Not to change the subject
, but here is some idiocy that I've hesitated to post for days, but it's raining outside right now so... From our very own University of Hawaii "researchers"... ETA: Is it a typo, or is the "Geography" department really part of the "College of Social Sciences"? If so, that would explain a lot about this "research". ("...an associate professor of geography in the UH Manoa College of Social Sciences").
They define the range of "killer heat" based upon the relative combinations of temperature and humidity. The writer then notes that according to those "conservative" criteria, last Sunday was a "killer heat" day in Honolulu. He then fails to mention the number of deaths that occurred in the "killer heat" of that day. Why?! Surely this research re the devastating effects of anthropogenic global warming and the professor's appeals to cure it need to be brought to the public's attention by loudly and boldly proclaiming the horrific loss of life caused by these "killer heat' episodes that will be of increasing frequency, intensity, and duration... unless, could it be, no one died due to the "killer heat"? But that would seem to be a contradiction...
Perhaps in the name of scientific objectivity, given the consensus and all that, it should be renamed "mildly uncomfortable heat"?
Lethal heat will grow common, climate change study predictshttp://www.staradvertiser.com/2017/06/19/hawaii-news/lethal-heat-will-grow-common-climate-change-study-predicts/?HSA=49244a8e46eae8138a217efb4b39c4afd8dfc03cThree-quarters of the world’s inhabitants, including those living in Hawaii, will be exposed to deadly heat waves by the end of the century unless greenhouse gases are not substantially reduced, according to a study published today in Nature Climate Change.
And even if bold action is taken to curtail emissions, nearly half of the world’s population still faces living with the dangerous hot spells, with tropical regions feeling the worst of it, the study said.
“We’re left with a choice between bad and terrible,” said lead author Camilo Mora, a University of Hawaii professor.
* * * * *
Mora, an associate professor of geography in the UH Manoa College of Social Sciences, said that when the project began a year and a half ago, little was known about how common such killer heat waves are, and the researchers were expecting to find relatively few.
That’s because the scientific literature usually describes only a few, including the 2003 heat wave that killed 70,000 people in Europe, the 2010 event in Russia that killed 55,000 and the 1995 Chicago hot spell that killed more than 700.
Digging deeper, Mora’s team found more than 1,900 deadly heat waves going back to 1980.
“That was a big shock, I’m telling you,” he said.
* * * * *
After analyzing the weather conditions during the lethal heat episodes, the researchers identified a threshold of heat and humidity beyond which conditions defeat the body’s natural cooling system. It’s a threshold that’s variable because lower temperatures can become lethal as relative humidity goes up.
According to their data, at 80 percent humidity, killer heat waves have occurred at temperatures above 68 degrees Fahrenheit. At 40 percent humidity, they have occurred when the mercury tops 75 degrees.
But
to be conservative,
the study used a higher threshold — a curve that includes 81 degrees at 80 percent humidity and 91 degrees at 40 percent humidity.
In Honolulu Sunday, the humidity was 70 percent and the high temperature reached 87 at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport. That qualifies as killer heat under the study, but the isles also were cooled by an 11 mph breeze.
* * * * *
While Mora said President Donald Trump’s move to pull out of the Paris climate agreement was a step backward for the planet, he remains hopeful the world can still rally to minimize the damage.
“This is something we cannot afford not to fix,” he said. “It’s like climbing a building and choosing between jumping from the second floor or the eighth floor. I prefer to jump from the second floor rather than the eighth floor.”