From Warm to Storm

The good news is that the heat wave is going to be broken today.  The bad news is that some trees and power lines may be broken along with it.  Thunderstorms are expected later today with not only flooding rains but strong, damaging winds.  I don't know how thunderstorms produce their own tropical-storm-force gusts when the overall wind pattern is calm, as I don't know all that much about meteorology, but what I do know about it I've had to learn quickly, in order to comprehend how serious these recent weather trends are . . . and how threatening they are to us.  A lot of people think I am interested in meteorology, but if my house hadn't had 56 power outages in a decade - and a tree on our garage - I wouldn't show half the interest I do.  And I certainly wouldn't be talking about the weather so much on my blog.       

This weather is all being fueled by climate change, which has all but replaced space exploration as our new gargantuan achievement to pursue.  But not only do we not have another President Kennedy to goad us into committing ourselves to taking control of climate change, we have very few would-be Kennedys running for President on the Democratic side willing to do so, and those few, like Jay Inslee, are at one percent in the polls for the crime of being boring white males (Kennedyesque without the Kennedy part).  Climate-change deniers, meanwhile, are too busy bitching about a bunch of environmental crybabies in France telling America what to do about the environment and tell anyone here who doesn't like their attitude to move to France.

I can't, it's hotter even there than here. 

So, for the short term, cold fronts crashing into extreme heat and humidity mean that a few thunderstorms may be severe.  It won't be long before such conditions mean that most thunderstorms will be severe.  :-(      

The Heat Is On

To say that summer weather is hot is like saying water is wet.  But the temperature in my area - and in several other areas of the United States - is expected to reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit for it least two days in a row.  Climate-change deniers will scoff at these extreme temperatures - "Hey, it's New York in July!"  - but the truth is that heat waves like this will only become more frequent.  Look at Europe, which is having even longer and hotter periods of summer weather despite much of that continent being farther to the north the the continental U.S.  And truth be told, it's been abnormally warm in Alaska.  

Despite Trump's refusal to acknowledge climate change, there are, fortunately, plenty of Americans, state and local governments, companies, and individuals, who do and who are already doing something about it, such as capping emissions and using more renewables.  Unfortunately, if his efforts to stop California's fuel-economy standards succeed, Trump is likely trying to find ways to keep them from doing anything about it.  

Hotter Than . . . May?

In the American Northeast, warm air has made the past weekend feel as unbearable as July. This is the second spat of abnormally high temperatures we've had this year; it also felt summery in early April, right after Easter.

May has always been my favorite month, but this year it's apparently been cancelled. Now we're going straight to June.

Feeling a little cranky tonight. Sorry.