Greendale News of the Moment: Sun Green's Forecast Was Right

U.S. surface temperature map, June 29,2012, shows 100° temperatures stretching continuously coast to coast from California eastward to the Carolinas
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Yes, it's hot and the inconvenient truth of Greendale is that Sun Green was right.

As the impacts of climate change intensify and accelerate, the denialists only continue to cling to their outdated thinking as they drive us down the wrong fork in the road.

From NBC Meteorologist On Record Heat Wave: 'If We Did Not Have Global Warming, We Wouldn't See This' | ThinkProgress:

Our climate system is breaking records at an unnatural pace with over 15,000 Heat Records.

During the June 22-to-28 period, there were 2,132 warm temperature records set or tied in the U.S., compared to 486 cold temperature records. This includes 267 monthly warm temperature records, and 54 all-time warm temperature records.

For the year-to-date, warm temperature records have been outpacing cold temperature records by about 7-to-1.

Satellite data of Greenland reflectivity June 1-22, 2012 versus the same periods in previous Junes back to 2000. The blue colors indicate a decrease in reflectivity compared to previous Junes.
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Greenland Ice Sheet Melt Nearing Critical ‘Tipping Point’ | ThinkProgress:

The Greenland ice sheet is poised for another record melt this year, and is approaching a “tipping point” into a new and more dangerous melt regime in which the summer melt area covers the entire land mass, according to new findings from polar researchers.

The ice sheet is the focus of scientific research because its fate has huge implications for global sea levels, which are already rising as ice sheets melt and the ocean warms, exposing coastal locations to greater damage from storm surge-related flooding.

Greenland’s ice has been melting faster than many scientists expected just a decade ago, spurred by warming sea and land temperatures, changing weather patterns, and other factors. Until now, though, most of the focus has been on ice sheet dynamics — how quickly Greenland’s glaciers are flowing into the sea. But the new research raises a different basis for concern.

Sea ice in the Arctic has melted faster this year than ever recorded before, according to the US government’s National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC).
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From June 28 News: Arctic Sea Ice Levels Reach Record Low In June | ThinkProgress:

Satellite observations show the extent of the floating ice that melts and refreezes every year was 318,000 square miles less last week than the same day period in 2007, the year of record low extent, and the lowest observed at this time of year since records began in 1979. Separate observations by University of Washington researchers suggest that the volume of Arctic sea ice is also the smallest ever calculated for this time of year.

Scientists cautioned that it is still early in the “melt season”, but said that the latest observations suggest that the Arctic sea ice cover is continuing to shrink and thin and the pattern of record annual melts seen since 2000 is now well established. Last year saw the second greatest sea ice melt on record, 36% below the average minimum from 1979-2000.

Waldo Canyon, Colorado blaze - June 2012
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As Exxon CEO Calls Global Warming's Impacts 'Manageable', Colorado Wildfires Shutter Climate Lab | ThinkProgress:

Fueled by a warming climate, Colorado is experiencing its worst fire season in its history.

It’s also worth nothing that by mid-century, wildfires in the West our projected to be far, far worse. Here’s the grim projection from a presentation made by the President’s science adviser Dr. John Holdren in Oslo in 2010: "We can barely manage the wildfires we have today. How exactly would much of the West “manage” a 4-fold to 6-fold increase in wildfires? And that’s just from a 1°C increase in temperatures. We could see 5 times that this century."

More on the inconvenient truth of Greendale.

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