Monday, June 28, 2021

A Dangerous Heat

I have a lot of internet friends in the Pacific Northwest, including champion of small bloggers and all-around good guy Tengrain.  The Pacific Northwest is currently gripped in a dangerous heat wave, with Portland, Oregon baking at a temperature of 112F (44.4444C).  The danger of this heat wave is compounded by the fact that air conditioning is far from ubiquitous in the historically temperate region.  As always, unhoused individuals are at particular risk.  I can't even begin to comprehend the effects this heat will have on the local flora and fauna.

A glance at a weather map of this region is enough to give one the creeping horrors, CBS is describing the phenomenon as a once in a millennium heat dome, though I suspect that 'once in a millennium' is going to be a regular occurrence in the coming decades.  Can we talk about global warming now?  Sure, it's too late to forestall a catastrophic change in worldwide climate, but the earlier we start combating the problem, the more we can mitigate the civilization-altering effects.

Here in the New York metropolitan area, the expected high is a relatively temperate  92F (33.3333C).  While not comparable to the heat cooking the Pacific Northwest, this temperature poses a specific threat, if the 1950s science fiction B-movie It Came from Outer Space is a credible source:

When has a B-movie ever steered you wrong?  Be cool, everybody.

4 comments:

MJ said...

I've already seen "a little heat doesn't prove global warming" comments, and I'm not looking for them.

emjayay said...

When will the fever dream of four years of Trump global warming denial (along with all the rest of the anti-science and anti-information and logical thinking crap) end?

Some years back I commented that right wingers in the US will start believing that carbon dioxide etc. caused global warming is a thing when Florida is down to being a couple of small islands. And then they will blame it on Satan.

Of course it's a worldwide reality denial right wing thing in general - Bolsonaro and the rest. We're just the only theoretically advanced country that is in many ways dominated by conspiracy theory madness.

The US is a very wealthy third world country.

emjayay said...

Ha, your 92 degree clip is followed for me with the latest from Mrs Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian: "American History Story Time".

Anathema Device said...

"I can't even begin to comprehend the effects this heat will have on the local flora and fauna."

If it's anything like here when temperatures rise to those levels, it will be catastrophic. Fruit bats die en masse for one thing, which is horrible news for our native flora.

I hope the effects of this heat wave are limited, but I fear we all have to get used to this kind of thing. We are not ready for it.