It’s been a hot year so far in D.C. (Photo: Trishhhh – Flickr)

As it turns out, I arrived just in time to experience D.C.’s warmest recorded spring, with March, April, and May averaging 5.4 degrees hotter than normal (and 1.5 degrees higher than the previous 1977 record). Like most cities, D.C. suffers from the urban heat island effect: the high concentration of materials like concrete, steel, and asphalt retain the sun’s heat much more than natural surfaces, raising the average temperature of the city and surrounding area. Combined with the already increased temperatures due to climate change, D.C. was practically boiling this “Spring.” So what could we really expect from Summer other than a record-setting 9-day streak of 95+ degree temperatures in June and the second hottest July on record?

Visitors to the National Mall look to to beat the heat in the shade of trees and the Washington Monument (Photo: david_jones – Flickr)

Urban tree canopy enhancement is just one of many strategies that cities across the country are adopting to prepare for the ongoing and future effects of climate change. If you’d like to learn more about what NWF is doing to help cities and towns become better prepared for the future, check out the new Climate-Smart Communities page on our website.

In last week’s accident a Norfolk Southern coal train jumped off the track and then back on again, but not before enough coal spilled to cause three railroad crossings to be shut down, at least one road closure, and damage to the rails that required it to be shut down for several days. Both trains were carrying heavy loads from Wyoming’s Powder River Basin coalfields.

Coal trains have been involved in at least 5 wrecks this summer, causing damage and heartbreak around the country. (Photo: Ray Steup)

But even though the magnitude of damage from each one differs, they all lead to problems for the communities in which they happen.We also know that more derailments will occur if plans proceed to export more coal to Asia through the Pacific Northwest.

Is Coal a Coal Train’s Worst Enemy?

Coal, as it turns out, is pretty bad for trains, not just people and wildlife: Not only is the dispersal of toxic coal dust one of the biggest dangers of a derailment, coal dust can help cause accidents as well.

According to a statement on the website of BNSF (a major rail company), “Coal dust poses a serious threat to the stability of the track structure and…to the operational integrity of our lines in the Powder River Basin.”

After a multiyear investigation, BNSF found that coal dust buildup can prevent water from draining out of the tracks, leading to flooding, warping and sometimes derailment.

Click image above for a map of recent coal train derailments. (Peter LaFontaine/NWF)

According to railroad officials involved in the Illinois tragedy, “extreme heat created kinks in the rails and caused the derailment.”

The federal government just issued a safety advisory warning about the same thing, specifically referencing four coal train derailments this summer (and I learned a new term: “sun kinks” happen when a track expands and buckles in high heat).  And because burning coal is a major contributor to climate change, some of the blame for warped rails goes here, too. Ironic, don’t you think? This reminds me of the expression, “if you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.”

The coal companies don’t want to admit it, but it comes down to basic math: Extracting and transporting more coal means more train derailments, more coal dust on the tracks and in our communities, more hazardous coal waste at mining sites, more polluted rivers from blasting and runoff, more altered landscapes and more unhealthy people.

We need to find a better way to keep our lights on.

Please stay tuned for an upcoming NWF report that will delve into the issues around plans to export Powder River Basin coal to Asia. This will include dangers stemming from the massive increase in the number of trains that will be needed to bring the coal from the mines to port.

The January-June period was the warmest first half of any year on record for the contiguous United States. The national temperature of 52.9°F was 4.5°F above the 20^th century average. Most of the contiguous U.S. was record and near-record warm for the six-month period, except the Pacific Northwest. Twenty-eight states east of the Rockies were record warm and an additional 15 states were top ten warm.

Record Setting Heat

• The average temperature for the contiguous U.S. during June was 71.2°F, which is 2.0°F above the 20^th century average. Scorching temperatures during the second half of the month led to at least 170 all-time high temperature records broken or tied. The June temperatures contributed to a record-warm first half of the year and the warmest 12-month period the nation has experienced since recordkeeping began in 1895.
• Record-breaking temperatures occurred across a large portion of the nation during the second half of June. Over 170 all-time warm temperature records were broken or tied during the month. Temperatures in South Carolina (113°F) and Georgia (112°F) are currently under review by the U.S. State Climate Extremes Committeeas possible all-time statewide temperature records.
• 

  Image from NOAA’s Climatic Data Center

Record Setting Drought

• According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, as of July 3, 56.0% of the contiguous U.S. experienced drought conditions, marking the largest percentage of the nation experiencing drought conditions in the 12-year record of the U.S. Drought Monitor. Drought conditions improved across Florida, due to the rains from Tropical Storm Debby. Drought conditions worsened across much of the West, Central Plains, and the Ohio Valley, causing significant impacts on agriculture in those regions.

Record Setting Wildfires

• Several large wildfires raged across the West in June, destroying hundreds of homes and causing the evacuation of tens of thousands of residences. The very dry, warm, and windy weather created ideal wildfire conditions. Nationwide, wildfires scorched over 1.3 million acres, the second most on record during June.

Putting it all together, NOAA reports:

The U.S. Climate Extremes Index (USCEI), an index that tracks the highest and lowest 10 percent of extremes in temperature, precipitation, drought and tropical cyclones across the contiguous U.S., was a record-large 44 percent during the January-June period, over twice the average value. Extremes in warm daytime temperatures (83 percent) and warm nighttime temperatures (70 percent) covered large areas of the nation, contributing to the record high value.

