#for the record that's 10 celsius

[pinkpeccary]

asked my mom how to cook a turkey the other day and she sent me this recipe i wrote in kindergarten

[ID: Coloring page of a turkey colored in with crayon. Below it is the following handwritten text:

"Directions For Cooking a Turkey by [redacted]

Ingredients: 1 turkey, 2 spoonfuls of gravy, and 1 bag of stuffing. Set the oven at 50 degrees.

First, cut a hole in the turkey. Then fill the turkey with the stuffing. Then heat up the gravy. Next you see if the oven is warm enough. Finally, put the turkey in the oven. Cook for 1 hour." \End ID]

[anarchywoofwoof]

yesterday, november 18 2023 was the first day in recorded history where the global 2m surface temperature exceeded 2 degrees Celsius above the 1850-1900 baseline.

the 1850-1900 period serves as a baseline for the intergovernmental panel on climate change (ipcc) primarily because it represents the pre-industrial era, just before the widespread industrialization that began in the late 19th century.

this era is important for understanding the effects of climate change because it provides a relatively stable reference point for the earth's climate system before human activities - particularly the burning of fossil fuels - began to significantly alter the composition of earth's atmosphere. therefore, this period offers some of the earliest reliable meteorological data, allowing scientists to establish a baseline climate against which current and future changes can be compared.

the last time it was close to this hot was +1.99°C above the baseline, on Feb. 28, 2016 during hottest part of El Nino

yesterday, the value was +2.01°C before the hottest part of El Nino.

the 2°C threshold is widely regarded as a critical limit beyond which climate change impacts become increasingly severe and potentially irreversible. this includes increasing extreme weather events, over time a 40~ foot sea-level rise, and massive loss of biodiversity. some of which we are seeing take place before our eyes right now, every single day. all of these headlines are from this year alone:

Ocean scientists concerned over uptick of whale deaths on Northeast coasts

Penguin Chicks Are Dying Off as Antarctic Sea Ice Disappears

More than 10 billion snow crabs starved to death off the coast of Alaska. But why?

Texas oysters in dire straits

Tens of Thousands of Dead Fish Wash Ashore on Gulf Coast in Texas

Drone footage shows millions of dead fish blanket river

Mass death of Amazonian dolphins prompts fears for vulnerable species

‘Crisis period': Dead or dying marine mammals increasingly washing up on SoCal beaches

bear in mind that this is because we're already seeing a near-average of 1.5°c warming this year. this was not expected until the year 2050. like.. it's happening now.

the 1.5°c warming threshold, which is often discussed alongside the 2°c threshold, holds its own significance in the context of climate change and the efforts to mitigate its impacts. this threshold was brought into prominence by the paris agreement, which aimed to limit global warming to well below 2°c, preferably to 1.5°c, compared to pre-industrial levels.

we have effectively blown past this barricade and are barreling toward another. the capitalist train is leaving the tracks and taking us with it.

[fishenjoyer1]

Fish of the Day

The fish of the day today is the devils hole pupfish!

The devils hole pupfish, scientific name Cyprinodon diabolis, is an endangered fish known to live in exactly one spot, Devils hole. Devils hole is a limestone cavern with a geothermal pool found in Nye county of Nevada, and a disconnected section of Death Valley National Park. The geothermal pool keeps the water at a consistent 33 degrees Celsius all seasons, and has low dissolved oxygen amounts. The surface of water at the cave is only 72ft by 12ft, but below that the cave descends deep into the earth. Below the surface pool there is a larger cavern descending to 150 meters at its deepest before branching into a smaller tube at the bottom, the depth of which is currently unknown.1965 two teenagers went diving in the hole with scuba gear, and were never seen again,  rescue divers sent after them found a dropped flashlight, and other scuba gear but the bodies were never found. One rescue diver dropped a weighted plate that fell a full 932ft without contacting a bottom to the chamber, describing the water below him as an "infinity chamber". Later scans of the cave revealed it is at least as deep as 1,247ft, although to this day the depth is still unknown. Another well known aspect of the cave is that it can be used to determine when there are earthquakes all over the world. The water surges and has displayed unique patterns during the 2022 Mexico 7.6 magnitude earthquake, along with other strong earthquakes further from the hole. Such as: the 2012 6.2 magnitude earthquake in Papua New Guinea, or the 2018 7.4 magnitude earthquake in Indonesia. Devils hole pupfish are known to live only in the first 80ft of the cave.

