July 20, 2018 12:51 PM UTC

It is Really Hot Outside, and It's Only Getting Hotter

• 2 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

If you’re still arguing about the validity of Climate Change, you must not get outside all that often.

As Kirk Mitchell writes for the Denver Post, this is a good time to be an air conditioning salesman:

The Mile High City tied an all-time heat record in June and hovered around 100 degrees, topping out at 98, on Thursday,  according to National Weather Service forecasters.

Had temperatures reached 100 Thursday, it would have marked the third time this year that we sweltered in triple-digit heat. By comparison, temperatures only reached 100 twice between 1910 and 1920, NWS meteorologist Bernie Meier said…

…On Thursday, Denver surpassed 90 degrees for the 35th day this year, a pace slightly ahead of the hottest year in the city’s recorded history in 2012.

July 20 is typically the hottest day of the year in Denver, but it looks like we won’t be breaking a new single-day temperature mark today — not that it would be a surprise if it happened. Denver has reached temperatures as hot as 105 degrees just four times in recorded history — all since 2005 — and the last 105 degree day came on June 28 this year. NWS chief meteorologist Nazette Rydell tells Mitchell that the June 28 temperature record is “the story of the year.”

Here are a few more troubling numbers related to rising temperatures:

Already this year, eight daily high temperature records have fallen or been tied, according to NWS data. Record highs were set April 12 (79 degrees), April 29 (83), May 10 (90), May 25 (91), June 5 (95), June 6 (95), June 9 (95) and June 28 (105)…

…Denver isn’t the only location undergoing a heat wave. Much of the world had one the warmest Junes in history, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information. [Pols emphasis]

As we’ve said before in this space, arguing about the existence of Climate Change is kind of like trying to prove that water isn’t wet. The only “debate” left on the subject is about the extent to which humans are causing these extreme changes, though more than 97% of scientific experts are 100% convinced that this is absolutely a people problem.

The other three percent of scientists seem to have an undue influence with the Trump administration. As NBC News reported earlier this week:

Reports of climate science being scrubbed from U.S. government websites arrived early in President Donald Trump’s tenure. And the hits keep coming. From the Environmental Protection Agency, to the Energy Department, to the State Department and beyond, references to climate change, greenhouse gases and clean energy keep disappearing.

But even as some corners of the Trump administration sow a cyber garden fertile for the fossil fuel industry, a pair of websites funded by the federal government have proclaimed an unvarnished view of the dangers of carbon-driven climate change.

The two sites, Climate.gov and CLEANet.org, have expanded to more than 700 entries and collectively drew more than 68,000 page views in May, a more than 50 percent increase from the year before. And the lessons delivered by the two sites — about the threat posed by a planet warmed by human actions — extends well beyond that core audience. That’s because both sites are aimed at teachers, who say they use the taxpayer-supported websites to create lessons on everything from increasing CO2 levels to threatened biodiversity to the potential of solar power.

Meanwhile, people around the world are suffering from extreme temperatures. At least 14 people have died in Tokyo because of record highs. Sweltering heat is punishing Texas and the South-Central United States. California is bracing for another heat wave next week that is forecasted to create temperatures as much as 18 degrees above normal for several days. And lest we forget: There are wildfires currently burning in the freaking Arctic Circle!!!

Use lots of sunscreen, wear a hat, and drink plenty of water. And start thinking harder about supporting politicians who aren’t pretending that this isn’t happening.