Taking Action to Stop the Record Breaking

While well over 2.1 million people have already written in to support the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed carbon pollution standards for new power plants, we still need to tell Congress to take action to tackle the impacts of climate change that threatens our communities, homes, families, and wildlife. 

 Send a message to Congress seeking action to limit carbon pollution and to support the Environmental Protection Agency’s new efforts on climate change.

Also this week — updates on tar sands, heat waves & a climate denier’s flip-flop. Watch this week’s NWF Climate Capsule! (Don’t worry if you haven’t seen Inception yet, no spoilers. In fact, if you watch the Capsule, you’ll probably be even more confused about what Inception is all about.)

If you like the Capsule, please help us spread the word using the “share” & “retweet” buttons at the top of this post. You can also subscribe:

• Go to the NWF Climate Capsule archive on YouTube & click the yellow “subscribe” button in the upper right corner
• Subscribe to the Capsule as a podcast via iTunes

Got climate questions? Any global warming denier arguments you’d like to hear Dirty sock puppet? Email us!

A National Wildlife Federation report last month warned global warming is fueling summer heat waves. Given that 2010 has been the hottest year on record so far globally, are this summer’s East Coast heat waves our new normal?

Preliminary figures from the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University show 28 cities from Washington, D.C., to Caribou, Maine, set record highs for average temperature from March through August. [...]

Art DeGaetano of the climate center says the average temperature during spring and summer in Manhattan’s Central Park is up by 5 degrees, to 67.5.

Please urge your Senators to take action to curb America’s climate pollution.

Click here to view the embedded video.

]]> http://blog.nwf.org/2010/08/video-getting-the-word-out-on-heat-waves-and-global-warming/feed/ 0 http://blog.nwf.org/2010/08/extreme-heat-in-summer-2010-a-window-on-the-future/ http://blog.nwf.org/2010/08/extreme-heat-in-summer-2010-a-window-on-the-future/#comments Wed, 11 Aug 2010 18:07:38 +0000 Miles Grant http://blog.nwf.org/wildlifepromise/2010/08/extreme-heat-in-summer-2010-a-window-on-the-future/ Read more >]]>

Could the sweltering summer of 2010 be considered mild compared to the typical summers of the future? It depends on whether America & nations around the world act now to curb our global warming pollution.

That’s the conclusion of a new National Wildlife Federation report, Extreme Heat in Summer 2010: A Window on the Future:

In 2010, New Jersey, Delaware & North Carolina had their hottest June on record, while Rhode Island & Delaware had their hottest July. Sixteen other states had Junes or Julys that ranked in the top-five hottest. That means upward of 70 million Americans experienced extreme heat these two months. Hundreds of daily temperature records were broken across the country.

Not surprisingly, this hot spell has brought many days where the thermometer topped 90°F. Our analysis of large cities in the eastern United States shows that most locations have had about twice as many days with temperatures exceeding 90°F than they typically would by the end of July. For example, Washington, DC , had 39 days
with temperatures in the 90s by July 31, 2010, compared to 18 days for the same period in an average year. If conditions continue to stay warm, or even if we return to more average conditions in August, Washington and several other cities are on track to meet or break records for the total number of days exceeding 90°F in a single year. Cities in the south-central United States are also running hot: many have had about 50 percent more days over 90°F than average.

While the House passed the American Clean Energy & Security Act, obstructionists in the Senate have blocked action on clean energy & climate legislation. What could happen if the deny & delay crowd continues to block pollution limits?

Summers like the current one, or even worse, will become the norm by 2050 if global warming pollution continues to increase unabated. Alternatively, taking steps to reduce emissions can help avoid some of this increase in extremely hot days. For example:

• Washington, DC, is projected to have about 55 days over 90°F by midcentury under a lower-emissions scenario and about 100 such days if emissions are higher. For comparison, the city will likely have about 50 days above 90°F in 2010 if August and September have an average number of very hot days.
• Philadelphia, PA, is projected to have about 40 days over 90°F by midcentury under a lower-emissions scenario and about 60 such days if emissions are higher. Through the end of July, the city had 25 days exceeding 90°F in 2010 and is on track to have about 30 or more such days for the year.
• St. Louis, MO, is projected to have about 60 days over 90°F by midcentury under a lower-emissions scenario and about 80 such days if emissions are higher. This year, the city is on track to have 45 extremely hot days, about 10 more than average.

Read the full report (PDF), then take action. Tell your senators we need comprehensive climate & energy answers now.

Park picture via Flickr’s vasofoto.com

Click here to view the embedded video.

Longer, more intense heat waves are exactly what climate scientists have been warning as a consequence of our warming world. The National Wildlife Federation issued a report last summer on the connection between Global Warming & Heat Waves. Here’s a short video with NWF’s Dr. Amanda Staudt detailing its conclusions:

Click here to view the embedded video.

 Rising land and surface temperatures are expected with climate change. Just last month, America’s scientific authority—the National Academies—released multiple reports which concluded that “climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for — and in many cases is already affecting — a broad range of human and natural systems.” 

In other words, it’s not just the heat, but global warming also brings increasing extreme weather events like droughts, hurricanes and floods and for wildlife a spike in species expected to go extinct. These and other negative impacts have been the subject of several reports by NWF.  (Read more about that here.)

The case for comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation has never been stronger as the consequences of inaction become more apparent and exacerbated every single day. You can help send a message to lawmakers that we need to get serious about climate change now.  Tell your senators to take action and finish the job now.

(Photo from istock photo)

Climate change is hitting home, here and now, in some ways that maybe you might not have expected.  Check out this video.