Drought, Fire, Flood: In the News
Drought, Fire, Flood: In the News
I have been writing about a variety of issues that I know are of interest to only a small number of people – U.S. science organizations, climate model software, and validation of climate models. I am going to move away from that arcane set of subjects for a while and spend a little more time in the climate mainstream. In this entry I want to touch on several subjects – starting with my garden.
My garden is in the flat land that is the western edge of the Great Plains, just east of Boulder, Colorado. Weather wise, it is a complex and difficult environment: more than 5000 feet above sea level, reliant upon water from the winter snow pack in the mountains, huge swings of hot and cold. In terms of climate types, I have seen region defined as both arid and semiarid. In the last week, we have had three or more inches of rain – hard driving rain with much lightning. There is water standing between the rows in the garden. The week of July 4 it was so dry there was a fire ban, and many firework fires.
Last summer in Boulder we had the Fourmile Fire, which burned thousands of acres and dozens of houses. With this rain, we have mudslides, rock slides and flash floods (Longmont Times Call). It all makes you appreciate the importance of the weather and the climate. Wet and dry. Hot and cold. ( 485 Billion Dollar Impact of Weather)
Boulder is a microcosm of what is going on in the U.S. There have been overwhelming fires in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. (Texas Fires). Dangerous drought and heat is spreading all across the southern half of the U.S. The dust storm last week in Arizona was reminiscent of pictures of the Dust Bowl. (more here). We were overwhelmed not long ago by the Mississippi River flooding. I have almost forgotten about the Missouri River flooding.
Figure 1: From KFAB Omaha News Radio. Photo Credit AP: Missouri River flood of Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant.
We see here the persistence of weather, climate, snow cover, drought, floods - one extreme after another. Jeff Master’s wrote an excellent summary of 2010-2011 as being a year of the most extreme events since 1816 – the year of Mount Tambora, a definitive and understood climate anomaly. Jeff writes that June 2011 continues the run. July 2011 is looking strong. It has been more than 300 months since there was a “below average” mean temperature. That’s a little compelling.
We are being handed one case study after another, where we see the impact that weather and climate have on us. And what is that impact? We see vulnerable people losing their homes, their crops. But where is the real threat? What does it mean that 213 counties in Texas are primary disaster areas?
Energy, economy, population – markets. We all know that the weather affects our economy. We rely on a stable climate. We see here and now an interconnected world, where extreme heat kills thousands and destroys crops and send food prices soaring. We see multiple billion dollar liens placed on our economy by floods, droughts, and tornadoes. These costs come at a time when economies all around the world are weak. There is a debt crisis, and the weather is demanding more loans. Right here and now the world is providing one climate disaster after another. The weather and climate are showing the need for more planning, for building resilience and recovery strategies. The weather and climate are revealing our vulnerabilities. While there is the obvious, the family fleeing the flood, the destroyed Joplin, Missouri hospital, there is also the accumulated impact felt through markets, higher food prices, emergency relief, things that will not be fixed, people relocating.
We are being offered lessons. I have written this far and not strung together the words “climate change” or mentioned “global warming.” This is the weather in our warming climate. The take away message from climate models, Be Prepared.
r
Rood on To the Point
Open Climate Modeling:
Greening of the Desert
Stickiness and Climate Models
Open Source Communities, What are the Problems?
A Culture of Checking
Organizing U.S. Climate Modeling:
Something New in the Past Decade?
The Scientific Organization
A Science-Organized Community
Validation and the Scientific Organization
Reader Comments
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And it is above 2005 and 1998 now. See how hot it is?
It is July now.
Jul 7, 2011; 11:24 AM ET
June 2011 ranked in the top five for warmest on record globally in the satellite record.
According to Remote Sensing Systems or RSS, June 2011 was the fifth warmest June in the satellite record, which goes back to 1979.
June 2011 ended up averaging .277 degrees celsius above normal for the lower troposphere, according to RSS.
Image courtesy of RSS.