Devils hole pupfish are unique in appearance, getting only as large as an inch, and being one of few species that have no pelvic fins, however when raised in colder conditions these pupfish will regrow these appendages. As juveniles these fish are an off white color, and females retain some of this coloring in adulthood. This species has only ever been recorded with as many as 500 wild fish at its highest, hitting an all time low point of 42 fish in 2007. The more recent numbers are looking up however, and there were 263 pupfish observed in spring of 2022. The survival from egg to adulthood is small, but the likelihood with human effort that this fish will survive the test of time is high. Described as possibly the most isolated wild vertebrate species in the world. These fish live only 10-14 months, reaching sexual maturity at 8-10 weeks old and spawn year round with peaks in mid February-May, and a smaller peak in July-September. Due to the unique oxygen levels of devils hole, these fish have adapted to enter a state of tupor, similar to hibernation, where they can live anaerobically. This allows them to go without breathing for up to 2 hours, however they produce ethanol as a byproduct.

Most of the devils hole pupfish life is on the rocky outcrops of the surface waters of the cave system. Breeding, egg laying, diet, resting, and schedules surrounding the placement of the sun all depend on these rocky outcroppings of stone near the surface of the water. The diet of these fish is dependent on the rock outcroppings of the cave, as they eat anything they can find in the cave system. This includes: small freshwater crustaceans, beetles, flatworms, freshwater snails, inorganic matter made of small sections of the caves limestone, along with spirogyra and diatom algae, which grows on the rocks themselves and makes up most of the pupfish's diet. Due to their diet being mostly algae types, pupfish are incredibly susceptible to the seismic activity in the devils' hole, as it creates small tsunamis along surface water and washes away algae on the rocks, leaving them without a majority of their food source until it regrows. When these earthquakes happen the pupfish are known to flee into the deer waters of the cave until the water has stilled, and are thought to perhaps feel earthquakes before they happen, although not much research has been done on this yet.

Have a good Wednesday, everyone!

[umseb]

