“There are too few data before 1880 for scientists to estimate average temperatures for the entire planet.” NASA, Nov 8, 2023
Yet mainstream media sources including the AP report climate change stories like the one below without questioning them. – HEADLINE HEALTH
[NOTE: Throughout this story, the AP reports climate scientists’ assumptions as though they are indesputuable facts. HH has flagged these assumptions.]
ASSOCIATED PRESS – The last 12 months were the hottest Earth has ever recorded [assumption], according to a new report by Climate Central, a nonprofit science research group.
The peer-reviewed report says burning gasoline, coal, natural gas and other fossil fuels that release planet-warming gases like carbon dioxide, and other human activities [assumption], caused the unnatural warming from November 2022 to October 2023.
Over the course of the year, 7.3 billion people, or 90% of humanity, endured at least 10 days of high temperatures that were made at least three times more likely because of climate change [assumption].
“People know that things are weird, but they don’t they don’t necessarily know why it’s weird. They don’t connect back to the fact that we’re still burning coal, oil and natural gas,” said Andrew Pershing, a climate scientist at Climate Central.
“I think the thing that really came screaming out of the data this year was nobody is safe. Everybody was experiencing unusual climate-driven heat at some point during the year,” said Pershing.
The average global temperature was 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.3 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than the pre-industrial climate [assumption – see NASA quote above, lack of data before 1880], which scientists say is close to the limit countries agreed not to go over in the Paris Agreement — a 1.5 C (2.7 F) rise. The impacts were apparent as one in four humans, or 1.9 billion people, suffered from dangerous heat waves.
At this point, said Jason Smerdon, a climate scientist at Columbia University, no one should be caught off guard. “It’s like being on an escalator and being surprised that you’re going up,” he said. “We know that things are getting warmer, this has been predicted for decades.”
Here’s how a few regions were affected by the extreme heat [keep reading for regions that were affected by extreme cold, an inconvenient truth the AP overlooked – HH]:
1. Extreme heat fueled destructive rainfall because a warmer atmosphere holds more water vapor, which lets storms release more precipitation. Storm Daniel became Africa’s deadliest storm with an estimated death toll that ranges between 4,000 and 11,000, according to officials and aid agencies. Greece, Bulgaria, and Turkey also saw damages and fatalities from Storm Daniel.
2. In India, 1.2 billion people, or 86% of the population, experienced at least 30 days of elevated temperatures, made at least three times more likely by climate change.
3. Drought in Brazil’s Amazon region caused rivers to dry to historic lows, cutting people off from food and fresh water.
4. At least 383 people died in U.S. extreme weather events, with 93 deaths related to the Maui wildfire event, the deadliest U.S. fire of the century. [Typical of the cherry-picked data used for this story, this point glosses over the fact extreme cold is also classified as an extreme weather event. Overall, a total of more than 19,000 Americans have died from cold-related causes since 1979, according to death certificates, says the EPA – HH.]
5. One of every 200 people in Canada evacuated their home due to wildfires, which burn longer and more intensely after long periods of heat dry out the land. Canadian fires sent smoke billowing across much of North America.
6. On average, Jamaica experienced high temperatures made four times more likely by climate change during the last 12 months, making it the country where climate change was most powerfully at work.
[AP coverage continues below … ]
2023 WEATHER EXTREMES LEFT OUT OF THE AP’S REPORT – HEADLINE HEALTH:
❄️💨❄️This is EXTREME WEATHER! Right now Mount Washington is living up to the reputation of having the worse weather in the world.
INSANE conditions Temp -42° F, Wind Chill -101° F, Wind Gusts 127 mph! https://t.co/vr4pGu9p7G
From the summit cam 230-240pm. #OHwx #PAwx pic.twitter.com/6N30euV9oL— NWS Cleveland (@NWSCLE) February 3, 2023
ANYONE CAN CHERRY-PICK WEATHER REPORTS TO SUPPORT A NARRATIVE, BUT IT TAKES SOME HUTZPAH TO CALL IT ‘SCIENCE’ …
- Assessing the U.S. Climate in October 2023: The first major cold snap of the season occurred on October 31 and into early November. Temperatures dropped 20–30°F below average across much of the U.S., resulting in record-low temperatures and snowfall from the Northwest to the Southeast. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOVEMBER 8, 2023
- World’s coldest air in 2023 was just recorded: An astonishing -62.4°C was recorded in Tongulakh, Siberia on January 14th. In addition to becoming Earth’s coldest temperature recorded in 2023, the all-time station record was broken in Tongulakh. January 16, 2023
- Arctic blast brings record cold to the US: Several cities in the northeastern United States enacted emergency measures to protect the homeless population. The Arctic blast also caused “frostquakes” from sudden snaps in frozen soil. February 5, 2023
- Minus-36 degrees Fahrenheit: That’s how cold it got in Old Forge, New York, on February 4, according to the NWS, during an arctic cold front, which also dropped temperatures below zero in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont (wind chill dropped to minus 51 in Vermont and New York).
- Arctic outbreak shatters records: Extreme cold broke longstanding records Friday into Saturday as the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic U.S. continues dealing with temperatures in the single or negative digits, along with gusty winds.
- By the numbers: Boston hit minus-10°F on Saturday morning, the coldest temperature in the city since 1957. According to Fox Weather, a negative 39-degree windchill was recorded earlier in the morning. This is the coldest windchill recorded in Boston since at least 1944. NWS Boston called the polar vortex “a historic arctic outbreak for the modern era. This is about as cold as it will get in southern New England.”
- 2023 is a Year of Record Cold Temperatures: The United Kingdom on Tuesday March 7th braved its coldest night of 2023 with the temperatures dropping to below –15 Celsius in several regions. According to the Independent, a U.K. news portal, the British Met Office revealed that the temperature at Kinbrace in the Scottish Highlands was recorded at –15.2 Celsius, making it the coldest March in the country since 2010.
- Sydney experienced its coldest June morning on record on Monday (OCT 23, 2023), with a minimum temperature of 1.8°C at Olympic Park, according to Miriam Bradbury, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology. In fact, more than 100 weather stations across Australia registered their coldest May minimum temperatures on record – with regular frosts, snowfall, and below-average rainfall to boot.
Based on the above unscientific survey, Headline Health suggests putting another log on the fire, cranking up the thermostat, and checking with fuel oil and natural gas suppliers to assure that you’ll have adequate supplies of fossil fuel to burn for the frigid days and nights ahead. Also, fill up the gas tank in case you have to bug out due to frozen water pipes, and be sure to bring in the brass monkey.
[AP coverage continues … ]
“We need to adapt, mitigate and be better prepared for the residual damages because impacts are highly uneven from place to place,” said Kristie Ebi, a professor at the Center for Health and the Global Environment at the University of Washington, citing changes in precipitation, sea level rise, droughts, and wildfires.
The heat of the last year, intense as it was, is tempered because the oceans have been absorbing the majority of the excess heat related to climate change, but they are reaching their limit, said Kim Cobb, a climate scientist at Brown University. “Oceans are really the thermostat of our planet … they are tied to our economy, food sources, and coastal infrastructure.”
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