As many of us are experiencing first hand, it is hot out. Like, temps in the triple digits, President tweets a warning about it, maybe you should read this advice on how to avoid heat stroke sort of hot.
It makes perfect sense, then, that in the middle of this potentially life-threatening heat wave the Drudge Report has chosen to promote a blog post claiming “Global Temperatures Are Mostly Fake.” It’s the latest post from Tony Heller/Steven Goddard, who gets things so wrong that not only are his claims rated “pants on fire” and called “bogus” by Dr. Judith Curry, but even his fellow denier bloggers kick him off their site and point out that he “routinely says wrong and deceptive things.” His whole schtick is basically nothing more than alleging that since scientists correct temperature data for known problems (such as model inaccuracies), they’re actually sinisterly manipulating the temperature record to make it show warming.
Now, we could go over the graphs in the post Drudge linked to, but it seems pointless since these claims have been debunked for years with no effect on Heller. Instead, let’s take a look at the reality of the heat wave at hand, courtesy of Climate Signals. The central US was warned by the National Weather Service of “potentially dangerous conditions”, which kicked off Wednesday in Minnesota where heat index values (the “real feel” temperatures) reached well over 100°F. Dangerous heat index values have now spread across the Central and Southwestern US, including many major urban centers, with high nighttime temperatures elevating the risk of heat stress. In all, there will be about 130 million Americans who will deal with a heat index of at least 100°F.
As shown in this gif, summers have grown increasingly hot compared to the 1951-1980 average, and of course as we continue to emit greenhouse gases, the heat is only going to get more intense and more frequent. As the Mayor of St. Paul, Christopher Coleman put it in a press call: “The bottom line is that we face a new normal, and we’re adapting to it.”
For those of you who are having to adapt to this heat and woke up sweating, dreading the thought of facing the sweltering summer heat that is becoming the new normal, don’t worry. According to Drudge’s sources, this heat is mostly fake anyway.
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