Sebastian Vettel in the Porsche 963

Sebastian Vettel has prepared meticulously for his stint with the hybrid prototype. On 14 March, the 53-time Formula 1 race winner paid a visit to the FIA WEC team at the Porsche Penske Motorsport facility in Mannheim. One day later, the Heppenheim native completed an extensive simulator session at the Porsche Motorsport Centre in Flacht and familiarised himself with the special features and complex controls of the Le Mans race car. This was followed on 21 March by the first familiarisation kilometres with the Porsche 963 on the in-house test track at the Weissach Development Centre. In dry weather with tarmac temperatures between 20 and 25 degrees Celsius and 10 to 13 degrees cool air, the F1 champion completed almost two Grand Prix distances in Aragón without any problems. "Of course, I also keep an eye on other motorsport disciplines and know many drivers who are active in the WEC and Le Mans. At some point, my curiosity was so great that I had the idea of trying it out myself. Porsche gave me the opportunity to test a current hypercar with the 963," says Sebastian Vettel. "After the seat adjustment, the simulator session and the roll-out in Weissach, I already had a good feeling. Driving the Porsche 963 on the track here in Aragon - that was definitely fun. I first had to get used to everything and find my rhythm. The driving experience is different simply because of the roof over your head, as well as dealing with the higher weight and the tyres. The Porsche works drivers were very helpful and explained to me what was special and what I needed to get used to. That made it easy for me." The Porsche Penske Motorsport works team has won both the season opener of the North American IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the 24 Hours of Daytona, and this year's first race of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) in Qatar with the approximately 500 kW (680 hp) Porsche 963. At the WEC highlight, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, record holder Porsche is aiming for its 20th overall victory. There, as at the other rounds of the WEC, the entire starting field has relied on a biofuel since March 2022. "Aragon is one of the few places in Europe where we can run around the clock and gives us an opportunity to run 36 hours straight in preparation for Le Mans. The quite long back straight that gives us the top speed of more than 300 km/h we see on the Circuit des 24 Heures," explains Jonathan Diuguid, Managing Director Porsche Penske Motorsport. "Having Sebastian Vettel here is a unique opportunity for the team. He is a four time Formula 1 World Champion. He has massive experience with hybrid systems and high performance racing cars. Having his fresh unique perspective on where the car is and gives feedback on our systems and performances is a unique opportunity. We are happy to have him here. He came out of the car with a smile which is all good." In addition to Vettel, a total of seven Porsche works drivers will take part in the endurance test. Matt Campbell (Australia), Michael Christensen (Denmark) and Frédéric Makowiecki (France) will share the Porsche 963 with starting number 5 in the WEC, while Kévin Estre (France), André Lotterer (Germany) and Laurens Vanthoor will drive the sister car with the number 6. They will be joined in Aragon by reigning DTM champion Thomas Preining from Austria.

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from EcoWatch:

We are running out of time to take action on climate change, says Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

In a speech titled “Two Years to Save the World,” Stiell emphasized that governments, development banks and business leaders must take steps to avert much more serious impacts of the climate crisis within that time frame, reported Reuters.

“For those who say that climate change is only one of many priorities, like ending poverty, ending hunger, ending pandemics, or improving education, I simply say this: none of these crucial tasks — indeed none of the Sustainable Development Goals — will be possible unless we get the climate crisis under control,” Stiell said in the speech, delivered at London thinktank Chatham House.

According to the UN, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent by 2030 is essential to keep global heating to within 1.5 degrees Celsius of pre-industrial levels. However, for 10 consecutive months, global temperatures have reached record highs, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said.

“As of today, national climate plans — called Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs —  in aggregate will barely cut emissions at all by 2030,” Stiell said. “We still have a chance to make greenhouse gas emissions tumble, with a new generation of national climate plans. But we need these stronger plans, now. And while every country must submit a new plan, the reality is G20 emissions are around 80% of global emissions.”

The focus of the UN COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, will be for nations to come up with new climate finance goals to support developing countries in tackling climate change and making the transition away from fossil fuels, Reuters reported.

[a-mole-of-iron]

Yes, we can stop climate change - and solve ecological problems in general

In the last few years, I have seen again and again a particular social response to climate change that can leave human civilization just as devastated as denying or ignoring climate change: and that is doomism, and fellow-traveler ideas of eco-fascism and eco-austerity. Make no mistake: climate change is a very serious issue that can cause noticeable damage to Earth and a hell of a lot of damage to humanity, but people absolutely love to take it to lurid extremes, like "Mad Max hellworld" and "Earth becoming the second Venus by 2100". In this post, I'm just going to lay out numerous reasons why the situation is far from hopeless, why sensationalized narratives of climate change are just a petty excuse for inaction, why "we'd better start taking mud baths to get used to being in the ground" rhetoric is incredibly dangerous (not to mention a betrayal of the weak and vulnerable by the strong and well-off), and why, ultimately, things aren't as dire as "the common wisdom" proclaims - so that people can stop feeling crushed by hopelessness, and start solving all of the very, very real environmental problems the way they're already being solved. All my examples will be sourced from the IPCC reports and real-world accomplishments in eco-restoration, via an extremely helpful blog called Doomsday Debunked, which just reprints all the IPCC and IPBES findings that doomist media and activism deliberately omits.

