003 heatwave that killed tens of thousands). High temperatures will shift east.
HIGH TEMPERATURES IN EXCESS OF 100 DEGREES WILL BE POSSIBLE BY THURSDAY ACROSS MUCH OF THE MID-ATLANTIC STATES AND PARTS OF THE SOUTHEAST U.S. THESE TRIPLE-DIGIT TEMPERATURES ARE FORECAST TO REMAIN IN PLACE ACROSS THE EASTERN U.S. THROUGH THE WEEKEND.
2) Drought, Dust Bowl and Food shortages, oh my!
Fourteen states are suffering from a drought so early and severe that it's already causing comparisons with the dust bowl years of the 1930's.
Farmer:
"Horrible". You can’t raise crops or livestock without rain...
Dots 3 through 7 (including what you can do) below the fold...
3) Part of “An unusual year”
The devastating string of tornadoes, droughts, wildfires and floods that hit the United States this spring marks 2011 as one of the most extreme years on record, according to a new federal analysis.
Eight $1-billion-plus disasters. $32-billion in costs so far, hundreds dead. Just wait until a hurricane hits.
4) Global Warming? Do ya think? The Weather Equivalent of Speeding
Just as speeding increases the risk of a deadly auto accident, but cannot be conclusively assigned as the cause of an accident, a particular heat wave is not directly caused by global warming, but has a higher risk of occurrence and of being intense because of global warming," the analysis states.
5) This is 1 degree centigrade warmer globally…
Globally, annually–averaged surface temperature has increased by just under 1 °C since the late 1800s. The rate of increase over the past 50 years is nearly twice that of the past century. (NOAA)
6)… and several more degrees are in our future
Read the Mark Lynas 2009 classic: Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet. This book scared the heck out of me. Two or 3 degrees may be unavoidable, but we are on the track to 4 to 6 degrees. Be concerned. Be very concerned. Danger, Danger Will Robinson!
7) Unless we do something dramatically different about it.
Now is a great time to write to your newspaper and congresspeople. Talk to your friends, especially your “denier” friends. Join 350.org or any number of environmental groups. Produce less CO2 personally.
Connect the dots: The evidence of 1 degree of warming is literally in our face. Get the picture? We have to collectively have our nation (and the world) face the heat, literally, lest we cook our own goose. Now, while they are feeling the heat, go convert someone who isn't in the choir, and we will all sing louder.