Climate Change

The Associated Press reports: Earth’s average temperature set a new unofficial record high on Thursday, the third such milestone in a week that already rated as the hottest on record. The planetary average hit 63 degrees Fahrenheit (17.23 degrees Celsius), surpassing the 62.9-degree mark (17.18-degree mark) set Tuesday and equaled Wednesday, according to data from the University of Maine’s Climate …

Axios reports: The globe set a record for the warmest June since at least 1940, new and emerging climate data shows, obliterating the previous milestone from 2019. Separately, the globe set new single day records for the hottest day yet measured, on July 3 and 4. The records are an indication of the influence that an El Niño event is …

The Texas Press reports: Both the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas are urging residents and businesses to voluntarily reduce electricity use as temperatures soar above 100 degrees over much of the state. Temperatures set record highs for June in several Texas cities: 111 degrees in Junction, 115 in Laredo, and 113 in Del …

CNN reports: A tropical storm named Bret has formed over the central Atlantic Ocean and will likely become a hurricane on Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center said Monday afternoon. The storm now has winds of 40 mph and continues to move quickly to the west, according to the center. The hurricane center first identified the storm as a tropical depression …

The Washington Post reports: Waters in the tropical Atlantic Ocean are at their warmest levels on record, which could help fuel an exceptionally early seasonal hurricane by the middle of the week. A tropical disturbance 1,000 miles west of the coast of Africa is predicted to steadily organize over the coming days, with high chances of it becoming a named …

The New York Times reports: Global temperatures are likely to soar to record highs over the next five years, driven by human-caused warming and a climate pattern known as El Niño, forecasters at the World Meteorological Organization said on Wednesday. The record for Earth’s hottest year was set in 2016. There is a 98 percent chance that at least one …

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports: The 2023 hurricane season officially begins on June 1, and Arlene sits at the top of this year’s list of storm names. The National Hurricane Center moves through an alphabetical list throughout the season. Though hurricane season lasts from June 1 to Nov. 30, storms can form at any time. It is not uncommon for …

Climate Wire reports: The Gulf Coast insurance crisis has hit a new low as two state-chartered insurance associations are being forced to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars for the first time in three decades to pay the hurricane claims of insolvent insurers. Borrowing in Florida and Louisiana could reach a combined $1.35 billion and will be repaid largely by …

Raw Story reports: Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), who narrowly won his recent reelection, complained that global climate change didn’t really matter because his state could use a little less snow. Speaking in the Senate Budget Committee Wednesday, economist Michael Greenstone addressed the health costs of climate change. Johnson picked up one of the maps that were part of the exhibits …

CNN reports: More storms could strike South Florida on Friday after monumental flooding wreaked havoc on Fort Lauderdale and surrounding communities, closing schools and government buildings and sending hundreds of residents to seek refuge at emergency shelters. Many streets turned into lakes across Fort Lauderdale Wednesday and Thursday when a historic volume of rain exceeding 2 feet inundated the South …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: With less than 2 inches of rain this year, Orlando is enduring its second driest stretch from Jan. 1 to April 5 since the late 1800s and also its hottest on record for that period. The city, Central Florida and much of the state’s peninsula are experiencing a widening severe drought, according to the U.S. Drought …

Politico reports: House Republicans passed a sprawling energy bill Thursday, delivering their biggest legislative win since they took control of the chamber in January and setting up a clash with Democrats by pitting fossil fuels against President Joe Biden’s climate change agenda. The bill passed by a 225-204 vote, with four Democrats joining Republicans to pass the bill and one …

“We’re not having a climate crisis, but what we are having is a crisis of common sense. If you think about it, CO2 – man-made CO2 – collectively adds up to one-one-hundredth of one percent of the atmosphere around the globe. “If you think about the entire CO2, it’s about four-one-hundredths of one percent. And there’s one thing that I …

“Of course, climate does change, it has always changed. In fact, the landscape we live in now is formed by climate change. The glaciers are a product of climate change. The climate is changing now, it never stops changing. “That is a process that we didn’t cause and that we can’t control to any great degree. We will never be …

Axios reports: A rare, powerful winter storm is directing a firehose of moisture at large parts of California, including causing blizzard conditions in the hills and mountains near Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. This storm prompted the first blizzard warnings in L.A. and Ventura Counties since 1989, and the first-ever blizzard warning issued by the Weather Service’s San …

Axios reports: Temperatures will sizzle toward record territory for many in the Mid-Atlantic on Thursday. Baltimore and Washington, D.C., could reach 80°F.  The freakishly mild winter in the East has led to a sense of unease. This is February, when Nor’easters normally churn the Atlantic, dumping heavy snow for millions. Instead, the only thing that has been heavy in New …

NBC News reports: Natural disasters forced an estimated 3.4 million people in the U.S. to leave their homes in 2022, according to Census Bureau data, underscoring how climate-related weather events are already changing American communities. The overwhelming majority of these people were uprooted by hurricanes, followed by floods, then fires and tornadoes. Nearly 40% returned to their homes within a …

Axios reports: Florida orange growers are facing what’s forecast to be their smallest crop in nearly 90 years. Florida is expected to produce 18 million 90-pound boxes of juicing oranges this year, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast last month. That’s less than half of last year’s crop and a 93% decline from the 1998 peak, the Wall …

Axios reports: A key House Republican is putting forward a plan to make the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) an independent agency outside the Department of Commerce. Removing the agency from a Cabinet-level department could diminish its clout when it comes to securing funding and weighing in on key policy decisions, former senior NOAA officials tell Axios. It would …

From a January 11th Ars Technica report: Microsoft is rolling out an update to Xbox consoles starting today that will automatically switch them to a power-saving Shutdown mode, instead of the usual energy-hungry Sleep mode. It’s part of a broader effort by Microsoft to make Xbox the “first carbon aware console.” Blaine Hauglie, technical program manager at Xbox, writes in …