Saturday, July 23, 2016

Ignore Climate Change Issues At Your Peril

Stars and Stripes:
The temperature in Mitribah, Kuwait, surged Thursday to a blistering 129.2 degrees. And on Friday in Basra, Iraq, the mercury soared to 129.0 degrees. If confirmed, these incredible measurements would represent the two hottest temperatures ever recorded in the Eastern Hemisphere, according to Weather Underground meteorologist Jeff Masters and weather historian Christopher Burt, who broke the news.
It's also possible that Mitribah's 129.2-degree reading matches the hottest ever reliably measured anywhere in the world. Both Mitribah and Basra's readings are likely the highest ever recorded outside of Death Valley, Calif.
Death Valley currently holds the record for the world's hottest temperature of 134.1 degrees, set July 10, 1913. But Weather Underground's Burt does not believe it is a credible measurement....
If you discard the Death Valley record from 1913, the 129.2-degree reading from Mitribah Thursday would tie the world's highest known temperature, also observed in Death Valley on June 30, 2013, and in Tirat Tsvi, Israel, on June 22, 1942. But Masters says the Israeli measurement is controversial....
 While the Middle East's highest temperatures have occurred in arid, land-locked locations, locations along the much more sultry Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman have faced the most oppressive combination of heat and humidity. Air temperatures of about 100 degrees combined with astronomical humidity levels have pushed heat index values, which reflect how hot the air feels, literally off the charts.
In Fujairah, on the east coast of the United Arab Emirates, the dew point — a measure of humidity — reached 90 degrees  at 4 p.m. local time Thursday. The 90-degree dew point, combined with the air temperature of 97 degrees, computes to a heat index of over 140 degrees.
Why on earth would we spend trillions of dollars to fight over a region that is literally becoming uninhabitable?  Oh, that's right, so we can make sure the oil flows and makes it even more unlivable.  We are idiots and will be the cause of our own near-extinction.

No comments:

Post a Comment