[TheClimate.Vote] July 30, 2018 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[Richard Pauli]

/July 30, 2018/

LA Times
*Death toll mounts as wildfires rage across California 
<http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-new-carr-fire-mainbar-20180729-story.html>*
The death toll from the state's wildfires continued to mount Sunday, 
with eight fatalities now reported from blazes burning in Shasta County 
and near Yosemite National Park.
In Mariposa County, where firefighters have spent weeks battling the 
Ferguson fire, officials reported that a firefighter based at Sequoia 
and Kings Canyon National Parks died after being struck by a falling 
tree. Meanwhile, crews attacking the Carr fire in and around Redding 
said they had located another body - the fourth civilian to perish in 
that blaze - and reported that hundreds more structures were destroyed.
Firefighters are battling 17 wildfires across the state, which have 
consumed more than 200,000 acres combined in terrain stretching from 
Southern California to the Oregon border, said Jonathan Cox, battalion 
chief and information officer with the California Department of Forestry 
and Fire Protection. With so many burning near populated areas, 
"resources are obviously stretched thin," he said.
"We've had 17 fires before," Cox said. "But these are impacting 
communities - and they're large fires, not small."...
more at: 
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-new-carr-fire-mainbar-20180729-story.html
- - - -
[Fire news tracker]
*2018 California Fire Tracker 
<https://projects.sfchronicle.com/2018/fire-tracker/>*
Full fire coverage <https://www.sfchronicle.com/california-wildfires-2018/>
This interactive map developed in The San Francisco Chronicle newsroom 
provides information on wildfires burning across California.
*https://projects.sfchronicle.com/2018/fire-tracker/
*

    Fire perimeters are based on infrared and thermal imaging from
    NASA's MODIS and VIIRS-I products.

*SF Chronicle California Wildfires 
<https://www.sfchronicle.com/california-wildfires-2018/>*
https://www.sfchronicle.com/california-wildfires-2018/
- - - -
*Carr Fire: Today’s motto - "Looking for small victories" 
<https://www.redding.com/story/news/2018/07/30/carr-fire-what-we-know-monday-morning/862260002/>*
https://www.redding.com/story/news/2018/07/30/carr-fire-what-we-know-monday-morning/862260002/
- - - -
*PHOTOS: Apocalyptic Carr Fire burns through Shasta County 
<http://abc7news.com/photos-apocalyptic-carr-fire-burns-through-shasta-county/3835150/>*
http://abc7news.com/photos-apocalyptic-carr-fire-burns-through-shasta-county/3835150/


[follow the money]*
**Global Heat Wave will Hit Your Wallet Soon 
<https://climatecrocks.com/2018/07/29/global-heat-wave-will-hit-your-wallet-soon/>*
July 29, 2018
Bloomberg: 
<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-07-25/heatwave-hits-commodities-from-crops-in-texas-to-french-power> 

Commodity producers are having a summer to remember, for all the wrong 
reasons.
A heatwave across swathes of North America, Europe and Asia, coupled 
with a worsening drought in some areas, is causing spikes in the prices 
of anything from wheat to electricity. Cotton plants are stunted in 
parched Texas fields, French rivers are too warm to effectively cool 
nuclear reactors and the Russian wheat crop is faltering.
The scorching heat is extracting a heavy human cost - contributing to 
floods in Japan and Laos and wildfires near Athens. Relief from soaring 
temperatures, which topped 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) in 
the Arctic Circle, may not arrive for at least two weeks.
- - - -
The heat and lack of rainfall is pummeling crops across Europe as far as 
the Black Sea. Output in Russia, the world's top wheat exporter, is set 
to fall for the first time in six years, while concerns continue to 
mount about smaller crops in key growers such as France and Germany. 
Wheat futures for December have jumped almost 10 percent in the past 
month in Paris, with prices this week reaching the highest since the 
contract started trading in 2015...
- - - -
Phys.org: <https://phys.org/news/2018-07-drought-germany-breadbasket.html>
While southern Germany has seen largely normal rainfall this year, the 
north has been in the grip of an unrelenting high-pressure system 
creating weather conditions more familiar in southern France or Italy.
"We expect billions in losses," DBV president Joachim Rukwied told 
German media last week.
Investor's Business Daily: 
<https://www.investors.com/research/futures/wheat-crop/>
A drought that's hit wheat crops across the Black Sea region and Europe 
will force top buyer Egypt to pay more for supplies.
The cheapest offer in Tuesday's tender was more than $14 a metric ton 
higher than what Egypt's state-run buyer paid in its last purchase, 
according to traders familiar with the process and data compiled by 
Bloomberg. The General Authority for Supply Commodities is seeking wheat 
for Sept. 1-10 delivery.
Benchmark futures trading in Chicago have surged almost 20% this year, 
and Paris wheat for December is trading near a record for the contract. 
Dry weather means Russian production will fall for the first time in six 
years. Output in Ukraine will be lower than expected. Crops in France, 
Germany and the Baltic countries are also expected to decline from a 
year earlier.
"Egypt will have to pay more," said Pierre Tronc, a broker at BGC 
Partners, speaking before offers were made. "It is just a question of 
price. I don't see supply being a problem."
https://climatecrocks.com/2018/07/29/global-heat-wave-will-hit-your-wallet-soon/