Link
Not all the bouys are inaccurate.
You avoided or denied the success of the coral restoration projects.
Rusty, proofs are for mathematicians and distillers.
The ridiculously repetitive and increasingly lopsided record high to record low ratio across the U.S. and elsewhere isn't "proof" of man warming the planet, no. In fact, it's not even evidence of that. What it is evidence of is increasing warmth.
About your constant comment about CO2 making up only 0.039% of the atmosphere: did you know botulinum toxin is lethal at just 0.00000000000001%? Of course, CO2 and a deadly toxin aren't the same--but even a person unfamiliar with science can see that the "what" is just as important as the "how much", so attempting to make direct comparisons is just silly and wrong. Also, did you know that not all air particles are equal? CO2 is a greenhouse gas; it absorbs heat and doesn't allow it to escape into space. Therefore, all other things being equal, the more CO2 there is, the hotter the earth gets. Period. And those CO2 levels have risen by more than a third since the dawn of the industrial age. That is, they're growing from our burning of fossil fuel.
I'd like to politely suggest a list of basic climate science primers for you to read. There are some excellent ones that start with the fundamentals. Perhaps if you and a few others took time to study them, we coul quit clogging the blog with inane ramblings and Charlie Sheen-like hashtags, and instead talk about actual science as it relates to climate change.
From you on the previous blog. How long is each run again? L8R
Couple of nice sites to start.
Link
The Eemian was an interglacial period which began about 130,000 years ago and ended about 114,000 years ago. It was the second-to-latest interglacial period of the current Ice Age, the most recent being the Holocene which extends to the present day. The prevailing Eemian climate is believed to have been similar to that of the Holocene. The Eemian is also known as the Sangamonian Stage in North America, the Ipswichian Stage in the UK, Mikulin interglacial in East European Plain, the Valdivia interglacial in Chile and the Riss-Würm interglacial in the Alps.
Global temperatures
The Eemian climate is believed to have been about as stable as that of the Holocene. Changes in the earth's orbital parameters from today (greater obliquity and eccentricity, and perihelion), known as the Milankovitch cycle, probably led to greater seasonal temperature variations in the Northern Hemisphere, although global annual mean temperatures were probably similar to those of the Holocene. The warmest peak of the Eemian was around 125,000 years ago, when forests reached as far north as North Cape (which is now tundra) in northern Norway well above the Arctic Circle at . Hardwood trees like hazel and oak grew as far north as Oulu, Finland.
At the peak of the Eemian, the northern hemisphere winters were generally warmer and wetter than now, though some areas were actually slightly cooler than today. The Hippopotamus was distributed as far north as the rivers Rhine.
Link
Look familiar,
Basically the blanket is getting thicker and the thicker it becomes the warmer you get.
And?
There's an obvious denialist blind spot to this one salient point, because they always choose to not address it when it's brought up, or they quickly change the subject to something else: another area of climate, something they read on WUWT, an ad hominem, a reference to Al Gore. Whatever. I shall try yet again regardless:
Yes, the planet has been warmer before. However, as far back as scientists can see, rapid climate changes--up, down, or sideways--have always led to major disruptions to the biosphere. Always.
Case in point: the PETM--in which temps rose 6.C over 20,000 years, a geologically "rapid" pace--saw mass extinctions. And the current pace of warming due to CO2 is an order of magnitude faster than it was during the PETM.
Correcto: the thicker and denser, the warmer it gets. (See: Venus)
what exactly has to happen to acheive co2 levels the "science community" deems healthy?
what can we as a species do, what's the plan?
what do you, the bloggers here, think is the best approach to dropping co2 levels? is it possible?
be realistic.
shoot
just suggest solutions instead of blame
Link
Basically as the inlet and discharge area decreases the number of them increase. However, the length of them won't change. So if we get 1,020 of them with 200 foot crossections about 2,000 feet of tunnel would be used for each one of them. That would include the upper warm section of the tunnel and the lower cool section of the tunnel. So we get 2,000 feet of tunnel pipe material times the total number of tunnels 1,020. I get about 386.3 miles of pipe what you get?
