It’s a hot, hot, hot world.

Everyday is another day full of news about extreme weather and deathly heat.

As I sit here in this sweltering room, I wonder if the malaise pervading through my body is related to the hot room or is something else. Maybe my mind is making it all up due to the numerous news coming across my feed.

The most recent one from Washington Post recites a litany of horrors:

“…Dozens of bodies were discovered in Delhi…sundown brought no relief from the sweltering heat and humidity.”

Sarah Kaplan, Scott Dance, Washington Post, “Billions of people just felt the deadly intensity of climate-fueled heat waves”, 6/22/2024

“…Tourists died…as the mercury surges in Greece.”

Sarah Kaplan, Scott Dance, Washington Post, “Billions of people just felt the deadly intensity of climate-fueled heat waves”, 6/22/2024

“…Hundreds of pilgrims perished…struck down by temperatures as high as 125 degrees.”

Sarah Kaplan, Scott Dance, Washington Post, “Billions of people just felt the deadly intensity of climate-fueled heat waves”, 6/22/2024

“The scorching heat across five continents…once unthinkable catastrophes have become commonplace.”

Sarah Kaplan, Scott Dance, Washington Post, “Billions of people just felt the deadly intensity of climate-fueled heat waves”, 6/22/2024

“…billions felt heat with climate change- fueled intensity that broke more than 1,000 temperature records around the globe.”

Sarah Kaplan, Scott Dance, Washington Post, “Billions of people just felt the deadly intensity of climate-fueled heat waves”, 6/22/2024

“…tens of millions of people across the Midwest and Eastern Seaboard have been sweltering amid one of the worst early-season heat waves in memory.”

Sarah Kaplan, Scott Dance, Washington Post, “Billions of people just felt the deadly intensity of climate-fueled heat waves”, 6/22/2024

Just a litany of horrors. And there are still more to come.

Scientists had hoped that things would cool down because El Nino has dissipated. La Nina is supposed to be bringing some cooling but it doesn’t appear to be happening.

Oh, did I say that this hurricane season is supposed to be the most active ever?

“Scientists had expected this summer might be somewhat cooler than 2023, which was the hottest in the Northern Hemisphere in at least 2,000 years.”

Sarah Kaplan, Scott Dance, Washington Post, “Billions of people just felt the deadly intensity of climate-fueled heat waves”, 6/22/2024

“June is already all but sure to set a 13th-consecutive monthly global average temperature record…”

Sarah Kaplan, Scott Dance, Washington Post, “Billions of people just felt the deadly intensity of climate-fueled heat waves”, 6/22/2024

“Next month, … the planet could approach or surpass the highest global averages ever measured”

Sarah Kaplan, Scott Dance, Washington Post, “Billions of people just felt the deadly intensity of climate-fueled heat waves”, 6/22/2024

Yikes!

I’ve been seeing that statistic about 13 consecutive months breaking temperature records. When you see that, the authors are talking about global temperature averages. When I pull data for the US lower contiguous 48 states from NOAA, I don’t see that consecutive streak.

Here’s what I get from the NOAA:

This data series stretch back to 1895. As you can see, December 2023 had the highest December temperature record but there is no consecutive series of high temperatures for 2023.

Here’s a chart depicting January through December temperatures for every year going back to 1895. I colored the lines for the years since 2020. Year 2021 had the June record whereas 2023 had the long-lasting heat dome sitting over Texas. I’m enlarging the photo here because in Excel, I had to shrink the page down to 62% in order to gather up all of the chart, including the months along the X-axis.

As you can see, the temperatures, especially the summer temperatures, hovers on the upper end and 2024 shows signs of being on the upper end too.

The next chart is depicting January through December for every 10 years bunch of average temperatures. The first 10-year bunch runs from 1895 to 1904 and the last 10 years cover 2015 to 2024.

The chart shows the last 10 years averages as being the hottest averages.

I’m going to have to see if I can get global averages from NOAA, but I suspect I will have to find that kind of data elsewhere.

And so, the horrors continue.

“We’ve got the highest greenhouse gas concentrations in the last 3 million years. Carbon dioxide traps heat, so the temperature of the planet is rising…”

Sarah Kaplan, Scott Dance, Washington Post, “Billions of people just felt the deadly intensity of climate-fueled heat waves”, 6/22/2024

“What is really standing out is how many [heat waves] are happening at the same time…”

Sarah Kaplan, Scott Dance, Washington Post, “Billions of people just felt the deadly intensity of climate-fueled heat waves”, 6/22/2024

“…2016, which had been the hottest year observed since at least the 1850s — until a surge of global heat began breaking those 8-year-old records a year ago.”

Sarah Kaplan, Scott Dance, Washington Post, “Billions of people just felt the deadly intensity of climate-fueled heat waves”, 6/22/2024

“Last July brought the hottest average global temperatures scientists had ever seen — the hottest, they estimate, in more than 100,000 years. It’s possible the planet surpasses that milestone next month…”

Sarah Kaplan, Scott Dance, Washington Post, “Billions of people just felt the deadly intensity of climate-fueled heat waves”, 6/22/2024

Yikes and double yikes!

And did I mention that this hurricane season is supposed to be the most aggressive ever?

Hopefully, the weather people are just talking about the formation of these hurricanes and not the landings. I’m hoping they move out over the ocean.

To read the full Washington Post article, go to this link.