Most of this post is adapted from one I already made before elsewhere - but perhaps on Tumblr it's going to become more popular and widespread. I'm going to split it into three different sections: climate change mitigation, biodiversity recovery, and why "green austerity" is not a brilliant idea, will not save anything, and is ultimately an outdated falsehood that emerged from a place of insufficient knowledge and understanding. Almost all paragraphs contain links to sources/more info, but they may be hard to see in some custom Tumblr themes - be sure to mouse over if you want to find the links.

CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION AND YOU: how renewable energy really can save the world!

Here's the biggest thing first: Climate Action Tracker, which is a pretty damn respectable source, has slashed off 1.1 to 1.5 degrees Celsius off its average warming projections since 2010, according to their own records. Hell, in 2018, three degrees of warming was a pledge, and four degrees was the expected upper limit; now three degrees is expected if the current level of fossil fuel consumption continues without any reduction - and two degrees is the policy target, while optimistic projections are inching closer to 1.5 degrees. And to "achieve" 5 degrees Celsius of warming, which is misleadingly described by journalists as "business as usual" when by our current day it's anything but, we would need an economic mobilization from now to 2100 to burn all the coal that we can possibly burn. With coal plants shutting down in reality simply due to being unprofitable, I don't have to tell you how "realistic" and "plausible" that is. The takeaway from this is simple: the Paris Agreement and environmental activism work, and I really don't see them winding down unless we let doomism reign supreme.

A specific example of policy and technology that can seriously reduce climate change is the amazing growth of solar power over the last 10 years. I am old enough to remember the early 2000s, when solar photovoltaics (the panels that convert sunlight directly into electricity) were an unproven, esoteric, and expensive technology, and people meant solar water heaters when they said "solar power"… but nowadays? There is literally predictions that if solar energy keeps growing at current rates, and considering it already beats fossil fuels on price, it might simply price out gas, coal, and oil before 2050, rendering them entirely obsolete. Even now, investment into coal or gas power plants is seen as an incredibly stupid thing to do, because they might become "stranded assets" - too expensive to run, and unable to even recoup their initial cost.

The clathrate gun/Arctic methane bomb hypothesis has been effectively disproven at the current time. The release of methane from clathrates is endothermic, meaning it takes in more heating than it releases; a direct opposite of a gunshot/explosion, which is an exothermic reaction. More modern research also turned up the fact that methane has been seeping upwards at a constant rate for millennia now - we just didn't monitor it. Seabed disturbance could possibly upturn some of the clathrates, but ocean warming alone simply can't do it - it would take thousands of years of warming for the temperature change to propagate to the kind of depth that methane clathrates are found at.

The hypothesis of runaway greenhouse effect has effectively been disproven too: with a more powerful greenhouse effect, Earth's albedo grows just as fast as the heat-trapping capacity, meaning runaway warming is highly unlikely and the only cause are human industry CO2 emissions, which can be obsoleted by renewables and thus stopped.

The biggest threat from climate change as it is now appear to be extreme weather events; for example physically straining heatwaves, or severe floods from large amounts of rainfall. And those are serious problems. But heatwaves can be deal with by adapting our environments - the most obvious example being to plant some trees instead of layering our cities in concrete. Similarly, flood management isn't some arcane art; we know how to do it. It's just been ignored due to complacency and budgetary stinginess.

The expectations of social collapse from climate change are… overstated, let's say. The IPCC's own worst-case scenario is NOT "Earth as a lifeless desert" or "collapse of human society"; the situation IPCC associated with three-degree warming is that hundreds of millions risk being displaced by sea level rise and temperatures in the tropics getting too hot for comfortable life with no weather difficulties (NOT THE SAME as "you go out at any point during the summer, you die in ten minutes"), and the UN Sustainable Development Goals will be left in ruins. In other words, the poor people of the world will go back to starving and suffering, and the rich, especially in the West, will for the most part retain their quality of life. And so to me, as a non-Western, not-ultra-rich person, doomism is a personal affront, and doomism from solarpunks and environmentalists is a grave betrayal.