[Climate.gov and NOAA]*
**Climate change rule of thumb: cold "things" warming faster than warm 
things 
<https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/beyond-data/climate-change-rule-thumb-cold-things-warming-faster-warm-things>*
Author: Deke Arndt
Colder places are warming faster than warmer places
This rule of thumb is really dominated by the fact that the arctic is 
the fastest-warming large region on the planet. The Arctic is warming at 
more than twice the rate of the rest of the world. This "Arctic 
amplification" is driven by a handful of factors; the largest of these 
is the retreat of seasonal snow and ice. As the white stuff goes away, 
it exposes darker surfaces and land cover underneath; this introduces an 
additional warming effect across the region.
- - - -
If you've been following the National Center for Environmental 
Information'smonthly reports 
<http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/national/201510>(and you should!), you 
may have noticed that this year's extensive warmth in the western United 
States  is driven by extremes in minimum (overnight low) temperatures 
<http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/service/national/statewidetminrank/201501-201510.gif>, 
even more so thanmaximum (afternoon high) temperatures 
<http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/service/national/statewidetmaxrank/201501-201510.gif>. 
And that's not just a snapshot, it's a trend. As the world warms, 
nighttime temperatures are slightly outpacing daytime temperatures in 
the rate of warming. Technically speaking, since 1900, the rate of 
warming for overnight temperatures is1.45F per century 
<http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/time-series/us/110/0/tmin/ytd/12/1895-2015?base_prd=true&firstbaseyear=1901&lastbaseyear=2000&trend=true&trend_base=100&firsttrendyear=1900&lasttrendyear=2015>, 
versus a daytime warming 
of<http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/time-series/us/110/0/tmax/ytd/12/1895-2015?base_prd=true&firstbaseyear=1901&lastbaseyear=2000&trend=true&trend_base=100&firsttrendyear=1900&lasttrendyear=2015>1.13F 
per century. 
<http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/time-series/us/110/0/tmax/ytd/12/1900-2015?base_prd=true&firstbaseyear=1900&lastbaseyear=2000&trend=true&trend_base=100&firsttrendyear=1900&lasttrendyear=2015>That 
may not seem like a big deal, until you realize that the nighttime rate 
is more than 20% higher than the daytime rate.
The relative warming of nighttime temperatures also translates strongly 
into the pattern of extremes, which tend to amplify changes in the 
baseline. The graphic below depicts theUS Climate Extremes Index 
<https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/extremes/cei/>, or CEI for short, for 
overnight temperatures (top panel) and afternoon temperatures (bottom 
panel) for each summer since 1910.
- - -
Colder seasons are warming faster than warmer seasons
The migration of seasonal snow lines isn't just a north-south latitude 
thing; it's also an up-down altitude thing. On mountains themselves, 
there is a noticeable effect ofincreased warming at mountain stations 
near the average snow/no-snow line 
<http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1029/2008GL034026/abstract>, 
which is leaning more toward no-snow- and thus, additional warming-in 
recent years. The rate of warming with elevation in general is complex - 
probably too complex to qualify as a rule of thumb, but there is 
evidence thathigh-elevation places are warming more 
<https://www.climate.gov/news-features/featured-images/mountain-air-becoming-less-brisk-more-high-elevation-observations>, 
on average, than lower elevation places.
In most of the mid-latitudes, where most Americans live, and where we 
have something resembling four seasons each year, the cold season is 
warming the most rapidly of all. This shows up clearly in the US 
temperature record, particularly during the last quarter-century, when 
the excursions from the long-term average are much larger during the 
winter season than the summer.
https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/beyond-data/climate-change-rule-thumb-cold-things-warming-faster-warm-things


[data visualization]
*Global CH4 Levels <http://www.methanelevels.org/>*
RECENT AND HISTORICAL METHANE DATA COMBINED.
http://www.methanelevels.org/


