Heat!
Over the last two weeks the U.S. has been subject to excessive heat. Records were broken across the country.
The first thing we hear from politicians and pundits in the media is: CLIMATE CHANGE!
Before I go on, let me tell you that I totally believe the climate does change. In fact, I’ve written about it here and here.
I believe it’s an indisputable fact that, since its birth billions of years ago, the earth’s climate has been changing. The climate today is different than what the climate was when dinosaurs walked the earth. What I don’t believe is that the flyspeck of humanity has any real impact on making our climate warmer, or that there is anything humans can do to change the earth’s temperature, short of changes that would foster change over geologic time. In other words, a looooooong time!
The way our modern media spins news of the current heatwave, you’d think that, OMG, we’ve never seen anything like this before.
But that’s just not true. Have you heard of the great heatwave of 1936 that led to the heat-related deaths of an estimated 5,000 people, sent thermometers to a record 121F in Steele, North Dakota, and made that July the warmest month ever recorded in the United States?
Here’s a recent headline: “Phoenix breaks 50-year record for most consecutive days of extreme heat.” Ok, but was there an excess amount of CO2 in the atmosphere in 1973? In fact, at about that time Leonard Nimoy was warning us about global cooling with a NEW ICE AGE that was due to begin in 1979!
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To listen to our media today, you’d have to believe that not only is the earth cooking but that temperatures are many degrees higher than anything we’ve ever seen before.
So, consider these U. S. weather facts from Wikipedia. There are many more citations than these when you include Europe and Asia:
1911 – Eastern North America heat wave killed between 380 and 2,000 people.
1913 – in July, the hottest heat wave EVER struck California. During this heat wave, Death Valley recorded a record high temperature of 134F at Furnace Creek, the highest ambient air temperature recorded on Earth.
1921 – Was the hottest July on record across Eastern Canada and parts of the Northeastern U.S.
1936 – North American heat wave during the Dust Bowl, followed one of the coldest winters on record – the 1936 North American COLD wave. The longest continuous string of 100F or higher temperatures was reached for 101 days in Yuma, Arizona during 1937.
1950s – A prolonged severe drought and heat wave occurred in the early 1950s throughout the central and southern U. S. Every year from 1952 to 1955 featured major heat waves across North America. The heat was particularly severe in 1954 with 22 days of temperatures exceeding 100F covering significant parts of eleven states. On 14 July, the thermometer reached 117F at East St. Louis, Illinois, which remains the record highest temperature for that state.
1972 – New York and Northeastern U. S. experienced significant heat. Almost 900 people died; the heat conditions lasted almost 16 days, aggravated by very high humidity levels.
1980 – estimated 1,000 people died in that year’s heat wave and drought, which impacted the central and eastern U. S. From June through September, temperatures remained above 90F all but two days in Kansas City, Missouri. The Dallas/Fort Worth area experienced 42 consecutive days with high temperatures above 100F, with temperatures reaching 117F at Wichita Falls, Texas on 28 June.
1983 – temperatures over 100F were common across 11 states. The summer of 1983 remains one of the hottest summers ever recorded in many of the states affected.
1988 – intense heat spells in combination with the drought of 1988, reminiscent of the dust bowl years caused deadly results across the U. S. Official estimates report that 5,000 to 10,000 people died because of constant heat across the U. S. Some estimates put total deaths at close to 17,000.
1995 – The Chicago heat wave produced record high heat indices in the Chicago area and Wisconsin; where temperatures reached as high as 106F leading to at least 778 deaths.
1999 – A heat wave and drought occurred in the eastern United States. Rainfall shortages resulted in the worst drought on record for Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. The state of West Virginia was declared a disaster area. 3.81 million acres were consumed by fire as of mid-August. Record heat throughout the country resulted in 502 deaths nationwide.
2000 – in late Summer 2000, a heat wave occurred in the southern U. S., breaking many cities’ all-time maximum temperature records.
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I could go on before 1900 and after 2000. The fact is that the earth has experienced heat waves long before the SUVs roamed the planet.
I’m not suggesting that we necessarily change anything. But I am suggesting that we need to keep our eyes and minds open to “misinformation and disinformation” that we may see or hear in the modern media. When they start screaming “climate change” perhaps we should dig a bit deeper.
As Ronald Reagan said of the Soviet Union, “trust, but verify.”
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“I’ll believe there’s a crisis when the people who tell me there’s a crisis start acting like there’s a crisis.”
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They DO Exist!
I often write about the 9:59 Club. We’re a loose group of guys who head to the boardwalk every morning, 364 days a year. We all come from different backgrounds, and have had different careers. But we each have an opinion on pretty much any subject and we have many “interesting” discussions. These guys are the best and any one of us would do anything for another.
Recently another fixture on the boardwalk, photographer Maryfrances Berger, stopped by to snap a pic. To our surprise the picture ended up in the July 21, 2023 issue of the local Coastal Point newspaper.
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How you doin, would you believe, I read the whole thing.