Link
Even if it is one molecule or compound thicker it would still hold more heat.I would hope they can comprehend that!
we have little knowledge of venus and its past
and compared to Earth, there are many differences.
well..here's a stab at something unscientific perhaps but just as easy to understand as watching ice melt:
Venus has a toxic, uninhabitable atmosphere, 67.2 million miles from the Sun. Global temperature prevents water from freezing.
Earth has a habitable atmosphere, 93 million miles from the Sun. Global temperature allows water to freeze.
Mars has a thin uninhabitable stmospehere, 141.6 million miles from the Sun. Global temperature keeps water at constant freeze.
Striking conclusion: distance from Sun dictates atmosphere
OK, :)
http://ricochet.com/main-feed/Manmade-Global-Warm ing-The-Solution
" 0 " , it is not a viable solution and impossible to implement. Please focus on something realistic.
CUL8R >>>>>>
Perhaps,unrealistic to you but not for me or our current world which needs some good ole fashioned refrigeration and green power generation right now. LOL!
By Robin Yapp, Sao Paulo
8:39AM BST 12 Jul 2011
President Evo Morales was reported to be considering declaring a state of emergency in the region of Potosi to mobilise the army and national guard.
Some 7,000 people belonging to farming families are in need of help in the region, according to officials.
More than 40,000 llamas and alpacas are also without food and farmers have lost their crops under a thick blanket of snow.
The snow has hit the remote highlands of Potosi, which lies in the south-west of the country and generally remains dry.
Bolivia's government has asked for help from neighbouring countries, including helicopters to drop aid for people in isolated regions and heavy machinery to clear roads.
Bolivia's central government has already "sent food, supplies and medicine" to the area, according to Cecilia Chacon, the defence minister.
On Sunday the authorities ordered the rescue of a family of Dutch tourists stranded near the border with Chile due to the heavy snowfall.
A cold snap that brought fog and snow to the capital La Paz at the start of this month killed at least 35 people.
Link
Be clear about targets and honour commitments BONN - Today, Ambassador Pablo Solon of the Plurinational State of Bolivia addressed reporters at the UN climate talks in Germany. Ambassador Solon outlined a clear plan, based on submissions from other countries and civil society, on how to move the talks forward in 2011.
"The key issue at these talks is the gap between how much climate pollution we need to reduce and how much countries are committed to reducing. We call that the "gap" and it's the difference between 4C of warming and 2C of warming. The Cancun outcome sets us on a path to 4C." Ambassador Solon Said.
"Some countries want to talk about the 'rules' first, instead of this gap in commitment, but we know that rules will not reduce this gap. Fixing rules will simply prevent the gap from increasing, it won't set about actually reducing emissions. The heart of the matter is the depth of pollution cuts." Ambassador Solon said.
"More incredible is the suggestion by some countries that they want the market mechanisms from the Kyoto Protocol but do not want to have the legally binding targets of the Kyoto Protocol. You can't say I'm not coming to the party but please send all the gifts to my house." Ambassador Solon said.
Ambassador Solon made a presentation that showed the effect of temperature rise on the Chacaltaya glacier in the Andes. Chacaltaya has already receded significantly with only 0.8C of recorded warming.
Link
Maybe Mr. Solon should go home and check the
"regional" weather before spouting off on how much money the G8 needs to pay!
How did June 2011 Stack Up Globally?
Jul 7, 2011; 11:24 AM ET
June 2011 ranked in the top five for warmest on record globally in the satellite record.
According to Remote Sensing Systems or RSS, June 2011 was the fifth warmest June in the satellite record, which goes back to 1979.
June 2011 ended up averaging .277 degrees celsius above normal for the lower troposphere, according to RSS.
Image courtesy of RSS.
Link
Law mandates protection plan in three years
OTTAWA -- The polar bear is finally set to be listed under Canada's species-at-risk legislation.
