Talking ’bout a heatwave

Posted on by farlane

Sunset at the Beach by charles hildebrandt

Sunset at the Beach by charles hildebrandt

West Michigan Fox-17 reports that the longest heatwave in West Michigan history possible in the coming weeks:

High temperatures will begin to rise to around or above 90° and will not fall below that point for at least a week. This long stretch of 90s could stretch into the second week of July, which would put us in the territory of longest heatwave since records began back in 1892.

A heatwave is 3 or more days in a row of 90°+ and we have had several of the shorter versions. The difference with this one in particular is it will last a week or even two as no system will swing through to cool us off.

A very strong ridge of high pressure across the country will set us up for the extensive heat. This will also keep rain chance minimal, as this ridge keeps air from rising and also dries the air out.

One good piece of news is that the majority of the heatwave will have manageable humidity. It will be a dry heat, just like the desert southwest.

Charles took this 10 years ago at Ottawa Beach in Holland. See more on his Flickr & stay cool everyone!

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Threepeat: 2016 once again our warmest year

Posted on by farlane

meltdown

Methdown, photo by Andrew McFarlane

“2016 is remarkably the third record year in a row in this series We don’t expect record years every year, but the ongoing long-term warming trend is clear.”
– NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies Director Gavin Schmidt

NASA reported last week that 2016 was the warmest year on record: You can read about it below, but I would like to offer two thoughts to the people who are getting angry about me ruining their daily photo with “politics”:

This is not politics. This is provable science backed up with excellent data.

While NASA (and I) believe in anthropocentric climate change (climate change driven by human activity) disbelief in that model DOESN’T MEAN IT’S NOT HAPPENING.

Earth’s 2016 surface temperatures were the warmest since modern recordkeeping began in 1880, according to independent analyses by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Globally-averaged temperatures in 2016 were 1.78 degrees Fahrenheit (0.99 degrees Celsius) warmer than the mid-20th century mean. This makes 2016 the third year in a row to set a new record for global average surface temperatures.

The 2016 temperatures continue a long-term warming trend, according to analyses by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. NOAA scientists concur with the finding that 2016 was the warmest year on record based on separate, independent analyses of the data.

Read on for more at NASA.

You can view my photo from a thaw in early February 2009 background big and see more in my Frozen Shore slideshow.