Monthly Archives: July 2012

Some topics of possible interest:

• The Conservative government’s assault on scientists and the environment continues apace, and is starting to get noticed outside Canada, as evidenced by this overview by Ed Struzik at Yale Environment 360 .
• Media Matters finds that the connections between increasing wildfires in the U.S. West and climate change are greatly underreported. A similar reticence appears to be at play in the reporting of the recent derecho, fuelled by a record heat wave, although Seth Borenstein of AP has stepped up and connected the dots there too.

Fueled by the record high heat, this [derscho] was one of the most powerful of this type of storm in the region in recent history, said research meteorologist Harold Brooks of the National Severe Storm Laboratory [website] in Norman, Okla. Scientists expect “non-tornadic wind events” like this one and other thunderstorms to increase with climate change because of the heat and instability, he said.

[Also see this climate scientist roundup: Is it now possible to blame extreme weather on global warming? by Leo Hickman of the Guardian. And Snapple weighs in with Will Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli Learn Anything from the Super Derecho Event of June 29, 2012? ]