I had a few minutes to kill last evening—a rare thing—so thought I might use it to throw together a small sampling of climate, weather, and other factoids I've run across over the past year or so. I'm not claiming any of these as "proof" of climate change; I'm just tossing them out there for your enjoyment, so make of them what you will. (Though I think if you go through the list with an honest, objective eye, one or two things may really stick out at you.)
I've tried to be as accurate as possible with the links, but if you come across something that you'd like to challenge or question, please do so.
And so: onward.
96 - the number of new daily low temperature records that have been set so far this year* in the United States.
(link)
1,970 - the number of new daily high temperature records that have been set so far this year* in the United States.(link)
42 - the number of days in the last 42* in the United States during which new daily high temperature records outnumbered new daily low temperature records.(link)
1 - the number of months in 2011 in which new daily low temperature records outnumbered new daily high temperature records.(link)
11 - the number of months in 2011 in which new daily high temperature records outnumbered new daily low temperature records.(link)
100 - the number of days in 2011 during which the temperature in both San Angelo and Wichita Falls, Texas, reached 100 degrees or higher.The previous records at those locations were, respectively, 60 and 79.
(link)
6 - the number of days Amarillo, Texas, reaches 100 degrees in an average year.(link)
50 - the number of days Amarillo reached 100 degrees or higher in 2011.(link)
113 - the high temperature in Ft. Smith, Arkansas on August 2, 2011, the city's all-time record high.(link)
115 - the high temperature in Ft. Smith on August 3.(link)
88.9 - the average temperature for Oklahoma in July, 2011, the single warmest month for any state during any month. Ever.(link)
0 - the number of summers in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Louisiana that were hotter than 2011's.(link)
0 - the number of years in Texas that were drier than 2011.(link)
0 - the number of years in Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, or Pennsylvania that were wetter than 2011.(link)
62 - the high temperature in Marshall, Minnesota, on January 5, 2012. Several other stations in the state also reached 60 or higher that day, the first in state history during which any temperatures reached at least 60 in the first week of January.(link)
0.6% - the relative humidity in Las Vegas on June 17, 2011. The dewpoint depression—the difference between the air temperature (107) and the dewpoint (-22)—was 129 degrees, a record for that city.(link)
107 - the low temperature at Khasab Airport in Oman on June 27, 2011, the world's all-time warmest low temperature record.(link)
9.9 - the temperature at the South Pole on Christmas Day, 2011, the warmest temperature ever recorded there. The record low for that station was -117.(link)
156,293 - the number of acres that burned in New Mexico's Las Conchas fire in July 2011, the largest fire ever in that state.
(link)
538,049 - the number of acres that burned in Arizona's Wallow fire in 2011, the largest fire ever in that state.(link)
3,914,178 - the number of acres that burned in Texas in 2011, by far the most ever for that state.(link)
3 - of the three biggest tornado outbreaks in United States history, how many took place in a five-week span during April and May, 2011.
(link)
199 - the number of confirmed tornadoes in the Southeastern U.S. on April 27, 2011, the most on record for any single day.(link)
343 - the number of confirmed tornadoes in the United States from April 25–28, 2011, the most on record for any single outbreak.(link)
758 - the number of confirmed tornadoes in the United States during April 2011, the most on record for any single month. The previous record was 542.(link)
12 - the number of named Atlantic tropical storms or hurricanes that formed from August 12 to September 24, 2011.(link)
27 - the number of new all-time national high temperature records set across the globe over the last two years.(link) (link)
1 - the number of new all-time national low temperature records set over the last two years.(link) (link)
1 - the number of years in the 21st century that have been cooler than the La Niña-stabilised year of 2011.(link)
97 - the number of years in the 20th century that were cooler than the La Niña-stabilised year of 2011.(link)
0 - the number of years with a La Niña present that were warmer globally than 2011.(link)
35 - the number of years that have passed since the annual global temperature was below the 20th century average.(link)
322 - the number of months that have passed since the mean global temperature was below the average(link)
14 - the number of weather disasters causing at least $1 billion in damage in the United States during 2011. (One more event may be included after an analysis is completed.)(link)
$55,000,000,000 - the approximate cost of damage caused by those 14 disasters.(link)
30,000,000,000 - approximate amount in metric tons of manmade CO2 emitted into the environment each year across the globe.
(link)
950 - approximate amount in metric tons of CO2 emitted each second.(link)
300 - approximate maximum atmospheric CO2 in parts per million (ppm) over the past 800,000 years, and up to about 1850.(link)
315.97 - atmospheric CO2 in 1959 in ppm.(link)
391.57 - atmospheric CO2 in 2011 in ppm.(link)
97 - the percentage of actively-publishing climate scientists who agree that human activity is a "significant contributing factor in changing mean global temperatures".(link)
0 - of 928 peer-reviewed climate science papers published between 1993 and 2003, the number that rejected the consensus position that global warming over the past 50 years is predominantly anthropogenic.(link)
50+ - the number of nationally or internationally recognized scientific bodies that agree with the basic tenets of anthropogenic climate change theory.(link)
0 - the number of nationally or internationally recognized scientific bodies that disagree with the basic tenets of anthropogenic climate change theory.(link)
8 - the number of expert investigative commitees that looked into the so-called "Climategate" scandal, in which stolen emails were cherry-picked to make it appear as though climate scientists were involved in an ongoing fraud.(link)
0 - the number of those commitees that found evidence of fraud.(link)
$102,850,000,000 - total profits (not revenue) announced by the big 5 oil companies for just the first three quarters of 2011 (final quarter numbers won't be available for a week.)(link)
- the average amount of time each day the three evening broadcast news programs devoted to covering climate change in 2008.