The federal government has given notice it intends to list the iconic white mammal as a "species of concern" under the law. Once it is listed, a plan must be devised within three years to help prevent the bears from becoming endangered or threatened.
"Listing the polar bear under SARA (the Species At Risk Act) represents an important step towards fulfilling SARA's commitment to reduce the risk of the species becoming threatened or endangered," reads an analysis on the impact of the regulatory change.
The legislative move comes almost three years after the panel of scientists that advises the government on species protection recommended the bear needed special attention.
The panel had suggested the bear be included in the list because of the potential for climate change to threaten its habitat.
"Although there is uncertainty over the overall impact of climate change on the species' distribution and numbers, considerable concern exists over the future of this species in Canada," the committee on the status of endangered wildlife in Canada wrote in 2008.
Canada is home to 60 per cent of the world's polar bears, but changes in sea-ice conditions are wreaking havoc with populations.
Four of the 13 bear subpopulations in Canada are predicted to be at risk of declining over the next 36 years. Some bears are showing declining body conditions and changing their denning locations because of a decreased availability of sea ice.
But in other areas, the number of bears is on the rise and some argue decreasing ice thickness in parts of the Arctic may actually provide better living conditions.
In Nunavut, there are so many bears in one of the regions, the government is recommending increasing the hunting quota out of concern for public safety.
Putting the bear on the species-at-risk list isn't necessary, said Drikus Gissing, director of wildlife management for the government of Nunavut.
"If the federal government wants to list species because they are concerned about climate change, they need to come and list every single species in the Arctic," he said.
"If climate change continues, it will impact every single species."
Communities in Nunavut were among the most vocal against adding the bear to the list, but Gissing said the change isn't a huge concern.
It won't take away traditional hunting rights for aboriginal people nor will it change how Nunavut already manages bear populations, he said.
But the risk of a federal management plan is it could mandate a one-size-fits-all strategy for the different bear subpopulations, pointed out Peter Ewins, the senior Arctic species officer with the World Wildlife Federation Canada.
While Ewins said he's not opposed to the bear being listed under federal law, any management plan is likely to fail.
"The No. 1 problem that dwarves everything else is fossil fuel-induced global warming and that doesn't happen in the Arctic," he said.
"So a management plan that's focused on Inuit and the Arctic and habitats and things in the Arctic isn't going to do diddly-squat. If we all stopped driving cars tomorrow, that would probably start to help."
Environment Minister Peter Kent's office did not a return a call for comment.
The proposal to list polar bears under the act was announced on July 2, and interested parties have 30 days to weigh in.
That follows more than two years of public consultations the government held after the scientific panel made its suggestion in 2008.
They visited hundreds of aboriginal and northern communities, most of which were opposed to the change. But more than 3,000 letters were also received from people living outside the Arctic Circle and the majority of them were in favour.
Link
Given that that part of Bolivia is a) in the middle of winter and b) two-three miles in altitude, the fact that it snowed isn't that big a deal, of course. But what is a big deal is just how much it snowed. To have that much precipitation fall must've taken an incredible plume of moisture-laden air. In other words: one more example of extreme weather likely made worse by the warming global climate.
But as climatologists say: we ain't seen nothing yet.
Really, a record is a record.
Empirical evidence is fact.
Thousands stranded by worst snows in Bolivia for 20 years
By Robin Yapp, Sao Paulo
8:39AM BST 12 Jul 2011
President Evo Morales was reported to be considering declaring a state of emergency in the region of Potosi to mobilise the army and national guard.
Some 7,000 people belonging to farming families are in need of help in the region, according to officials.
More than 40,000 llamas and alpacas are also without food and farmers have lost their crops under a thick blanket of snow.
The snow has hit the remote highlands of Potosi, which lies in the south-west of the country and generally remains dry.
Bolivia's government has asked for help from neighbouring countries, including helicopters to drop aid for people in isolated regions and heavy machinery to clear roads.
