Monthly Archives: August 2017

Completion of an exciting new ice core has been announced.  This one, drilled in Antarctica, was able to track ice that was 2.7 million years old, far older than any previous core could achieve.  The information that follows should be … Continue reading →

Global temperatures in July were surprisingly warm.  It was statistically tied with both July and August of 2016 as the hottest month on record.  “But whereas 2016 set its temperature records boosted by one of the strongest El Niño’s on … Continue reading →

Where is everybody?  This is a philosophical type of essay, written by a retired astrophysicist, which puts the problems we are facing today into the broadest possible perspective.  In short, “Whitmire argues that if we are typical, it follows that … Continue reading →

A scorching hot summer in the Middle East.  Cities that are normally the hottest in the world have had stretches that were above normal lasting several weeks, and are continuing.  A high of 53C is the same as 127F.  Per … Continue reading →

A future climate appraisal from the University of Washington.  Researchers have calculated a range of probabilities of where the temperature increase will actually end up by the year 2100, after taking into account all of the various ways that humans … Continue reading →

A new indicator has been added to Today’s Weather Maps.  You can now read codes for maximum and minimum daily temperatures in all parts of the world, besides just the average.  Take a look at Max on the full global … Continue reading →

On the nature and future of heatwaves, especially with regard to their effect on city dwellers.  The post includes a chart of how the Heat Index (or Apparent Temperature) is structured, with an explanation of what the personal dangers are … Continue reading →

What is the true cost of burning fossil fuels?  There are people who try to measure it in terms of things like damage to the environment and damage done to human health and life expectancy, translated into monetary values.  These … Continue reading →

An environmental crisis is developing in Tibet.  A fine article in the Guardian explains the situation and the importance of a healthy Tibet to over a billion people who live in Asia.  Global climate conditions are also affected.  China’s industrial … Continue reading →

Update on the Keystone XL pipeline.  Even if fully approved it may never be built, thanks to low oil prices and to companies losing interest in tar sands production, which is what the pipeline is (or was) largely meant to … Continue reading →