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Archive for July 6th, 2012
Historic heat wave marches on as drought expands
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on July 6th, 2012
Climate Central: Much of the U.S. continues to be in the grip of unrelenting and dangerous heat, and the records just keep falling. During June alone, more than 3,200 daily high temperature records were set or tied, and more records have been set during the first week of July as well. Heat warnings, watches, and advisories were in effect for more than two dozen states as of midday Thursday, stretching from Nebraska to New Jersey.
The heat wave is also exacerbating a growing drought problem in the nation's heartland...
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Drought reaches record 56 percent of USA
Posted by LiveScience: Jeanna Bryner on July 6th, 2012
LiveScience: The United States is parched, with more than half of the land area in the lower 48 states experiencing moderate to extreme drought, according to a report released today (July 5).
Just under 56 percent of the contiguous United States is in drought conditions, the most extensive area in the 12-year history of the U.S. Drought Monitor. The previous drought records occurred on Aug. 26, 2003, when 54.79 percent of the lower 48 were in drought and on Sept 10, 2002, when drought extended across 54.63...
Hotter summers could be a part of Washington’s future
Posted by Washington Post: Ashley Halsey III and Marissa Evans on July 6th, 2012
Washington Post: As relentless heat continues to pulverize Washington, the conversation has evolved from when will it end to what if it never does? Are unbroken weeks of sweltering weather becoming the norm rather than the exception? The answer to the first question is simple: Yes, it will end. Probably by Monday. The answer to the second, however, is a little more complicated. Call it a qualified yes. “Trying to wrap an analysis around it in real time is like trying to diagnose a car wreck as the cars are still...
Heat wave, fires have climate change supporters on offensive
Posted by The Hill: Ben Geman on July 6th, 2012
The Hill: Record-breaking heat across the country and catastrophic wildfires in Colorado are giving environmentalists a rare opening to regain the political offensive on climate change.
While scientists caution against chalking up specific weather events to climate change, they say generally that heatwaves, wildfires and other extreme weather is expected with increasing frequency and intensity in a warming world.
Skeptics of climate change often point to winter blizzards as evidence that the planet is...
Researches find threat from biodiversity loss equals climate change threat
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 6th, 2012
Canadian Press: The accelerating loss of plant and animal species around the planet is becoming as great a threat to global health and prosperity as climate change, concludes a newly published review of hundreds of research studies.
"We should be just as worried about biodiversity loss," said Diane Srivastava, a University of British Columbia zoologist who helped write the paper, which appeared this week in the prestigious journal Nature.
"One of the intents of this paper is to really demonstrate ... what...
Official: More in US convinced of climate change
Posted by Associated Press: Rod McGuirk on July 6th, 2012
Associated Press: Increasingly common experiences with extreme climate-related events such as the Colorado wildfires, a record warm spring and preseason hurricanes have convinced many Americans climate change is a reality, the head of a U.S. scientific agency said Friday.
Many Americans had previously seen climate change as a "nebulous concept" removed from them in time and geography, said National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Jane Lubchenco.
"Many people around the world are beginning to appreciate...
Colorado’s perfect firestorm
Posted by LA Times: Mark Lubell on July 6th, 2012
LA Times: Last week, my parents had to pack their belongings and flee as the Waldo Canyon fire barreled toward their house in Colorado Springs. They were among 32,000 people forced from their houses by the fire, which has destroyed nearly 350 homes.
My parents were lucky. Despite the trauma and fear of having to evacuate, they didn't lose their home. But the fire emphasized something of a long-running debate between my father and me: the reality and politics of climate change.
I am a political scientist...
Protest in China leads to cancellation of copper smelter
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 6th, 2012
Mongabay: A massive protest triggered cancellation of a controversial copper smelter local communities feared would lead to air pollution, reports The New York Times. Outcry also led to the release of jailed protesters who had demonstrated against the project.
The smelter, which would have cost $1.6 billion, had been pushed by the local government as part of a plan to boost the economy in an area devastated by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. But the government announced Wednesday the project would not proceed...
Heat wave: Midwest plain ‘out of whack’ as records shatter
Posted by LA Times: Amy Hubbard on July 6th, 2012
LA Times: It's not that the Midwest hasn't been extremely hot before, and it's not that it hasn't been incredibly dry.
But it's unusual for a vast swath of the Midwest to be so very hot and so very dry for so very long -- particularly this early in the summer.
The current heat wave -- which is spurring comparisons to the catastrophic heat of 1936 -- is "out of whack," meteorologist Jim Keeney said Friday in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
"Even on the East Coast today, temperatures are 100...
After the storm: The haves and the have-nots
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 6th, 2012
Mother Jones: The wild storm that hit the mid-Atlantic last weekend is still creating hardship for many, as nearly half a million people remain without power and temperatures are still hovering around 100 degrees. There's nothing like a disaster to bring class disparity into stark relief, as an email I received on Thursday morning shows.
Rhonda Bush, 31, lives in Rainelle, West Virginia, about 30 miles northwest of where the Greenbrier Classic tournament is currently underway at a luxury golf resort despite...