Speaking of the IPCC reports: the last one states with decent confidence that as soon as we stop pumping CO2 into the atmosphere, temperatures will begin to drop. Just think on this for a minute.

The "1970s MIT supercomputer that predicted the collapse of civilization by 2040"? That computer was not just less powerful than a smartphone from five years ago - it modeled the world as a single pixel, primitive even by the standards of the day. (Link to article that features actual model comparisons, via browser-based Javascript emulation. 'Nuff said.)

The so-called "deep adaptation" paper that managed to put people into therapy by its sheer grimness? Junk science that was rebuffed by Michael Mann - the author of the "hockey stick graph" of global temperatures, so not a climate denier by any means - in a four-letter tweet.

Earth turning into a second Venus by 2100? Yeah. That's… not gonna happen. We literally don't have enough fossil fuels to induce a greenhouse effect this bad, at any timescale, and I don't know if we could do it even if we started importing dry ice from space and cracking carbonate minerals for their carbon content to deliberately destroy the planet for some stupid reason.

And just because I feel like mentioning it: no, Earth can't run out of oxygen for us to breathe, barring an invasion of Galactus or some other planet-devouring alien.

BIODIVERSITY + CONSERVATION: lies, damned lies, and statistics

The infamous notion that we are heading for a world without insects was based on a study where half the map was blank, and some countries only counted the domestic honeybee (which relies on humans to thrive). Not all plants need insects to pollinate them, either. But at the same time, overuse of insecticides in agriculture is a serious issue with many adverse effects, and it has to be fought against. There is currently a campaign in Europe with this aim. Native grass lawns in cities help a lot too, more than you would think at first.

Similarly, there is a general notion that we are "in the middle of a sixth mass extinction", except we're not "in the middle". We're in the beginning of one. Now, if we all start/keep behaving like the Glukkons from the Oddworld series of games, or the Blargs from the first Ratchet & Clank game, for a few hundred more years - then we're totally going to face an impoverished biosphere with half or more known species dead. But if we do that, I'd say extinction of species would be far from our only problem.

The number one agricultural land use that drives deforestation is grazing cattle and growing crops to feed them; cropland and cities simply don't compare. Ergo, just by shifting to plant-based diets supplemented by lab-grown meat cultures and sustainable fish, we can rewild nearly 30% of Earth. And climate impacts there can be reduced too, if you simply buy local.

For a reforestation success story on a massive scale, look no further than the Loess Plateau.

Conservation success stories are actually plentiful; however, they do not get aired on the news because good news does not draw in views, clicks, and outrage. You can just go through this article on Doomsday Debunked to see how successful nature conservation can actually be.

The only two biomes that are most endangered by climate change are coral reefs (which would be replaced by the more resilient sponge reefs at 3 degrees of warming or around that), and the mountain glaciers, which will take thousands of years to recover, unlike the polar ice caps that'll be back in a couple of decades. But even corals have shown more resilience than expected before, so the scale of devastation is not nearly as huge as people might imagine.

GREEN AUSTERITY: "Friendly fire! Stop shooting, you pointy-eared leaf lover!"

A common, in fact extremely common, idea is that the only way to save the planet is accepting massive reductions to our quality of life - and by "massive" I mean "living in dugouts and doing subsistence agriculture while literally billions of people die for lack of warmth and medicine". Not only is this unacceptable, it's also a complete lie. The best way for someone living in the car-dependent, fossil-fuel-hungry sprawl of North America to reduce their carbon footprint is actually moving to a country with walkable, bikeable cities and good public transportation, like the Netherlands… or preferably, reforming and rebuilding their own local environment to this standard that used to exist in NA before its suburbanization that included zero public transport due to auto industry lobbying. NotJustBikes is an entire YouTube channel that explains this better than I ever could.

