Monday September 14th… Dear Diary. The main purpose of this ongoing blog will be to track United States extreme or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials).😉
Main Topic: The Future Of U.S. Falls Is Now…Western Blazes And East Coast Storms
Dear Diary. The awful year of 2020 rolls on as historic fires continue to blaze in the western United States. Now the central Gulf Coast area is bracing for the effects of Sally, the latest tropical entity to bring misery to the South. What we are witnessing are weather effects that will be quite common in the near future, summer heatwaves followed by fall western conflagrations and eastern Hurricanes.
The only good news I can report today is that with the demise of our heat wave, which I’ve named Chort, firefighters are beginning to coral some western fires. Also, awful toxic smoke is beginning to clear in some areas. As the western situation gets better the Gulf coastal crisis will get worse. Sally should begin to stall today, and with little shear over the system build to at least a CAT2 hurricane before making landfall in Mississippi sometime late Tuesday or Wednesday. The longer the system remains over warmer than average Gulf waters the better chances for Sally to become a major CAT3 hurricane. Since late summer, mainly due to a La Niña pattern, we have experienced a landfalling hurricane threat about once every couple of weeks. So, is this the new climate normal?
In the short term during the rest of the 2020s I would answer no. Not every year of this decade will see massive fires in the West while simultaneously having many landfalling hurricanes along eastern shores. That would depend upon the extent of summer western drought and associated heat waves and what ENSO is doing to Atlantic Basin shear. Yet as Atlantic waters continue to warm, obviously we should see an increase in organized tropical activity. Also, as most climate models suggest, the West will become more arid with time.
So, yes. The climate crisis effects we are seeing in this awful year of 2020 are a harbinger of things to come later this century. Please, if you don’t want to see your children and grandchildren deal with 2020 on a yearly basis make sure that politically and personally necessary changes are made to limit carbon pollution.
Here is more information on the Sally. The most current and pressing news from Monday is at the top of this list:
Here is more information on the current western wildfires. The most current and pressing news from Sunday is at the top of this list:
Here is more climate and weather news from Monday:
(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity. In most instances click on the pictures of each tweet to see each article. The most noteworthy items will be listed first.)
Now here are some of today’s articles and notes on the horrid COVID-19 pandemic:
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Guy Walton “The Climate Guy”