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: A 65th Birthday Note
Dear Diary. Today I am officially at traditional retirement age, although I won’t retire from writing about and fighting for a sustainable climate until the day I drop dead. I have been fortunate enough to have traveled around the sun 65 times and exceptionally lucky enough with lots of help from good friends to still be around, despite falling near 40 feet from a suicide attempt at age 54. In late 2015 I woke in a hospital a changed man with survival instincts kicking in. Had I died that year my kids World of Thermo books would not have been written and published, and this web site would not have come online in 2017.
Truth be known, I do contribute to those fighting the climate crisis, but I am a minor player. What I endeavor to do is support major players like Doctors Katherine Hayhoe, Michael Mann, and Jeff Masters by reporting on what they say and any new research they may undertake. I do have my own record temperature research, which is ongoing, taking many hours a week to do.
If I were to expire tomorrow, I will have lived a good, fulfilled life, but I will be disappointed that my fellow man has not stymied carbon pollution with the climate crisis getting worse year by year. If only people had listened to me and others during the 1990s taking the climate problem very seriously, humanity wouldn’t be in such a pickle.
Obviously, I do fear for the future of this planet given what we see from climate models. Yet I am encouraged that worst case scenarios are not as likely to occur because the renewable energy transition is happening much more rapidly than many had thought would occur a decade ago. Also, fingers crossed, but it would appear that politically in the United States the era of Trump is coming to a close relatively soon. Democrats should take back the House of Representatives this year, which will pretty much hem Trump in, making him a lame duck until his term ends in early 2029. I can’t wait for hearings to start in 2027 about his administration’s corruption.
The best birthday gift you can give me is to persevere on climate and don’t despair with a ‘doomer’ attitude no matter how hot it gets or how much damage storms and wildfires do. This is not ‘hopeium.’ After all, the future is not set in stone and we can still avert the worst effects of a warming climate according to our best science by preventing much more carbon from going into the atmosphere. And thank you so much for your support.
Here are more “ET’s” recorded from around the planet the last couple of days, their consequences, and some extreme temperature outlooks, as well as any extreme precipitation reports:
There is a heat advisory in place today for part of, uh, the North Slope of Alaska
#CRP issues Record Event Report (RER) at Aug 16, 1:54 AM CDT …RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE SET AT LAREDO ON AUGUST 15, 2026… https://t.co/GWqoKCdfdV
#RAH issues Record Event Report (RER) at Aug 16, 1:57 AM EDT …RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE SET AT FAYETTEVILLE NC YESTERDAY… https://t.co/UGhrjs5nAF
#MRX issues Record Event Report (RER) at Aug 15, 5:30 PM EDT …RECORD DAILY HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE TIED AT KNOXVILLE MCGHEE TYSON AIRPORT… https://t.co/xWvzSHPSzi
(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.)
The first 14 days of August have blasted through the previous record for the Aug 1-14 period globally. 🔥🔥🔥
New: Both Lake Powell and Lake Mead are now officially at their all-time record low levels. Here’s the change in just the last 10 years. It’s unsustainable due to infrastructure built for a different population and our former climate. #lakepowell #lakemead #drought
Lake Powell hit an all-time record low today. Less than 30ft from power generation loss. Population boom, over allocation, long term drought, warming climate + increased evaporation. This infrastructure was built for a different time, but can no longer sustain.
Intermittent nuclear climate casualtywww.theguardian.com/business/202…From tourism to power generation and productivity, Europe feels economic cost of heatwaves
Trump called established climate science “fraudulent” and threatened NAS with consequences. Now, NAS has pulled the climate chapter designed to help judges evaluate scientific evidence.Article: zurl.co/xliei
Monday was a tough day when we learned that NOAA was ending support for the Arctic Report Card. Since then we're received many expressions of solidarity, showing the value of the ARC to a wide audience. For that I am VERY grateful. #akwx #Arctic #Climate @climate.us @agu.org @drtwilamoon.bsky.social
When and why are societies so polarised about science? Why is scientists’ transparency about their motives so important, while the data and evidence are central? What is ‘solution aversion’ and how can we overcome it? Wise answers to important questions from @katharinehayhoe.com 👇👇👇
Want to do something about climate change? Talk about it.Atmospheric scientist Katharine Hayhoe explains why conversation on the topic is so important and how to take this step toward climate action. www.hcn.org/issues/58-8/…
I’ve created a handful of them, but this might still be my most unusual STARTER PACK! A team-up with world famous climate scientist @katharinehayhoe.com, these are folks connecting the dots on climate action via better cities!Please follow these great folks and share the pack! go.bsky.app/7Wh2uvp
❄️ 🌀 Science! Read to end.. Like a hot knife through butter, the radar beam is blocked and the storm’s reflectivity is sliced in half by Hawaii’s huge mountain range as Hurricane LaLa’s Eyewall makes a direct hit on the South Tip of the Big Island of #Hawaii (The first one in 150 years+)… 1/
This blocked beam effect is always present, but you almost never see it in all its glory until a big storm hits. It’s quite a site to see! Meanwhile at the top of Mauna Kea it’s snowing ❄️, winds are gusting 💨 to 154 mph with wind chills in the teens 🥶! Snow-cane anyone?? #hurricane #lala
Looking ahead for sure, but Hawaii's threat doesn't end with #Lala.Our findings last month ringing true. Hawaii nearly 2.5 times more likely to see tropical storm/hurricane impacts leading into a very strong El Nino.www.sfchronicle.com/weather/arti…
The real terms value of UK industrial output is higher than ever before according to ONS, due to energy efficiency improvement, followed by the switch away from coal, first to gas and now to renewables. See link.springer.com/article/10.1…
Operating expenditure at the UK Civil Nuclear Police Authority rose by almost £25 million during 2025-26, while reported workplace stress cases increased by 86%.Total operating expenditure increased from £154.1 million in 2024-25 to £178.7 million.ukdefencejournal.org.uk/nuclear-poli…
Have written several books on the origins and politics of climate denial. My latest is "Science Under Siege" with @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social: bookshop.org/p/books/scie…
If you like these posts and my work on record temperature ratios, please contribute via my PayPal widget on this site. Thanks in advance for any support.