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: Could It Get Hot Enough to Affect the U.S. Election This Summer?
Dear Diary. Looking at meteorological models as far they go out, which is 360 hours for operational models, there will be no end to the U.S. heatwave that I’ve dubbed “Exxon.” In fact, the thing may grow more intense as we go near and beyond the 4th of July holiday, threatening all-time records across areas east of the Rockies. We’ll see if this “mega heat dome” verifies by the 7th of July:
If this European model were to verify, the Peachtree Road Race held in my hometown of Atlanta Georgia might be the hottest on record making it very dangerous to run unless thunderstorms from a nearby forecast front don’t knock the temperature down:
I think that a long period of widespread max temperatures at or above 100°F/38°C plus high heat index values over a broad area of the country would need to occur to sway a great number of undecided people to substantially affect U.S. politics. Models show that this scenario is possible going into July.
By the 4th of July and beyond climate change ramped up heat could be on the mind of many across the U.S., and that includes voters. Trump has already stated that he will undo climate initiatives, going all in on Republican’s 2025 Plan and being willing to throw full support behind any fossil fuel corporation or billionaire if they will give him a billion dollars for his campaign.
Trump pressed oil executives to give $1 billion for his campaign, people in industry say – POLITICO
If Trump were to get elected, we would see the phrase “drill baby drill” bandied about a lot as environmental regulations get quashed. Biden can point to this summer’s heat as one more reason to elect him so that we remain in the Paris accords. If Biden were elected, he could point to the Sumner of 2024’s heat as a big reason to declare a climate emergency. Oh, and that doesn’t include any “add ons” from what we will probably see from the Atlantic Tropical season through this fall since the Atlantic Ocean is juiced up with anomalous climate change heat.
My question is will it get hot enough to peel off some Republicans from Trump’s voting Talley? Certainly, if we see all-time records in swing states, such as Georgia and Michigan, that will sharpen any argument from the Biden camp. Unfortunately, people would have to start suffering in droves from Heatwave Exxon to get anomalous heat on the mind of millions of voters, and that has not occurred yet as of this writing.
We will keep an eye on the climate issue as we move through the summer. As of late June, it is very low on voter’s minds with economic, war, and immigration issues taking up most of political discussions. Will that change? Stay tuned.
Related:
Here are more “ETs” recorded from around the planet the last couple of days, their consequences, and some extreme temperature outlooks, as well as any extreme precipitation reports or outlooks:
Here is some more May 2024 climatology (Prior reports are listed on older daily diary blogs for each calendar day.):
Here is More Climate News from Sunday:
(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.)