Jun 09 2008

DC Sees Hottest Record In 134 Years – Is This Global Warming?

Published by at 3:43 pm under All General Discussions,Global Warming

OK, did you know that CO2 levels in the atmosphere were so high back in 1874 that there was a risk of run-away Global Warming which threatened the existence of mankind? Me neither.

On of the things I love about “record temperatures” is they always break records from a past that could not have been caused, at the time of the record, by man-made activity as preached by the Gospel of Al Gore and the Church of Global Warming. We see shrinking ice caps, only to discover old tree trunks from a forest that existed the last time the ice caps retreated. You know, they don’t call that big icy land mass in the North Atlantic Greenland for nothing.

But as today’s heat wave in the DC area breaks a record set 134 years ago – which means we are not seeing something new or due to the modern civilization – we are simply seeing the normal cycle of climate the Earth has seen for centuries:

The muggy heat that smothered the Washington region during the weekend may ratchet up even higher this afternoon, threatening to break the record of 102 degrees set in 1874.

That was before electricity and air conditioning – and somehow those poor souls seem to muddle through! We are, by far, not the greatest generation. We are the greatest generation of whiny wimps. Where the hell did I put that “Easy” button….

16 responses so far

16 Responses to “DC Sees Hottest Record In 134 Years – Is This Global Warming?”

  1. Soothsayer says:

    It’ll be getting even hotter in DC week after next, as former Bush spokesperson and Dubbya’s BFF Scott McClellan,will testify before a House committee re: Vice President Dick Cheney ordering him to make misleading public statements about the leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame’s identity.

    McClellan has said publicly that Bush and Cheney directed me to go out there and exonerate Scooter Libby.

    Hmmmmmmmm, smells like criminal conspiracy.

  2. crosspatch says:

    Temperatures over 100 degrees are NOT unusual in Washington DC. I lived there for several years and grew up within 100 miles of there. And today’s temperature is just as warm as it was some 130 years ago … at the tail end of the little ice age.

    Actually there is a rather well-known weather pattern that is causing this. The Madden Julian Oscillation also known as the 30-60 day oscillation. Right now it is positioned such that conditions are favorable for above normal temperatures for the Southeast and South-central US. That pattern is expected to move East and there should be lower temperatures in DC after that. The current long-term forecast calls for high temperatures in the low eighties late next week.

    What I find most interesting is this invention of the “heat index” which is a mechanism for reporting weather that makes for higher numbers than just the thermometer reading. I can recall some absolutely blistering summers in the DC area. I think I remember one in the early 1990’s where there was some sort of record for consecutive days over 100 degrees.

    It was a lot worse during the early days of DC when the tidal basin was swampy and malaria and yellow fever were raging. Even George and Martha Washington couldn’t stand it and spent two summers in Germantown, Maryland to get away from the tropical diseases in DC in the summer.

  3. Soothsayer says:

    More heat in D.C.??

    Seems the President misremembered (aka lied thru his teeth) regarding his meetings with convicted crook Jack Ambramoff. Bush has insisted he only met with Abramoff on two innocent occasions; seems the draft report by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee says White House documents say it was six (6) times.

    The draft report also says:

    At least three former officials declined to answer some or all of the investigators’ questions, citing their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

  4. crosspatch says:

    Heh, and in Washington State:

    Statement as of 8:26 AM PDT on June 09, 2008

    … Heavy Snow Warning in effect from 6 PM this evening to 8 am
    PDT Tuesday for the Olympics above 3500 feet…

    The National Weather Service in Seattle has issued a Heavy Snow
    Warning for the Olympics above 3500 feet from 6 PM this evening
    until 8 am Tuesday. This warning replaces the Snow Advisory that
    was issued earlier.

    A strong… late season storm system will dump 4 to 9 inches of
    wet snow on the Olympics tonight… with the west slopes likely
    receiving near a foot of snow. The snow levels will start out
    about 5000 feet but then plummet to near 3000 feet late this
    evening as a colder air mass invades the region.

    Expect the snow to taper off or become light Tuesday morning.

    People planning on hiking or camping in the Olympics should be
    prepared for winter-like weather conditions.

  5. AJStrata says:

    Sooth is making the case that Rezko should be considered a serious negative by reminding everyone of Abramoff – thanks Sooth!

