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Every Month This Year Has Been the Hottest In Recorded History (vice.com)

Slashdot reader iONiUM quotes an article from Vice that calls attention to the fact that record-setting temperatures in July are just part of the story: On Wednesday, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that July was the hottest month ever recorded on our planet, since modern record-keeping began in 1880. NASA has reached the same conclusion. July smashed all previous records... "We should be absolutely concerned," [NOAA climatologist] Sanchez-Lugo said. "We need to look at ways to adapt and mitigate. If we don't, temperatures will continue to increase"...

But the truth is that record-breaking temperatures, month after month, year after year, are starting to look less like an exception, more like the norm.

In fact, CityLab reports that the earth has now experienced 14 consecutive months of unprecedented hotness. Although July stands out, Vice notes that "each consecutive month in 2016 has broken its own previous record (May was the hottest May, April the hottest April, etc.)..."

20 of 412 comments (clear)

  1. "Ghandi" quote updated by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    First they laugh at the science. Then they ignore the science. Then they actively fund bullshit artists to obfuscate the science. Then they burn.

    1. Re:"Ghandi" quote updated by ColdWetDog · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't know where these figures are coming from but here in SoCal, we've had a pretty mild summer. Not nearly as hot as some years gone by.

      For the millionth time - weather is not climate.

      If the entire world was Southern California your observation might be relevant to the discussion. OTOH if the entire world was Southern California, global warming would be the least of our problems.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    2. Re: "Ghandi" quote updated by WarJolt · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Why bother?

      The only solutions anyone actually listens to are ones that promote political agendas despite having a negligible affect on climate change.

      I don't have a problem with solutions that involve science and technology, but it's rediculous to think that somehow a change in tax codes are going to solve the climate problem. Every time a politician opens their mouth on the subject it polarizes people. Of all the topics to be divisive about this certainly is going to be looked upon as the most rediculous. What we need is everyone behind the brilliant minds that will fix these problems and I really doubt that's going to be some random /. reader.

    3. Re: "Ghandi" quote updated by Aristos+Mazer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why is it ridiculous? Shifts in tax policy have driven all sorts of things in our national and global behavior. Why would climate change be any different? I'm not saying it's the right solution, but it certainly is a solution that would work, based on the evidence of other venues. Look at what a shift in tax policy did to home ownership rates (drove it up massively during the 20th century, exactly as designed... for good or for ill, but exactly as designed by policy makers). Or to protection of rhinos worldwide (saved them from extinction by pricing the horns out of reach). Look what it is doing right now to the adoption rate of renewable energy sources. Lots of other examples.

    4. Re: "Ghandi" quote updated by AK+Marc · · Score: 3, Insightful

      So you deny the issue exists because you believe it does, but you don't like the solution options. That seems more absurd than picking an Al Gore solution, even though you hate the man.

  2. Re:not in my state by Black+Parrot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We have been experiencing well below average temperatures. Hog wash.

    That's why they call it "global" warming, instead of, say, "found a place where it isn't" warming.

    --
    Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
  3. Big Climate Science by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Corrupt thermometers are taking money from KKKilary KKKlinton in an effort to distract the world from the fact that she's murdered thousands of patriotic Americans in Arkansas who were going to expose the fact that she's actually in a wheelchair.

    The conspiracy has now gone beyond just climate scientists. It's now built into the actual instrumentation. TRUE! The laws of physics are complicit, too. Nobody with half a brain would believe a liberal thermometer, anyway.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  4. Re:Humans do not cause this! by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 4, Funny

    Cows do - damn methane burping, farting cows and CO2 producing livestock (=compare livestock numbers with human population)

    Damn straight! That's why I eat them. I'm doing my part to help reduce climate change. It's those vegetarians/vegans, the people who are eating the very things that are removing carbon dioxide from our atmosphere. They're the villains here!

    So when I up end up with heart disease and clogged arteries and the like, remember that I did it to help future generations. No, no, there's no need to thank me...

  5. Relevent Quote by Kaenneth · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it." -- Charles Dudley Warner, 1873

  6. Re:not in my state by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    If the average is the hottest, show us all the locales where it was the hottest ever. Should be a lot of them.

    http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gist...

    Not a single US state was lower than average. Not one. Small parts of two states are equal, and the remaining parts plus all 49 other states are above average.

    Only parts of Russia and Antarctica were below average temperatures on the entire planet.
    Except you already said "state" so clearly you don't live in either of those locations.

    Conclusion: You're a liar and don't care about proof of anything.

  7. Re:Every Month This Year Has Been the Hottest by Man+On+Pink+Corner · · Score: 3, Informative

    It's almost as if we're coming out of an ice age, or something.

  8. Re:This is the year of the extreme climate claims by haruchai · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The people who believe in human-influenced global warming are usually NOT the same who believe in the sky-fairies and the Great Spirit.

    "To think that man could be capable of effecting change on such an enormously huge scale is the height of arrogance. Sounds like you need to lay off the weed and granola"

    Man? A single man probably doesn't stand a chance but millions, hundred of millions, billions?
    I'm afraid so. It takes a long time but once there's enough heat built-up and stored, the effects will persist for decades, perhaps even longer.

    "a whole solar system's worth of evidence to suggest that it's a natural occurrence"
    the processes are natural and the Sun is the single biggest driver - but think of Old Sol as a nuclear plant, delivering steady, predictable baseload.
    Once the plant is in operation, it just keeps humming along, provided there's enough cooling but if that diminishes, it quickly spins out of control.

    So the GHGs, natural and man-made, are retaining more of the solar heat and storing it in the oceans and at some point, that stored heat is going to be released and we'll have a very bad couple of decades at best.