Bolivia's central government has already "sent food, supplies and medicine" to the area, according to Cecilia Chacon, the defence minister.
On Sunday the authorities ordered the rescue of a family of Dutch tourists stranded near the border with Chile due to the heavy snowfall.
A cold snap that brought fog and snow to the capital La Paz at the start of this month killed at least 35 people.
I am not sure when the ice will come back, never
claimed any date, just reporting the data which
shows that it will, and judging from the historical
Vostok data, maybe soon, maybe not. Many unknowns.
The Eemian interglacial era (is analogous Sangamon era in North America, Ipswichian interglacial in UK, Riss-Würm interglacial in the Alps) is the second-to-latest interglacial era of the Ice age. It began about 131,000 years ago, consisted of an early warm period of about 3,000 to 4,000 years duration, a rapid cooling and then a much slower cooling leading to the next glacial era. However, recent ice core analyses have shown that during the course of the Eemian, there were several short periods in which glacial conditions prevailed. The onset and close of these periods were very abrupt. The warmest peak of the Eemian was around 125,000 years ago, when forests reached as far north as North Cape (now tundra) in northern Norway. Hardwood trees like Hazel and Oak grew as far north as Oulu, Finland. Sea levels at that time were higher than they were now, possibly indicating greater deglaciation than today (one presumes the ice sheets of Greenland and possibly Antarctica). Scandinavia was an island due to the inundation of vast areas of northern Europe and the West Siberian Plain.
At the peak of the Eemian, the world was generally warmer and wetter than it now is. Trees grew as far north as Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago instead of only as far north as Kuujjuaq , and the prairie-forest boundary in the Great Plains lay further west -- near Lubbock, Texas instead of near Dallas, Texas where it now exists. The era quickly cooled to conditions cooler and drier than the present, and by 114,000 years ago, a glacial era had returned.
Link
The House of Representatives voted to preserve a scheduled phase out of incandescent light bulbs Monday evening.
The Better Use of Light Bulbs (BULB) Act, would have rescinded efficiency standards for incandescent bulbs included in a 2007 energy bill.
233 members voted yes and 193 cast nay votes. But the House required a supermajority to approve this particular package. In this case, it would have needed 285 yea votes to pass.
Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT) voted present.
The measure gained support after the 2010 elections, as tea party Republicans seized on the prohibition as an example of government overreach.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, says that the increased efficiency standards have the government picking winners and losers in the lighting market.
"To take off the market something that's cheap, effective, and average use costs
Link
How did June 2011 Stack Up Globally?
Jul 7, 2011; 11:24 AM ET
June 2011 ranked in the top five for warmest on record globally in the satellite record.
According to Remote Sensing Systems or RSS, June 2011 was the fifth warmest June in the satellite record, which goes back to 1979.
June 2011 ended up averaging .277 degrees celsius above normal for the lower troposphere, according to RSS.
Image courtesy of RSS.
Link
This is an invalid comparison: You're comparing a 100-year trend presently to a 20,000-year trend millions of years ago. There is no way to know for sure that the temperature did not change quicker over a specific 100-year period during the PETM than it has currently.
So while there's no evidence of it having happened, the extinction-causing PETM warming--which was overall roughly 25 times slower than the current warming--may have in parts been as rapid? And that invalidates what I wrote how?
Link
Pretty much. For all we know 1.5° F temperature changes within century and 0.5° F changes within half-century periods have happened countless times before. There aren't any proxies with the appropriate precision to rule this out over time periods of 100 years or less.
Added: Also worth noting that the PETM warming is claimed to have lasted 20,000 years. We do not know with even the slightest certainly that current warming will last that long, let alone that the current 100-year rate will. Shorter terms, in this case 100 years, will always exhibit greater variation than longer terms, such as 20,000 years. Comparing the rates side-by-side and stating that we can expect similar consequences is pure conjecture.
Didn't an impact from space disrupt cycles 65 million years ago approx?
Let's see was modern man here 65 million years ago?