    America, if you don’t want another Bush in the WH don’t vote Obama – Sooth says so.

  6. VinceP1974 says:

    AJ: It’s just more proof of the “Leftists are nothing but childern” theory

  7. Crzy4politks says:

    These temperatures may not be abnormal for the DC area, but they are for the month of June. July and August are normally the hottest months. Thank goodness the heat wave hit after the pools were opened. Been the savior all weekend.

  8. crosspatch says:

    “may not be abnormal for the DC area, but they are for the month of June”

    But it was just as warm there in the 1800’s at the tail end of the “Little Ice Age”. So … it’s weather, not climate. Have a look at the average temp for the US for May. Lowest in YEARS. I have a feeling June will be the same. It is snowing in the hills over Seattle tonite and it snowed last weekend in the California Sierras at Kaiser pass. Unheard of cold weather for June.

  9. Soothsayer says:

    Ooops . . . heat went up some more in DC. Representative Dennis Kucinich has presented Articles of Impeachment to Congress:

    “Resolved, that President George W. Bush be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and that the following articles of impeachment … in his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of president of the United States, and to the best of his ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has committed the following abuses of power…[including but not limited to] Article 1 – Creating a secret propaganda campaign to manufacture a false case for war against Iraq.

    Scotty McClellan may have a very busy summer testifying. Kucinich added: -impeachment may well be the only remedy which remains to stop a war of aggression against Iran.

  10. WWS says:

    Good ol’ Texas – yesterday was a good example of why anecdotal, local temperature extremes are fun but meaningless in the big picture. Started off real hot in DFW yesterday, sweltering – then some front came through with thunderstorms, and the temperture literally dropped 25 degrees in 30 minutes. Lot of fun to feel it happening!!! But is that “climate change”??? Nope, that’s just Texas. Don’t like the weather, just stick around for an hour or two, it’ll be different.

  11. KauaiBoy says:

    Well said on modern day wimpiness AJ. I am certain all of our grandparents (and probably parents) who escaped famine and oppression, who lived thru World Wars 1 and 2, the Great Depression (that was a real one not one where your iPod buying power decreases), the horror of the hippies, Carter and the Clintons, etc etc… would only laugh at the complainers or better yet give ’em a good kick in the ass to have something to complain about. And then they would throw you outside to play not wallow in front of the TV soaking up the AC (and dad’s electric bill). We need the big predators to reemerge and start weeding out the stupid.

  12. crosspatch says:

    I read an article that Aspen is going to open the ski resort up for next weekend.

  13. crosspatch says:

    Yikes!

    Seattle just experienced the coldest first week of June, according to climate records dating to 1891, said Cliff Mass, University of Washington metrologist. Both 1999 and 2008 share the record, with 1917 falling in second place, he said. “Just wait until tomorrow,” he said, when temperatures are going to be even colder.

    Missoula water park closing due to cold weather ‘to protect children from hypothermia’

    Lobsterman: ““Global warming is having the opposite effect for us”

    Aspen to reopen this June for Skiing

  14. WWS says:

    Cross, met some friends of friends this weekend who were here from New Zealand. They just happened to mention that New Zealand is having an unusually early and harsh winter this year. (readers recall that seasonally, June here is December there)

    googled on article on the early onset, from last March:

    http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23298480-5006009,00.html

    Combine this news with the oil price runup and we have a hell of a mess on our hands in 6 months. I wish I could see a way out. I can’t.

  15. Neo says:

    The Aspen Skiing Company said Monday that it will open up Aspen Mountain from June 13 to 15 for skiers and snowboarders.
    The company says record winter snowfall has left the mountain covered with snow, leaving behind an average of more than 3 feet of snow on the upper slopes.

    I think perhaps the weather is bi-polar.

  16. Neo says:

    “It’s a dead face,” Tsuneta said of the sun’s appearance.
    Tsuneta said solar physicists aren’t like weather forecasters; They can’t predict the future. They do have the ability to observe, however, and they have observed a longer-than-normal period of solar inactivity. In the past, they observed that the sun once went 50 years without producing sunspots. That period, from approximately 1650 to 1700, occurred during the middle of a little ice age on Earth that lasted from as early as the mid-15th century to as late as the mid-19th century.