I'm convinced global warming has kicked into 6th gear.

[Jamison]

WOW, just WOW, I'm speechless.

http://www.weather.com/maps/maptype/currentweatherusnational/usactualhightemps_large.html

Actual daytime highs for yesterday.

In my town, St. Louis, the heatwave has now turned deadly:

From KSDK news:

A sudden and unusual April heat wave has turned deadly. 73 year-old Maurice Thurmann was found dead in his Juniata St. duplex by a family member this evening. Authorities say the cause of death was most likely heat stroke. Temperatures in his residence were above 90 degrees. Thurmann had no fans or air-conditioning in his residence. Other St. Louis residents were treated at local hospitals for heat-related illnesses. With temperatures forecasted to be in the upper 90's to 100 and high humidity, the area is under a heat advisory...

I checked the calendar and it's only April 14th.:wtf:

What's weird is that maybe a week and a half ago we were wearing winter coats and freezing our asses off.

Global Warming is really accelerating FAST in my opinion.

[judaspriestess]

1. I'm convinced the cold war ending is what

started global warming - Steven Wright

[Kutjara]

2. This is just the preamble

When the main event hits, we'll look back on these times like the last days of Eden.

The tipping point has nearly been reached and I really fear what lies on the other side.

[kevinbgoode]

3. I hate this. . .some elderly person not even having a FAN

I'm a poor graduate student, but I'd part with a little money to buy an elderly person a fan. I'll bet half the time they won't buy one because they are afraid of the electric bill going up. . .or have no way to go get one or find them price prohibitive.

Every year I hear of people in this situation...and while I'm dirt poor and on student assistance, I certainly have a fan and air in my tiny apartment. I'm calling my local senior services center tomorrow and asking if I could purchase a box fan for them to donate to someone. . .

[Jamison]

7. I hate it too, it's sad.

I know where that street is in the city where that person died. It's in a pretty poor area on the north side. Those houses in that area are around 100 years old and mostly all brick, which is awful in the hot weather, b/c they heat up quickly and retain heat like a damn clay oven.

This heat just took everyone by surprise. Usually in the city the Rev. Larry Rice has a charity drive at the beginning of the summer to get less fortunate people in the city fans and window ac units if they don't have them. This is April though and I've never seen it this hot in April before. Shit, this would even be considered hot here in July and August.

[Rainscents]

4. I wish we were getting warmer weather (but not heat wave thou),

Here is WA state, it's been cold! Upper 40's to low 50's for few days now.

[Mythsaje]

13. Seasonably typical, as a matter of fact...

With the largest snow-pack we've had in the mountains for a long time from our winter storms, we're left looking around saying "global warming? What global warming?"

Of course, a year ago February it was in the 60s.

Washington weather's some weird stuff any way you slice it.

[lovuian]

5. Everybody in St.Louis is blown away at how hot it is

it makes you think of the dust bowl days...

[longship]

6. Single data points do not mean global warming.

There are always days warmer than normal. Today it was warmer than normal here in SoCal. However, that's after several weeks of colder than normal temperatures. One cannot pick and choose data. Today's hot spell means absolutely nothing about global warming.

One has to look at the big picture. Of course, that big picture *does* show that the planet is getting warmer. The glaciers are melting. The Arctic is melting, too. These are global effects whereas the high temperature in any region on a specific day is meaningless.

Hurricane Katrina by itself is no indication of global warming. However, a long term trend of more frequent large hurricanes brought on by warmer water temperatures is a global warming indicator (of which Katrina was just one data point).

Alone, today's temperature is meaningless.

[Up2Late]

10. O.K., how about 96 data points? Check this out...

Check out the mean temperature trend line. This is a Press Release from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, a direct link to the full report is below. This report didn't get much, if any, press up here in the North.

<http://www.deh.gov.au/minister/ps/2006/psmr04jan06.html>

4 January 2006
GH06/001
2005 Australia's warmest year on record

It's official - the 2005 Australian mean temperature of 22.89°C makes 2005 Australia's warmest year on record, announced the Hon Greg Hunt MP, Parliamentary Secretary with ministerial responsibility for Bureau of Meteorology.

"The annual Australian Climate Statement released today by the Bureau of Meteorology shows that 2005 has been 1.09°C warmer than the standard mean period of 1961-90, making it the warmest year since at least 1910, when high quality Australia-wide temperature measurements first became possible" said Mr Hunt.

The 2005 Australian temperature record eclipses the old record, set in 1998, by a considerable margin. Data held by the Bureau of Meteorology shows that the previous record was +0.84°C.

Data also show that more than 95% of the continent experienced a warmer than average year, with the most anomalous month being April, when temperatures averaged nearly 2.6°C above normal.

"The year had a remarkably warm and dry start, which led to many concerns for those linked to the land" Mr Hunt said. "But the June rains and a beneficial growing season have brought home a good crop in many areas."

Rainfall for the full year was below normal, with an average of 399mm falling nationwide. This is 73mm less than the Australian mean rainfall of 472mm.

"While the recovery in the second half of the year is welcomed" Mr Hunt noted "the good rains in many areas are not enough to erase the long term dry."



The annual Australian Climate Statement will be available from 9am 4th January at: http://www.bom.gov.au/announcements/media_releases/climate/change/

Media enquiries:
Kristy McSweeney (Mr Hunt's office) 0415 740 722

<http://www.bom.gov.au/announcements/media_releases/climate/change/20060104.shtml>

[longship]

15. I would say that this is good data

My previous post was not an attempt to deny global warming but to defuse the tendency of people to attribute single abberant weather data points to global warming, which one simply cannot do. Global warming is not necessarily responsible for every warm day. Global warming is just that--global.

Your plots might be valid because they show large term trends throughout a large region over long periods of time. But even these are not "global" so one must be careful about assigning causality of global trends.

In other words, just because one region is warmer doesn't necessarily mean global warming. Only considering the whole global picture is global warming evident. Of course, global data *does* show increasing trends since the beginning of industrialization.

But just because events occur in a specific order does not imply causality. That's called "post hoc ergo propter hoc" and is a fallacious logic.

[Old and In the Way]

8. Ice out on the lake up here.....about 3 weeks earlier than normal.

[Pachamama]

9. I agree...I'm here in N.Cal & the weather/rain has been non-stop! We have

been having flood threats (I was up all night on Tues Night on flood watch - the water came within 1 foot of the bridge nearby which would have triggered a ripple effect and flooding (we suffered a major flood on Dec. 30th in my area of Marin County, CA and are a Federally Declared Disaster Area). Meanwhile, nearby in Mill Valley and San Anselmo, there are massive mud slides with homes being destroyed and a nice old local man who was buried alive in a mudslide as he tried to clean the culvert behind his house.

It has rained 33 of the last 43 days. This is unheard of in CA, especially this time of year. Our reservoirs are maxed, the soil is saturated and the creeks and streams are maxed out. There is no question that Global Climate Change is here. And I fear its only the beginning we are seeing.

PS: Our house was badly damaged in the flood...over $300K in damage (personal property, but also a lot structurally) We are going to be raising our house this summer and rebuilding.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Jamison]

12. Unusual in April.

July and August it's above 90 all the time...sometimes even all night. Our local weathercaster said yesterday our normal high for the date is only 65.

[benburch]

14. We hardly knew 'ye