July 2021 was the warmest July on record for the globe | Hacker News Reader

July 2021 was the warmest July on record for the globe

ncei.noaa.gov

120 pointsinfodocket32 comments

In case somebody is wondering about the importance of a temperature record I'll repost my old comment here.

https://books.google.com/books?id=N0FLSOmeFPsC&pg=PT59

Bottom line: records are extremely rare if events occur at random. If new records become far more common than the harmonic series predicts, then this is telling us that annual climatic events are no longer independent annual events but are beginning to form part of a systematic non-random trend.

For me in South Texas, it was one of the coolest summers I can remember. We had no days at or above 100, and most of the month was below average.

This was due to the High Pressure dome not being over us as it normally is, causing us to have lots of rain.

Many Texans were happy that this summer wasn't a scorcher. While I understand that this weather isn't good (or normal) for us, I fear the nice weather will just make more Texans not care about climate change.

Interesting article about this point yesterday:

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-08-12/u-s-cl...

We've been "enjoying" your high pressure system up in the Pacific Northwest. There are plenty of places at the equator that were cooler than Vancouver yesterday. You can have it back. Please.

I’m so sad for the glaciers in Washington state :’(

I was looking at the glacier above Joffre lakes (north of Whistler) on Wednesday and thinking that it will probably be gone in my lifetime. It looks smaller this year than the last time I was there four or five years ago. I looked for photos of it this time of year in the past, but my Google fu failed.

For me in Rhode Island, it's been quite warm. Today @ 91 degrees is similar to trend I've seen all summer - a near uniform temperature for the whole East Coast. It's 91 today in Atlanta GA, Jackson MS, & Houston TX.

It's also 91 in Burlington VT & Bangor ME. It's been strange like that all summer.

It's 85°F in my backyard right now, I can remember several summers where the night time low in mid-August stayed above 85 (or 90). Those are miserable days.

I've been happy at how relatively cool it's been. I don't think I've seen a single day in triple digits yet and it's the first time I can remember that happening since moving to Texas. Not a fan of the rain, though, but I guess it's probably good for the land.

It's definitely been weird sitting here in the coolest summer I can remember hearing about these heat records being set elsewhere, but thankfully I well understand how averages and spatial variation work.

Instead of "warmest", we need to use "hottest" or "highest temperature". Warm sounds like it is nice and cozy. I live in Seatte and it was NOT nice and cozy.

I don't think replacing soft language is going to solve the complacency of the human collective.

I think it helps somewhat

https://www.nsstc.uah.edu/climate/

Not according to the Earth System Science Center in University of Alabama-Huntsville. July 2021 was only 0.2C above the 1991-2020 average based on satellite measurements of the lower troposphere.

Greenland had a mild melt season and is currently above 1981-2010 average surface mass balance: http://polarportal.dk/en/greenland/surface-conditions/

The southern hemisphere has had a rather cold winter, resulting in below average temps for South America, South Africa and Australia.

Brazil had snow: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/rare-snowfall-blan...

Coffee crops froze in July. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/freak-brazil-frost-hi...

Four south african cities had their coldest temps on record: https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/weather/breaking-weathe...

Australia had one of its coldest, wettest July's in decades: https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/wettest-july-...

Antarctica sea ice extent is well above 1981-2010 average: https://usicecenter.gov/Products/AntarcCharts

They're not measuring the same thing: https://kenskingdom.wordpress.com/2015/11/20/why-are-surface...

Ground temperature measures air temperate at 1.5 meters. Lower troposphere measures the average from 0 meters to 10 km, weighted heavily toward the lower 4 km.

It's not exactly intuitive why ground temperature and lower troposphere temperature should be different, but in short, during wet seasons, troposphere will be relatively warmer, and during dry seasons, ground will be relatively warmer. I think ground is what we care about here, though, as that most directly impacts human wellbeing.

(in case anyone else is wondering: The original article of the thread is talking about surface level temperature)

Interesting that the Antarctic sea ice extent during July 2021 was above average; climate change is weird.

The long term trend in planetary sea ice still shows a decrease though, for more information on Arctic vs Antarctic ice:

https://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-deciphering-the-rise-...

On the bright side we finally have a northwest passage.

> The long term trend in planetary sea ice still shows a decrease though,

This is an understatement of century.

It would be better to say that the speed at which the ice cover melts exceeded worst case projections of even most pessimistic scientists.

Global averages don't tell you much about any specific place. Weather varies considerably.

https://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/charctic-interactive-sea-...

After three really hot summers in a row, this July was thankfully cool, almost too cold, where I live. Lots of rain too, which was a bit annoying.

I cannot really imagine what would trigger anyone to downvote that comment. As off-topic perhaps?!

A weather station in Sicily, Italy recorded 120 degrees celsius heat at one point. 120 degrees celsius. 20 degrees higher than boiling point of water...

That was 120 degrees Farenheit, not Celsius. 120 degrees Celcius is 248 degrees Farenheit, which is obviously not a surface temperature on earth (at least not yet).

It most certainly did not.

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