[Opinion]*
Letter: Forget Russiagate, clean up environment or we're cooked 
<http://www.telegram.com/news/20180728/letter-forget-russiagate-clean-up-environment-or-were-cooked>*
I just heard astrophysicist Adam Frank, and saw Al Gore's "An 
Inconvenient Sequel," and feel "Enough is enough." Our news obsesses on 
Russiagate and war against Iran while only one issue truly matters, the 
fact that once those ice sheets and glaciers melt, we're done. This new 
Iran war the psychos are selling us will cost us the trillions we need 
to get off fossil fuels. We need to be putting aside differences, stop 
the paranoia, start a dialogue with every single world leader, and start 
talking about how, together, we're going to stop runaway Global Warming 
by eliminating fossil fuels. Many of our differences are over these 
fuels anyway. The Telegram and every media outlet has got to sound the 
alarm and get us going. The time for inaction is over.
- - - -
As Adam Frank says, " Venus is 800 degrees, hot enough to melt lead. 
Venus should have jungles on it. It's the product of runaway global 
warming, just like Earth will be if we go over a 2 degree rise. How many 
record high years, superstorms, floods and droughts, wild fires, dead 
coral reefs, crashed fisheries, sargassum (macroalgae/seaweed) blooms, 
dying bats, polar bears, and trees, the scariest being phyto plankton 
which we need to breathe, before people wake up and take emergency 
action. We need a Green New Deal, RIGHT NOW. Folks, wake up or we're done.
Charlotte Burns
Palmer
http://www.telegram.com/news/20180728/letter-forget-russiagate-clean-up-environment-or-were-cooked


[depends on your definition]
*Glossary of climate change 
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_climate_change>*
 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article serves as a glossary of climate change terms. It lists 
terms that are related to global warming.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_climate_change


[or a full Trojan gift horse]
*The Carbon Tax and the Art of the Deal: Time for Some Horse-Trading 
<https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25072018/republican-carbon-tax-bill-carlos-curbelo-congress-climate-change-regulation-highway-funding-gas-trade-offs>*
BY: JOHN H. CUSHMAN, JR.
Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo introduced a carbon tax bill in Congress 
this week. What would he have to trade to win enough votes for it to pass?
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25072018/republican-carbon-tax-bill-carlos-curbelo-congress-climate-change-regulation-highway-funding-gas-trade-offs


[A Battleground in Mass Media - Video]
*The War on Science Presented by Shawn Otto 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NvHT-AmK4E>*
Lone Star College-Kingwood
Published on Mar 29, 2017
Shawn Otto Q & A: https://youtu.be/okV8VCdywNA
Shawn Otto has worked for years to get politicians to focus on and 
debate the major science issues like climate change and to base policy 
decisions on evidence, while working to get journalists to do a better 
job of covering these important questions.
[propaganda https://youtu.be/4NvHT-AmK4E?t=46m27s]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NvHT-AmK4E


Texas Wind Passing the Heat Test
*Clean Economy Weekly (newsletter 
<https://insideclimatenews.org/newsletter/clean-economy-weekly>*):

    The electricity grid that serves most of Texas hit an all-time
    record for demand last Thursday, topping out at 73,259 megawatts
    between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. The record may not stand for long, as hot
    conditions continue.
    *The heat is causing hardship across the state and the country, and
    also providing lessons for the people who manage the grid and make
    energy policy.*
    *Texas leads the nation in wind energy. Meanwhile, the state has
    seen a wave of coal-plant closings, as the plants cannot compete
    with less expensive power from renewables and natural gas....*
    - - - -
    *The wind has been strong during times of peak demand in South
    Texas, Webber said*. At the same time, West Texas has been less
    windy, as the hot conditions lead to stagnant air, he said.
    The grid is run by the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas, or
    ERCOT, and its planning for the heat can serve as a model, Webber
    said. The council said in April that it expected record-breaking
    demand and laid out the steps it would use to keep the system
    running under high stress.

https://insideclimatenews.org/newsletter/clean-economy-weekly


[Sarcasm or satire - from The Onion]
*Sea Level Rise By The Numbers 
<https://www.theonion.com/sea-level-rise-by-the-numbers-1827905162>*
https://www.theonion.com/sea-level-rise-by-the-numbers-1827905162


[conclusion to a famous skit]
*Remembering what Obama said about climate change 
<https://youtu.be/G6NfRMv-4OY?t=3m1s>*
President Obama's Anger Translator (Full + HD) at White House 
Correspondent's Dinner
https://youtu.be/G6NfRMv-4OY?t=3m1s


*This Day in Climate History - July 30, 2010 
<http://youtu.be/sWlwmzgLzVc> - from D.R. Tucker*
July 30, 2010: On MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show," fill-in host Chris 
Hayes and Mother Jones reporter Kate Sheppard discuss the coal 
industry's role in killing climate-change legislation.
http://youtu.be/sWlwmzgLzVc


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