Hottest January on Record - 2020

dqhall said:

This past January was the hottest January on record breaking a 2016 global temperature record. Burning fossil fuels has been linked to global warming and climate change. Should anything be done about it?

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"Should ANYTHING be done about it" may not be the question.

It is more like "Should there be no limit on what governments do to their people in the name of cutting climate change by even a tiny amount?" (which is all that can be hoped for, almost everybody admits).

dqhall said:

Should anything be done about it?

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Obama went to great length to try to do something about it. Trump will make some sort of token improvement somewhere for the bragging right but he does not seem real interested in this issue the way Obama was. I still wonder if we would have been better off with Al Gore in light of the number of people that ended up in a body bag with Bush. That election was very close.

How can 3-6 degrees above average be considered record warmth? I can recall warmer Januaries than that.

royal priest said:

How can 3-6 degrees above average be considered record warmth? I can recall warmer Januaries than that.

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"Last month was the warmest January on record globally,..."

and the period used for "on record" was only 1981 to 2010.

So, with reference to the whole world--including the unprecedented wildfires in Australia--what it says is that this one month (January 2020) was slightly hotter than the average for the 29 years between 1918 and 2010.

royal priest said:

How can 3-6 degrees above average be considered record warmth? I can recall warmer Januaries than that.

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When it breaks previous records it is, by definition, "record warmth". That's what "record" means - warmest on record, warmest recorded. Do you have data that backs up your memories of warmer Januaries? It's likely that your memory is flawed if the hard data shows otherwise.

Albion said:

even a tiny amount?" (which is all that can be hoped for, almost everybody admits).

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Hi. Tens of millions here in the U.S., or maybe hundreds of millions, know/recognize there is a huge difference between 2C of warming and 4 or 5C warming, in effects. And that we can do something, easily, not even hard, to alter slightly our trajectory to get closer to 2C instead of closer to 4C or more.

Not even a big adjustment, since most all the pieces are already in use, like the coming electric cars already planned, and the cheaper solar power already happening, today, and the safer nuclear designs, etc. All already here, already developed. If we don't try to keep coal on life support, artificially, such as by both subsidizing on one hand its price, and 2nd by not applying its full costs to the price it has in the market, by allowing things like mercury and lead emissions, which have clear $ costs we can calculate now, and the harder to calculate by still calculable costs of the extra warming it will cause.

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Crony capitalism looks like this: subsidies for some industries in return for votes in elections and campaign donations. "Corruption" is another word for this.

Fact Sheet: Fossil Fuel Subsidies: A Closer Look at Tax Breaks and Societal Costs | White Papers | EESI

Halbhh said:

Hi. Tens of millions here in the U.S., or maybe hundreds of millions, know/recognize there is a huge difference between 2C of warming and 4 or 5C warming, in effects. And that we can do something, easily, not even hard, to alter slightly our trajectory to get closer to 2C instead of closer to 4C or more.

Not even a big adjustment, since most all the pieces are already in use, like the coming electric cars already planned, and the cheaper solar power already happening, today, and the safer nuclear designs, etc. All already here, already developed. If we don't try to keep coal on life support, artificially, such as by both subsidizing on one hand its price, and 2nd by not applying its full costs to the price it has in the market, by allowing things like mercury and lead emissions, which have clear $ costs we can calculate now, and the harder to calculate by still calculable costs of the extra warming it will cause.

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There are so many misconceptions tucked into that statement, a reader would hardly know where to start when correcting them.

Albion said:

There are so many misconceptions tucked into that statement, a reader would hardly know where to start when correcting them.

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A better practice for anyone (meaning you also see) is to learn more:

Fact Sheet: Fossil Fuel Subsidies: A Closer Look at Tax Breaks and Societal Costs | White Papers | EESI

Halbhh said:

Crony capitalism looks like this: subsidies for some industries in return for votes in elections and campaign donations. "Corruption" is another word for this.

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Wouldn't that be what you were describing when promoting alternate sources of energy, most of which would not even exist without government subsidies, and which do not pay for themselves in new energy or provide more than a miniscule amount of it anyway?

Albion said:

Wouldn't that be what you were describing when promoting alternate sources of energy, most of which would not even exist without government subsidies, and which do not pay for themselves in new energy or provide more than a miniscule amount of it anyway?

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I'd say that depends on if the subsidy is meant to be permanent, instead of sun-setting or temporary like the electric car subsidies, which are expiring.

One way that it's corruption instead of just advancement is when the subsidy is meant to just give money to a group and the subsidy is still going like 30 years later --
Fact Sheet: Fossil Fuel Subsidies: A Closer Look at Tax Breaks and Societal Costs | White Papers | EESI

Halbhh said:

I'd say that depends on if the subsidy is meant to be permanent, instead of sun-setting or temporary like the electric car subsidies, which are expiring.

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They'll be renewed or given to another company engaged in the same business.

ArmenianJohn said:

When it breaks previous records it is, by definition, "record warmth". That's what "record" means - warmest on record, warmest recorded. Do you have data that backs up your memories of warmer Januaries? It's likely that your memory is flawed if the hard data shows otherwise.

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I lived in New Hampshire where you need a winter coat in the middle of winter. There have been a few winter's when just a sweater sufficed.

royal priest said:

I lived in New Hampshire where you need a winter coat in the middle of winter. There have been a few winter's when just a sweater sufficed.

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So you're saying you prefer anecdotal, subjective experience to hard data. Got it. You won't convince anyone with that though...

ArmenianJohn said:

So you're saying you prefer anecdotal, subjective experience to hard data. Got it. You won't convince anyone with that though...

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It isn't exactly "hard data" if it has to be fiddled with, rejiggered, and so carefully edited as this is data is, before it looks good.

ArmenianJohn said:

So you're saying you prefer anecdotal, subjective experience to hard data. Got it. You won't convince anyone with that though...

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Regardless of what the data actually says about those experiences, they were nice and I hope for more of them. You get to save a lot of money and your back too.

dqhall said:

This past January was the hottest January on record breaking a 2016 global temperature record.




Burning fossil fuels has been linked to global warming and climate change. Should anything be done about it?

https://phys.org/news/2020-02-january-warmest-eu-climate.html

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Been cold here in San Diego.
First they moved here for the sunshine
now for the cool weather.
M-Bob

When I was a child, we had heavy snowing every winter, Christmas were white.

Then snowing was less and less and this winter I have not seen any snow yet.

The central Europe weather definitelly changes drastically. I cannot imagine what happens in already hot places like Africa or what hardship animals in Antarktida must have.

dqhall said:

This past January was the hottest January on record breaking a 2016 global temperature record. Burning fossil fuels has been linked to global warming and climate change.

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Beyond any doubt, Januarys have been much warmer, lately, than they were before 2000, in my area. January was always the coldest month with the most snow but we rarely get snow anymore.

dqhall said:

Should anything be done about it?

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We should try.

royal priest said:

Regardless of what the data actually says about those experiences, they were nice and I hope for more of them. You get to save a lot of money and your back too.

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I'm sure they were nice but they weren't as frequent as you think. Your memory is inaccurate. You've romanticized a few odd one-off warm days into an imaginary warm winter season but the truth is it never happened. Hold on to that dream as it makes you happy, though!