Officials: Past 12 months warmest ever for U.S.

[MindMover]

Source: CNN

(CNN) -- The mainland United States, which was largely recovering Monday from a near-nationwide heat wave, has experienced the warmest 12-month period since record-keeping began in 1895, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday.

High temperatures during June also contributed to a record-warm first half of the year, the agency said in its monthly analysis. The heat during the last half of June broke or tied 170 all-time high temperature records in cities across the lower 48 states.

"Temperatures in South Carolina (113 degrees) and Georgia (112 degrees) are currently under review by the U.S. State Climate Extremes Committee as possible all-time statewide temperature records," NOAA said.

The average temperature for the mainland in June was 71.2 degrees -- two degrees above the 20th-century average and the 14th warmest June on record.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/09/us/extreme-heat/index.html

[onehandle]

1. Perfectly normal. nt

[xchrom]

2. du rec. nt

[saltwn]

3. Last summer...

In Idaho, I spoke with a guy who's grand mother had kept a journal on her trek to the Oregon Territories when she was a girl. According to him these temperatures and droughts have been seen before, just not since good record keeping has come along. I think we are in a climate change, but I'm not sure if it's cyclical where there is an outter and an inner circle of patterns.
I worry more about deforestation and pollution than all other man made atrocities. And they could accelerate or exaserbate our crapy weather.

[plcdude]

4. check out

this website for some perspective http://www.youtube.com/user/greenman3610

[saltwn]

9. thank you, I

am listening to a vid as I write this. So far I can say I am in favor of wind and solar. I live off of solar part of the month when I travel to another city in our RV. So I have seen it work and am thankful for the savings. As I indicated I am more interested in cleaning up and teaching people (or reminding them) how to do alternatives. The incentive is always cost. You can lead a horse to water etc. For me the climate change being man made is still a question and not one that I have resolved. I was raised by an older generation (great-aunt) and feel I have a little more than knee jerk perspective. For instance she spoke of how many of her relatives were convinced Hailey's Comet foretold Armageddon.
I do believe climate is changing and figure it's more productive to emphasise what to do to prepare. If we could convince our conservative friends of just the truth that it is happening, damn the why, that would be a major accomplishment for planet earth.

[harun]

11. Don't look at the temps, look at the CO2 PPM

It is what the whole discussion should be about.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide#In_the_Earth.27s_atmosphere

[saltwn]

12. Yes, yes

I am convinced, but a solution base is better than a problem one in my book. And until we convince the other half of the country (at least the other voting half) that there is a problem, we'll never solve it. There is climate change. That much can be agreed upon (I hope) , now what do we do about it? It takes individuals. The country will never go for a bunch of laws regarding something half of them don't believe in.

[harun]

16. What we do about it?

Figure out how to survive it, because no one is stopping it.

[JDPriestly]

19. Spread the word. (Sounds like you know people who need to hear it.)

Do the research. Compare the kinds of research being done and based on the quality of the methods and the researchers and what they have researched, then spread the word. Climate change is real. It is due to human activity that puts too much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. We either change and now, not sometime in the future, or our children and grandchildren will face very serious catastrophes.

Please do your part.

[JDPriestly]

18. It isn't "just cyclical." Scientists are watching, for example, the

changes in the ocean, and finding that climate change is an undeniable fact. I say this because I know someone who works in this field. Her husband told me that she cries when she thinks about the fact that people are just ignoring the science and the reality of man's share in causing these changes.

It's carbon dioxide. That's what causes this. It holds heat in. The icebergs HAVE MELTED and continue to melt.

Sorry if I sound rude, but this is not a maybe thing. How fast climate change will happen, how much damage it will cost in the end, whether people will wake up and change the world -- these are the only questions we need to ask.

Please. Please. Please. The science is real.

Human activities are changing the composition of the atmosphere and causing Earth's temperature to rise at an unprecedented rate. Educating the public, especially school-age children, about the environmental changes likely to occur within the next 50 years due to climate warming is not only socially responsible; history shows that the fortunes of human health and civilization may depend on it.