Another common idea is that building enough renewable generation capacity is just not possible with existing resources here on Earth. But consider this for a moment: when we mine metals and make them into electric engines or batteries, they don't go anywhere, with the only possible exception being metal flaking off due to corrosion. The metals composing wind turbine generators, electric vehicle motors, and batteries, or silicon composing the solar panels, remain in place and can be recycled several times, if not infinitely. Oil and coal that our current civilization burns for fuel EMPHATICALLY CANNOT be recycled - the entire problem we have is that they turn into carbon dioxide and clog our atmosphere, while soot and other exhaust fumes damage the health of people living in cities. Getting rid of 99% or more of fossil fuel infrastructure doesn't seem like that hard of a choice when you remember that feeding a renewables-based infrastructure requires a far more modest production capacity.

The issue of soil depletion from intensive agriculture is not only exaggerated by the negative/doomist framing (no, we are NOT going to run out of topsoil in 60 years!) - it's also a problem of mismanagement rather than an inherent agricultural problem. Stop oversaturating fields with fertilizer, introduce polyculture and crop rotation, and you'll see how much better things can get.

Similar to the above: the production of fertilizer does not require fossil fuels, no matter what some people might be saying. The three types of fertilizer are nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium. All of those are abundant chemical elements on Earth, and circulate through the biosphere freely; nitrogen is the 70% of our atmosphere and cannot possibly run out, and phosphate with potassium are abundant in the Earth's crust. The only direct use of fossil fuels in fertilizer production is the Haber-Bosch process that condenses nitrogen from the air into ammonia, and guess what molecule it needs for that? Hydrogen, which is the stronger half of the elements composing hydrocarbon fuels and which we could have in abundance by simple electrolysis of water!

Related to the above: it is beyond ridiculous how cow manure is dumped into rivers or similar by most modern farmers, when with right subsidies it could be transformed into cheap-as-free fertilizer to be used in agriculture. Someone should go create subsidies for large-scale composting...

Surprisingly enough, even consistent economic growth - which I am not a fan of by any means - can be achieved on a finite planet, because economic growth is all in what you count and how you count it. If we calculate economic growth not by production, but by improvements in human condition and condition of ecosystems (i.e. an economy that grows with the growth of trees), then we'll see that right now some world regions (like, again, North America) are failing as much as countries poor in money, but also that there is an enormous space for growth measured in sustainable prosperity.

The much-touted problem of water wars is an actual problem only for regions way, way inland. Any coastal countries have access to efficient desalination; it's not 1850 anymore. Water doesn't disappear from the world after people use it in cities and industries, it goes right back into the soil/atmosphere/rivers and oceans, so we can't "run out of water".

Interesting fact: we don't actually require any particularly specialized carbon capture technology to remove all the excess CO2 from the atmosphere, and will not require us to divert society's resources to expensive machinery. The old adage about the best carbon capture technology that's called "planting trees" still holds - and what's even more interesting is that there actually are even better methods that are not much more complex… and produce other things for the environment and for civilization in the process.

CONCLUSION

To sum things up: yes, the situation is serious, and "already bad enough" as Michael Mann put it (admittedly, he's been leaning into negative framing himself… but it can't be all positive, the problems of climate change really are dangerous, especially to the world's poor), and there's been a lot of environmental damage due to industries and rich consumers deliberately ignoring the externalities/knock-on effects of their resource use - but it's not nearly as horrifically bleak as some people presume. Right now there is great momentum behind climate action - which, yes, is partially propelled by increasingly hostile weather, but also by an understanding that social progress, democracy, and collective action are vital to build any form of a decent society, as well as by seeing new opportunities rise from cheaper renewable energy, better cities, and other innovations that will both stop climate change and make life actually worth living no matter where you might be. And in these conditions, throwing in the towel or surrendering to eco-austerity or even eco-fascist thinking is the worst possible action any one person can take. The green, sustainable, egalitarian future is not merely a dream or flight of fancy - it's eminently attainable if only we keep pushing for it and help eachother achieve it. But of course, there are people who stay up nights thinking how to take that future away from us, and now that climate change denial is no longer tenable, with more and more people believing their own eyes, the doomism and inactivism have become their primary, perhaps only, means of holding onto their power…

