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: Ditching Gloves…A Sign Of Climate Change
Dear Diary. Looking at how most people who aren’t meteorologists or climatologists are reacting outdoors to our global warming trend, we are starting to see some not so subtle changes. It’s taken decades for temperature averages to go up just a few degrees at most locations. Yet these few degrees of warmth have greatly affected sports like ice fishing and snow skiing in negative ways as winter weather grows shorter and less severe most seasons.
One sign of change has come in the world of fashion, particularly across the U.S. South. From the time I was a kid in the 1960s up until the turn of the 21st century there would be many winter nights in which wearing gloves was a near necessity in order to avoid frostbite. Usually these would be times in which the thermometer was below 20°F here in my hometown of Atlanta, which occurred roughly 10-20 nights each winter. I would need gloves to scrape frost or ice off my car using an ice scraper as it warmed up. Usually I would need to wear gloves no more than 10-15 minutes, and most of the time these items weren’t life and death essential, but I would really regret forgetting to use them to prevent stinging cold, numb hands. The last few years I have not seen any people sporting gloves here in Atlanta from December through February at all.
Here is why. I’ve suspected since our last big snow here in Atlanta in early December 2017 that the temperature has not gotten below 20°F in a long time. After doing some checking we find that indeed officially we are in the midst of the longest period above 20°F in recorded history:
From:
Monday the 18th marks exactly three full years of this record:
Similar warm streaks are occurring all across the South. Bob Henson informs me that Bismarck, North Dakota is working on an above 0°F streak in that city, although it’s still cold enough north of the Ohio and Missouri Rivers for gloves to remain nearly essential during winter at times.
The warmer weather gets the more we as humans tend to shed clothes despite what the fashion industry might want us to wear as accessories. Layers of clothing on women and the three piece suit for men are going the way of the dodo bird. Lately I’ve even seen people walking around here in shorts in January during the mildest mid winter warm spells. Most people are probably welcoming this change to warmer winter weather, but it is not a good sign pertaining to the health of our overall climate…and I suspect that changes will be greatly accelerating starting this decade.
I bet you have your own fashion evolution stories to tell involving our slow warming trend from decade to decade. Drop me a note in the comments section if you wish to share.
Here is some more weather and climate news from Tuesday:
(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.)
Now here are some of today’s articles and notes on the horrid COVID-19 pandemic:
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The Climate Guy