Actually, the PETM is probably too far back in time to draw meaningful comparisons to today anyway, for a lot of reasons. I also seem to recall that some studies have suggested that significant temperature increases at the time preceded CO₂ increases by two or three thousand years. I haven't looked at it in a while, but I would research it more thoroughly (from both points of view, of course) before I would make any definitive comparisons to today's climate.
You like?
50 million years ago
700 million years ago
Man cannot prevent the formation of the next supercontinent from forming. So what's the big rush to save coastline 30 years from now?
From: AAP
July 07, 2011 5:38PM
PARTS of New South Wales have been declared natural disaster zones following 48 hours of wild winds and blizzard conditions.
The NSW government said severe weather in the past 48 hours had battered the Central West, North West Metropolitan, Illawarra and South Coast areas.
Police Minister Michael Gallacher said the Blue Mountains, Oberon, Shoalhaven and the Wingecarribee Shire had been declared natural disaster zones.
"Severe winds have covered much of these regions and this has caused significant damage to these communities," Mr Gallacher said in a statement on Thursday.
"Today's natural disaster declarations trigger a range of assistance measures for those people who have been directly impacted."
The wind had damaged buildings, parks, reserves and critical infrastructure.
Link
No surprises here: Perth's on another record cold spell
Lucy Rickard
July 11, 2011
Perth is on track to breaking another weather record as low daytime temperatures continue this week.
Weatherzone meteorologist Robert Wood said widespread cloud cover was contributing to the "massive reduction" in day-time temperatures experienced across WA so far this month.
Perth is set to record its second day in a row where the mercury won't reach 14 degrees, which hasn't occurred for 13 years.
Despite the low maximums, Perth's overnight temperatures remained around 10 degrees for the past two nights, and today's highest temperature – 11.6 degrees at 12.30pm – is just 1.3 degrees higher than the overnight low recorded at 5.30am.
So far this month, Perth has had five consecutive days where the overnight temperatures dropped below five degrees, and on every day except one, the maximum had not exceeded 17 degrees.
Yesterday, the Gascoyne Junction recorded its coldest day in 45 years, with the temperature climbing to a chilly 13 degrees.
Jurien Bay also had its coldest July day in 39 years, reaching just 13 degrees yesterday.
Mr Wood said that in addition to a chilly Sunday, Gascoyne Junction also had some heavy rainfall over the weekend.
"The Gascoyne district was the focus of the heaviest falls in the 24 hours to 9am on Sunday," he said.
"Carnarvon picked up 3o millimetres through this period, while further inland, Milly Milly had 50mm."
Rainfall was not quite as heavy in the 24 hours to 9am today, although Morawa and Dalwallinu each recording more than 20 millimetres.
Mr Wood said cloudy and wet conditions had now taken hold of WA, bringing a burst of useful rainfall in addition to the record cold conditions.
"An upper level low formed to the west of Geraldton in the last 48 hours, drawing on abundant moisture from over the Indian Ocean, is leading to widespread cloud cover, rainfall and chilly day-time temperatures across WA," Mr Wood said.
Link
Snow Hits New Zealand during Major Winter Storm
By Jim Andrews, Senior Meteorologist
Jul 13, 2011; 9:07 AM ET
Share |
Google Maps image of New Zealand.
Snow, rain, high winds, hail and even a tornado have struck New Zealand along with a severe early week winter storm.
On the South Island, a heavy fall of snow has disrupted traffic, causing accidents and at least one school closure in one town, according to the New Zealand Herald.
Queenstown was blanketed in snow on Tuesday, with pictures on the Herald's website suggesting snowfall of up to 10 inches in the area.
A skidding 10-ton truck nearly crashed through the front of the Queenstown District Court, the Herald reported.
A Queenstown police officer urged motorists to put on chains, owing to the hazardous state of area roadways.
Meanwhile, a small twister apparently tore a narrow swath through Kaiwaka in the early morning. The North Island town is located between Auckland and Whangarei.