    --
    Pain is merely failure leaving the body
  9. Re:This is the year of the extreme climate claims by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The people who believe in human-influenced global warming are usually NOT the same who believe in the sky-fairies and the Great Spirit.

    "To think that man could be capable of effecting change on such an enormously huge scale is the height of arrogance. Sounds like you need to lay off the weed and granola"

    Man? A single man probably doesn't stand a chance but millions, hundred of millions, billions?

    They need to head off to West Virginia to see the Terraforming we've done. Looks like a reshaping of the land of biblical proportions. Entire mountains now reside in what used to be valleys.

    I'm afraid so. It takes a long time but once there's enough heat built-up and stored, the effects will persist for decades, perhaps even longer.

    "a whole solar system's worth of evidence to suggest that it's a natural occurrence"

    We have a couple different things going on. Carbon Dioxide is a fairly long term greenhouse gas. Methane is much more powerful in effect, fortunately shorter lived in action. A few "anti-greenhouse gases are also short lived, like Sulfur Dioxide, which can cool the planet for a time after large volcanic eruptions.

    My biggest concern is that as methane is released as is happening now, we'll be going through a special kind of hell for a hundred years or so.

    the processes are natural and the Sun is the single biggest driver - but think of Old Sol as a nuclear plant, delivering steady, predictable baseload. Once the plant is in operation, it just keeps humming along, provided there's enough cooling but if that diminishes, it quickly spins out of control.

    So the GHGs, natural and man-made, are retaining more of the solar heat and storing it in the oceans and at some point, that stored heat is going to be released and we'll have a very bad couple of decades at best.

    It is such an odd thing that the deniers deny the simple chemical process that without which, life as we know cwouldn't exist, or in a seeming miracle of divine intervention, somehow keep the situation exactly the same, and that the Greenhouse effect is only happening for non-human greenhouse gas injection.

    800 Terawatts of radiative forcing is nothing to sneeze at.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  10. Re:I've seen this before by Sabriel · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Huh. So what you're saying is, five years ago we had a year in which some months broke all previous records for heat, and this year that's happening again, but... what, exactly? I can't tell whether you're just using this topic to vent about your coworkers, or whether you actually have an opinion on global warming (or the lack thereof), or if you're just very disappointed that we haven't had a bunch of Category 5 hurricanes. ;p

  11. Re:I've seen this before by FatLittleMonkey · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Let's look at this again in six months, when we know the entire year's temperatures, before we make claims of global warming.

    "In fact, CityLab reports that the earth has now experienced 14 consecutive months of unprecedented hotness."

    Right there in the summary.

    --
    Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
  12. Re: Land is always "hot" by Namarrgon · · Score: 4, Informative

    Go read up on the BEST project. They had similar concerns about the current analyses, including the influence of the urban heat island effect.

    Unlike the armchair deniers found on the internet, they actually did their own analysis, both with and without urban readings. Somewhat to their surprise, excluding the warmer urban readings completely made virtually no difference to the overall result.

    specially when there is such a huge agenda behind it with massive amounts of money

    I don't suppose you're referring to the fossil-fuel industry's agenda? It's hard to get more massive than the trillions of dollars they have at stake.

    --
    Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
  13. Re:This is the year of the extreme climate claims by Sique · · Score: 3, Informative
    Seven billion people have been enough to increase the CO2 in the atmosphere by 50%, from 270 ppm in the 1890s to 400 ppm today. Don't believe it? Then look up all the coal and oil we mined and extracted since then and calculate how much CO2 they release if two third of them are burned. And you will find out that adding that amount of CO2 to the atmosphere will increase the CO2 in the atmosphere by 130 ppm.

    Yes, that's something you could calculate all by yourself. And now please argue that those additional 130 ppm in the atmosphere are not man-made!

    --
    .sig: Sique *sigh*
  14. Re:Recorded history by serviscope_minor · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Saying "recorded history" to be 137 years is like sticking your hand out the window and saying we are in a record drought because it has not rained in the last 15 seconds. There is nothing to compare with those 137 years.

    A record drought literally means it's one which is a record as in the biggest recorded. Nonetheless, comparing to 315e6 years ago is meaningless since so much was different then, for example the positions of the continents.

    To use your analogy. if you flip a 120 sided coin 315,000,000 times and the last 15 comes up 120 is is not actually significant.

    120^15/315e6 = 4.8911e+22

    I'd say that's pretty significant.

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.
  15. Re:El Nino by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Neither El Nino is supposed to heat the globe nor La Nina is supposed to cool it.
    Both phenomena simply change wind patterns and surface currents in the ocean, and hence lead to different didtributions of warm and cool water and hence rain patterns.

    That is all.

    Except for perhaps more clouds (globally?) none of them has any effect on global warming, and my bet would be that El Nino causes more clouds and hence has a cooling effect.

    The idea that El Nino is heating up the earth is a /. myth and only shows that no one even cares to read the wikipedia article.

    This is an El Nino ocean temperature distribution picture: http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/...

    This is an La Nina picture:
    http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/...

    As a laymen you can not even guess which is which.

    And as final note: both phenomena are restricted to the Pacific and have e.g. no influence on the weather of Canada, most parts of the US, Europe or Africa or Asia/Russia/Siberia.

    The idea that one of them has an warming effect or cooling effect on the globe is completely ridiculous, even if you know nothing about the phenomena it should be obvious to everyone.

    --
    Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  16. Re:This is the year of the extreme climate claims by Sique · · Score: 3, Informative

    I recommend the Internal Energy Statistics of the EIA.

    --
    .sig: Sique *sigh*