August Heat Pt 2
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. It’s no secret, August in the Pacific Northwest was warm. It usually is. August 2022 was a bit warmer than most, but is it something to fear?
University of Washington atmospheric sciences professor, Cliff Mass says emphasizing our warm temps as “new highs” or a “new normal” is misleading …
MASS … “The key thing is, you don’t do thresholds. That’s the devil’s work. I mean, whenever people start going, you know, how many times do you get above a certain threshold, that’s not informative and generally is used to obfuscate the situation.”
Mass says yes, we are warming up a bit, but that’s really all we know …
MASS … “It’s just when people start going after the extremes, saying, you know, this storm or this gigantic heatwave is all because of global warming, that’s what’s false.”
Extremes, Mass says are natural …
MASS … “Whenever there’s a heatwave, most of it is going to be natural. In fact, the more extreme it is the more of it’s going to be natural quite frankly. So, that’s a very important message that’s not being communicated in the media.”
Mass says we have to look long term …
MASS … “There’s variability so just because it’s warmer than normal doesn’t mean that much. It’s only the trend over an extended period of time that means anything.”
Mass says one or two years means nothing. It’s the 50- or 100-year picture that shows a real trend.