Scripps Institution of Oceanography has been a world leader in climate research since the 1950s, when Charles Keeling began his pioneering measurements of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. Keeling's data unequivocally document the dramatic rise of this potent greenhouse gas over the last half century and serve as the foundation for studies of climate change. Today, Scripps scientists continue cutting-edge investigations of the causes and pace of climate change, and apply this research to understanding the consequences of global warming for California and the world.

In May 2007, Birch Aquarium at Scripps opened a new exhibition on climate change entitled Feeling the Heat: The Climate Challenge. Global warming is the most significant environmental challenge we will face in the coming decades. Don't you owe it to yourself to uncover the truth?

http://aquarium.ucsd.edu/climate/

I have visited this aquarium. It is quite interesting. If you have a chance, please go there. Otherwise, check out the website.

[Scancast]

5. Welcome To 2012!

Wonder if there is going to be some truth to 2012, sure looking that way.

Massive heat on the brink of WW3!

I need to go buy popcorn...

[Gregorian]

6. But the guy with 3 million miles on his 1966 Volvo is fucking awesome!

Just had to get that out of my system.

[Uncle Joe]

7. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, MindMover.

[slackmaster]

8. It's a safe bet thing will get even warmer before the climate cools

:domkey:

[harun]

10. Feeling the heat: First half of 2012 is warmest on record

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/09/12643016-feeling-the-heat-first-half-of-2012-is-warmest-on-record?lite

A look at fashion in our bright future of 2020:



Standard issue outfit.

[Swede Atlanta]

13. You know...looking objectively at things....

I don't think you can deny that we are undergoing some kind of climate change. We can debate to what extent mankind's activities have brought this one, contributed to it, etc.

But wouldn't a sane, rational person (not Senator Inhoffe) ask themselves the following question? Assuming that we are undergoing some kind of climate change and the consensus among scientists is this will result in more severe weather, rising sea levels, etc. shouldn't humans at least think about reducing their activities that could exacerbate the situation?

I mean even on that level it is suicide by mankind not to try to reduce the negative effects of this change whether it is cyclical, etc. but just to bury your head in the sand and hope for the best is, well, Republican.

[Gregorian]

14. Perfectly stated.

Some of my recent posts have been saying just what you did. One reply was that we will continue doing what we're doing until we can't.

I'm infuriated by the feeble and flagrant use of fuel, as though it were a right and not what it is- a pure luxury.

Until there are incontrovertible symptoms, people will continue to deny there is a problem, and to carry on with their stupidity. The vacations, multiple trips to stores, having children (which is the real source of the situation we're in), buying things that are made on other continents. It's a dangerous subject because it indicts and threatens almost everyone in the modern world.

I can only guess what will happen. I suppose people are much smarter than it sounds like I give them credit. But judging from present behavior, it's hard to imagine that they are vigilant and responsible enough to thwart making a bigger mess than we've already made.

One of the problems is what I call the "Just me" problem. How can someone's little act of driving to the store be a problem. The problem is that it gets multiplied by a billion. It's no longer a world of "me". It's a world of "we". And that is what people don't see. By dropping population, the pressure decreases. But that seems to be such an extreme concept for people. I guess the nesting instinct is more powerful than the instinct to survive. Maybe it's a contest between the two.

[Marrah_G]

21. It's not even just about reducing our activities

It's also about planning for future extremes and coming up with solutions to help get through the coming decades. As long as our so called leaders do not take climate change seriously, the longer nothing is being done to help combat the effects of the changes.

[Odin2005]

15. It was certainly the warmest Fargo winter I have experienced in my 26 years.

No global warming my ASS!

[limpyhobbler]

17. This could have been prevented. We had plenty of warning from scientists.

We should have taken action for big changes in the 70s, 80s, 90s, or at the RIO+20 a couple weeks ago. Now it might be too late to reverse the climate trend.

Stop letting oil and gas companies control our governments and media. Their profit is a loss for the people who have to live here, on the earth.

Natural gas for the next 100 years! Drill baby drill is a shitty energy plan. That's why the earth is heating up. Gotta switch plans. Stop fracking.

[davidpdx]

20. My brother in Eastern Oregon said it has been in the 100's for days.

I pitty the poor fool.