On the bright side, the storm left more than a meter (or more than 3 feet) of snow on the ski fields of Mount Ruapehu, North Island. Operators were looking forward to clear weather later in the week, the Herald indicated.
Another wave of rain, snow and high winds will sweep through New Zealand into Wednesday, say forecasters at AccuWeather.com.
Heavy snow will sock the South Island highlands yet again, and inland sites such as Queenstown could get another 6 to 12 inches of snow.
Later in the week, the weather will tend to improve, although it will be significantly cold through at least Friday.
Link
I just remembered...You posted something at the end of the last blog entry's comment section [№ 546] about the "spike" of percentage of severe drought in the US using a five-year graph. I responded with a map of July 1934 showing a far higher percentage of severe drought in the US than anything in the last five years [last blog, № 572]. You responded with a remark that it was only "one-month" and seemed to reply it was an aberration [№ 611].
Well, I suggest that you use the link I provided previously[see below] and check some other months as well. You can use this graph as a guide.
JBastardi provided a link that leads to this graph in № 171. It comes from testimony given to Congress and allegedly originates from the NCDC. Although I can't find it on the site specifically, I did spot check a number of months using the NCDC link [I'll give it again at the end of this post] and it appears to be consistent with NCDC data. I again welcome and encourage you to check some yourself, as if the graph is not correct I will want to remove it from post.
If you find that it is indeed consistent with NCDC data, I imagine you'll admit that the "spike" in your previous 5-year data graph was rather insignificant historically after all. Of course, some say that I have a fairly active imagination, so maybe not.
Link to Histroical Palmer Drought Indices. Once again, note that you can select other months.
You know, I'm going to go back and provide a link forward to this post too, so that anyone reading the comments on the last blog entry can be properly informed.
How did June 2011 Stack Up Globally?
Jul 7, 2011; 11:24 AM ET
June 2011 ranked in the top five for warmest on record globally in the satellite record.
According to Remote Sensing Systems or RSS, June 2011 was the fifth warmest June in the satellite record, which goes back to 1979.
June 2011 ended up averaging .277 degrees celsius above normal for the lower troposphere, according to RSS.
Image courtesy of RSS.
Link
Lets see he was talking about this years drought in 2011. The chart you are showing only shows up to 2006.
Support for Australian government hits record low
By Enda Curran
SYDNEY -(MarketWatch)- The Labor-led government of Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard came under renewed pressure Tuesday with a closely watched opinion poll showing its popularity at record lows just days after it introduced the terms of a controversial tax on carbon emissions.
Voter approval for Gillard's Labor party has fallen to 27%--a record low--while backing for the centre right Liberal-National opposition has grown to 49%, according to the Newspoll survey of 1,200 voters conducted for The Australian newspaper between July 8 and July 10. The bulk of voters were questioned before details of the carbon tax were released on Sunday.
Much of Labor's problems are linked to an unpopular plan to place a fixed 23 Australian dollars (US$24) price per ton of carbon emitted by the 500 biggest polluters from the middle of 2012, followed by a transition to a floating rate regime in 2015. Criticism ranges from Australia moving ahead of trading competitors in pricing carbon to worries the policy will drive higher the cost of living.
Support for the opposition is now at its highest since October 2001, when the party was in government under Prime Minister John Howard and enjoyed a surge in support in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the U.S.. On a two party preferred basis, which factors in vote transfers, the conservatives lead by 58% to 42%. Worryingly for Gillard, opposition leader Tony Abbott has emboldened his lead as preferred Prime Minister to 43% from 38%.
Abbott has led a vigorous campaign against the carbon tax, forcing Gillard to offer billions of dollars in compensation to households and businesses affected by the scheme. But Gillard has consistently dismissed the poor opinion polls and has banked her political fortune on securing approval for the carbon scheme between now and the next election
scheduled in 2013.
Link
I can only hope the current administration will follow the Australian approach. Right boys.
How much Tax money will be made taxing carbon?
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