I hope this post will be helpful to people here who find themselves in the grip of doomism and hopelessness. I expect some people to disagree, but I prefer to believe the sources like the IPCC, IPBES, Climate Action Tracker, and all the climatologists behind these organizations' reporting - who've been closely watching both the worsening extreme weather from climate change, and the emergence of all the simple, usable, life-improving technologies and social practices to combat it. If we don't believe these people, then really, who can we believe? And if you do trust their reports on all the positive things being done and planned for environmental needs, it is not simply an idea that we can deal with climate change and restore, then protect our environment - it's objective reality, it's respectable science, and thus, it's good hard common sense.

More information: Doomsday Debunked (layman explanations and positive framing, also covering a ton of other "not actually the end of the world" topics for scared people), Carbon Brief (more technical and a bit less brazenly optimistic, but showing things like the absolutely crazy speed of renewable energy development), Not Just Bikes (an urbanist YouTube channel showing how cities can be improved, not made poorer, in the process of reducing fossil fuel use and car dependency).

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazil experiencing winter heat wave

Brazil is enduring a heat wave in the middle of the southern hemisphere's winter, with the metropolis of Sao Paulo close to breaking records for August and for the year 2023.

The inhabitants of the largest city in Latin America, with 11.5 million people, have been surprised by temperatures almost 10 degrees above the average for the month, of 24.5 degree Celsius (76.1 degrees Fahrenheit), according to the National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet).

And thermometers hit a high of 32.3 Celsius on Wednesday, close to the 32.5 Celsius reported on January 16, in summer.

And they were also very close to the highest temperatures ever officially logged for August: 33.1 Celsius on August 31, in 1952 and 1955.

Continue reading.

[bumblebeehug]

Lovely Seasons - Winter

Summary: Lucy has the worst morning known to human kind, until Natsu comes to her rescue. Notes: If you're wondering where Happy is during all of this, no you don't. Part 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 of the Lovely Seasons series Ao3

***

Lucy slowly sat up, blinking and rubbing out the crust that had appeared in her eyes during the night. A tired yawn managed to escape her lips before she could check the clock. 7:30 in the morning. She groaned to herself. She fell asleep late last night, not being able to drop the book she was reading, and barely getting 6 hours of sleep made her feel cranky. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the sun wouldn’t rise in another two hours and the temperature outside made her house feel colder than usual. It was an abnormally cold winter, rarely rising above -10 degrees Celsius, and due to her not paying enough rent last month, the landlady had cut down on her heating. Usually that would be fine, since Magnolia’s weather was quite warm most of the time, but without the blessings of a merciful winter and without her human heater constantly hanging around, the apartment got ruthlessly cold.

In an attempt to properly wake up she placed her bare feet on the floor. Leaving the warm comfort of her bed was unappealing to say the least, and feeling the coldness against the soles of her feet made her cringe. Without bothering to put on slippers or socks, she hurried to the bathroom. A warm, long shower was the only salvation this morning could have. As she entered the bathroom she once again regretted the lack of socks, since the tiled floor was multiple times colder than the wooden floor in her bedroom. With goosebumps all over her body she sped up her movements, turning the knob in her shower to the highest heat.

Another mistake, she soon learned. After having stripped down she felt the water with her hand, and the dropping temperature of the high streaming water only meant one thing - the hot water had run out, rapidly changing to cooler and cooler degrees.

