'Gobsmackingly bananas': scientists stunned by planet's record September heat

[Eugene]

‘Gobsmackingly bananas’: scientists stunned by planet’s record September heat (The Guardian)

The carbon emissions driving the climate crisis and rapid arrival of an El Niño event are to blame, researchers say

Global temperatures soared to a new record in September by a huge margin, stunning scientists and leading one to describe it as “absolutely gobsmackingly bananas”.

The hottest September on record follows the hottest August and hottest July, with the latter being the hottest month ever recorded. The high temperatures have driven heatwaves and wildfires across the world.

September 2023 beat the previous record for that month by 0.5C, the largest jump in temperature ever seen. September was about 1.8C warmer than pre-industrial levels. Datasets from European and Japanese scientists confirm the leap.

https://archive.li/Bj13y

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/05/gobsmackingly-bananas-scientists-stunned-by-planets-record-september-heat

[femmedem]

1. Terrifying.

There's so much day-to-day drama in the news that the climate news--the most important news in the history of mankind--gets buried.

[yonder]

17. Perhaps exactly as planned by groups such as the Competitive Enterprise Institute and their ilk?

The Competitive Enterprise Institute, the evening’s sponsor, isn’t a garden-variety free-market think tank. In the 1990s, CEI sponsored the fringe Cooler Heads Coalition, which labels itself an “informal and ad-hoc group focused on dispelling the myths of global warming.” Cooler Heads intended to beat back the growing hysteria over invisible, nontoxic CO2 gently gathering in our planet’s atmosphere.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218331308

[NewHendoLib]

27. Much longer than you will here.

[edbermac]

28. Hello

And goodbye.

[Effete Snob]

2. "Scientists stunned"

No they aren’t.

Why do headlines always try to make “scientists” look like idiots?

It’s no wonder there are so many people who have developed a reflexive disdain for science with BS headlines like this.

Seriously, watch headlines with “scientists” in them. You’d swear they were idiots who are always surprised, mystified, gobsmacked, and unable to understand a thing.

It’s depressing.

[Atreus]

5. Word!

[spike jones]

8. Word? Bird is the word. :)

[spike jones]

15. my grandson said I should apologize for posting this.

He thinks I am going to delete it.

[Atreus]

24. ...I've heard!

?si=l4DXpLYVW_DbZJXQ

[spike jones]

25. Thanks for that. I will be sure my grandson watches it. Grandpa could be cool again.

[Irish_Dem]

6. I came to post the same thing. Scientists are not stunned at the temperatures.

They are stunned at human stupidity.

But they send out these kind of press releases hoping to wake people the hell up.

[Stargazer99]

10. You get it-too bad most can't see what is in front of their face

[Irish_Dem]

19. Large groups of scientists have PR teams who write the press releases.

Most people don't understand that most PhD scientists are incapable
of writing so that normal people can understand them.

In large science agencies, institutions, universities, etc., the scientists
hand over their material to a PR team who translates the dry, pedantic, academic
word salad into something comprehensible and interesting to lay people.

When I was working on my PhD at a large research university, we were trained
to write in a very academic, highly stylized, very technical way.

Professors every now and then, would aggravate the crap out of us us by ordering us
to write an Aunt Fanny report or article. This was something your Aunt Fanny could understand,
and of course it was the hardest thing in the world to write.

When you read about something a university scientist has discovered, that scientist was
required to hand their material over to the university PR department. In fact, at my university all PhD
dissertations had to be automatically handed over to the University PR department. They went through
all dissertations, God help them, to determine if anything should go out to the popular press.

We always got a kick out of how the material was twisted and changed for public viewing.
A friend of mine had an interesting dissertation and it hit the popular press and she got a real kick
at what the PR department had done with it. We all kidded her about it.

Later when I wrote psych reports to courts, probation departments, attorneys, physicians, I always
had to translate the my findings into something they could understand.

So when we see all these press reports from climate change scientists about being stunned and shocked we
know it is all disingenuous. 100% certain scientists are not surprised in the least by what
is happening, they have been warning us for decades. And scientists don't talk this way about their emotionally
when making a report. This is all the PR team.

[mountain grammy]

14. Exactly!

[Silent3]

22. While I generally agree with you about science reporting BS...

...I certainly think scientists are capable of truly being emotionally stunned when faced with the reality of this kind of temperature increase, and by seeing something that is probably at the high end of their expectations.

[LiberaBlueDem]

3. Was expected

More people than ever and the US pumping more oil than ever and burning more oil than ever is why the co2 is higher than ever leading to higher temperatures than ever. Just as expected. Science rules!

[malaise]

4. I can speak for my island

From July until last week, the cold water tap in the shower provided hot water. That was a first.

[czarjak]

7. Those "Stop Global Whining" bumper stickers from the 90's were quaint.

[Farmer-Rick]

9. Carbon burning for energy is outdated and antiquated

Yet, the oil, coal and gas corporations are making more profit than ever before. All this destruction of human habitat just so a few filthy rich people can make even more wealth.

Why are we still using these antiquated fuels for energy when energy is all around us for free? And it doesn't burn up human habitat.

It's like using horses for travel after the Ford Model T was easily available and affordable just so horse breeders could make a profit.

There is something seriously wrong with an economic system that is stagnate and can't move on to cleaner, more advanced energy. Much like in feudal days, we have an outdated economic system that can't keep up with a changing world and is actively causing more damage. Time to ditch it.

[Stargazer99]

11. At last some one who can see through conservative crap

[Johnny2X2X]

12. A calamity is already upon us

Mitigating it's severity is the best we can now hope for.

My big fear is that immigration will cause many Western nations to elect Rightwing strongmen to murder people at our borders. The immigration at our Southern border is already directly linked to Climate change and we're seeing how crazy it's making people.

[LiberalFighter]

13. When the population of the planet increases it creates more pollution

and uses more resources.

In the USA the population has increased nearly 130 million in the last fifty years.

In the world it was just over 3.6 billion and now it it is 8 billion.

How long will the resources last?

[mountain grammy]

16. Not at all surprised..

From the article:

In August, the Guardian asked 45 leading climate scientists from around the world about the record-breaking temperatures. They said that, despite it certainly feeling as if events had taken an alarming turn, the broad global heating trend seen to date was entirely in line with three decades of scientific predictions.
Increasingly severe weather impacts had also been long signposted by scientists, although the speed and intensity of the reality and the unexpected vulnerability of many populations scared some. The off-the-charts sea temperatures and Antarctic sea ice loss were seen as the most shocking events.

[FakeNoose]

18. My take on this ... it's the fault of the Guardian

... for these click-baity titles and headlines. The story is completely true and believable. BUT they ruin it with their stupid over-the-top headline.

"Gobsmackingly bananas" - WTF is that?

I'm not going to reward them with a click because this doesn't entice me. It turns me off.

This isn't a comment on the OP's choice... Eugene did a good job reporting the news and sharing the story. It's the Guardian that gets my panties in a bunch. (so to speak)

[spike jones]

20. Tiny Tim knew it 50 years ago.

[Permanut]

21. Don't believe a word of it..

There demons in the thermometers.

[Prairie_Seagull]

23. About a year ago, also from the Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/27/world-close-to-irreversible-climate-breakdown-warn-major-studies

The phrase 'Climate breakdown' has been highlighted before but bears remembering.

My homeowner insurance went up 35 percent. In Spokane Wa.