Extreme Temperature Diary- Thursday August 26th, 2021/ Main Topic: Why Hurricane Ida May Push Biden’s Infrastructure Bill Over The Finish Line

The main purpose of this ongoing blog will be to track planetary 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: Why Hurricane Ida May Push Biden’s Infrastructure Bill Over The Finish Line

Dear Diary. Major events over the next few days are going to occur quite rapidly. It’s now looking likely that a major hurricane named Ida will make landfall in the central Gulf coastal area on Sunday or Monday, just about 72 hours from the time of this writing. All forecasting eyes will be concentrating on just how strong and how close Ida gets to New Orleans:

So, fast forward to Monday of next week, the day after a CAT3 hurricane directly impacts New Orleans or comes very close to that city (not writing that this is my definitive prediction at this time)… What if we have another Katrina situation on our hands? Hopefully this time around those reinforced levees will hold. Could there actually be a silver lining to a devastating climate crisis event that might involve casualties?

Many involved in fighting climate change, including yours truly, have often referred to human beings as acting like frogs, jumping out of a pot of water if it gets hot rapidly, or lulled to death if the water slowly warms. Should New Orleans and much of Louisiana get devastated, another pot of water we in the United States are all in together will get roasting hot, boiling for action such that we collectively jump for climate mitigation.

No doubt President Biden would tour the central Gulf Coast region late next week should dire forecasts come to fruition, demanding that Congress pass his 3.5 trillion infrastructure package, which does include just about all of his major climate initiatives. Activists like Dr. Michael Mann and Bill McKibben will be writing and voicing cries for action. More people will be swayed towards action, voicing support for Build Back Better.

So, the question will be if Ida is horrible enough to deserve a name retirement, will moderate Democratic holdouts like Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Machin relent, “jump,” and support the big infrastructure bill? I would think so after enough pressure from members of their party and their own constituents demand action. Perhaps not if Ida acts more like Rita from 2005 and misses New Orleans well to the west:

If the European model is correct, we will see only about a CAT2 Ida coming into a low populated area of Louisiana, making headlines for only about one day, which would not move the Needle at all on infrastructure. The myriad of strong systems making landfall across the central Gulf Coast in 2020 only slightly convinced those in power to go green:

As I’ve written, events of the next few days will come fast and furious. Even a horrific terrorist event in Kabul Afghanistan involving the U.S. withdrawal that just happened will vie for news coverage, taking eyes away from what will happen on the Louisiana Coast. Also, how will Ida interact with the COVID19 pandemic, of which the Delta Variant has made a bad situation horrible across the unvaccinated Deep South? The news will have a lot of moving pieces, to say the least.

For the next several days our main topic of the day should be Ida.

Here are more notes on the Ida. (As usual, the most important latest articles and notes will be at the top of this list):

Here are some “ET’s” reported over the last couple of days:

Here is more climate and weather news from Thursday:

(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:

(If you like these posts and my work please contribute via the PayPal widget, which has recently been added to this site. Thanks in advance for any support.) 

Guy Walton “The Climate Guy”

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