“No, no, no!” In an attempt to savour the last bit of barely comfortable water, she immediately jumped in the shower, focusing on just wetting her hair so she could pour shampoo into it and rinse it out before she turned to an actual ice block. No matter if this day seemed to have everything against her, she was determined to get clean - even if that meant cutting down her shower time from 45 minutes to 5. Every muscle got stiff as she hurried to lather her hair, and breathing became a chore for her frozen body. Even concentrating to the fullest, she felt the lungs move in spasms.

Lucy had never been good with the cold. Not even after living on the streets for a year after running away from home, had she gotten used to the fierce sensation of getting robbed off her body heat. On the other hand, warm weather had never been a challenge. Anywhere with a hot climate was the ideal vacation spot for her, since she’d much rather sweat like a pig than not being able to feel her hands and feet from being so cold. Maybe her body’s natural agreement with warmth was one of the reasons she and Natsu got along so well. Though, given that he wasn’t here to heat up the apartment at the moment, he wasn’t on her best side currently.

As soon as she felt the lathered shampoo leave her hair completely, she turned off the tap and practically pounced her fluffy towels. From the last few weeks she had learned that any body part left wet would be freezing cold if she didn’t wipe herself dry the second she came out of the shower. She was in fact so fast at drying herself off and getting clothed today that she probably beat a personal record - and luckily for her, she could still use her hair dryer, so no cold, wet, dripping down her back today.

Though, just as things were starting to look up, she encountered yet another problem as she stepped out of the bathroom and into the kitchen. The dishwasher hadn’t gotten turned on last night, so she had to hand wash her cup before using it, which usually was a manageable job, but that became tedious now that she had no warm water. To add to that, she was fully out of oatmeal which meant that she’d have to go out to buy more when the stores opened in a few hours. Even if she didn’t have to plough through snow, the strong winds and the frosty air was more than enough to go through even her thickest, warmest jacket, and if she were to actually arrive at the market, there was no telling if they’d be open today. A lot of fresh fruit didn’t handle the cold well, and anything tightly sealed into glass bottles would likely expand and explode if they didn’t stay inside.

Since Lucy had nowhere close to enough energy to deal with that now, she decided to grab her kettle, make it across the kitchen towards the stove, and OUCH!

“Shit, crap, fucking ass- fuckhorse!!” Lucy howled as she jumped around on one leg, trying to get her big toe on her second leg to stop pulsing. “There’s no fucking way this is happening to me today!” She stumbled across the room once again, this time aiming for the kitchen table so she could sit down and inspect the injury. The kettle was forgotten the second she put it down, and she immediately threw off her slipper and her sock that she had properly remembered to put on after the shower..

Just her luck. She was bleeding under her toenail, which meant weeks of taking care of this insignificant but maddening injury. Wendy was about as locked inside as Lucy was, so no magical cure for this one. At this point she was holding back tears. Nothing could have prepared her for how unlucky she was today. Yesterday had been a good day, same as most of her previous days, where she enjoyed the stillness of being alone with her own thoughts in her apartment. No jobs or missions to rush to, no worrying about destruction and lack of payment, no Natsu to burn her couch and no Happy to scratch her walls. She ate good meals, played music and danced, and now this - no heat, no warm water, no clean dishes, out of her favourite breakfast and now an injured toe. It felt like the spirits were against her. The mixture of exasperation and exhaustion made her throat thicken, and the pressure from holding back tears made her head hurt. It was still early in the morning, and she already wanted to go back to bed and sleep until the next day - or better, she could sleep until spring and skip the depressing gray life that came with the winter months.

As Lucy’s nose started getting stuffy, an angel sailed down from heaven and sang the most beautiful melody known to the human race. Well, no, her doorbell rang, but it was practically the same thing, because she sensed from the reckless stomping up the hallway that her hot headed best friend had decided to come to visit.

“Lucy? Ya home?” Normally his cheery voice would feel like a punch to the gut after having a bad day, since any sign that people could live happily while bad things happened only to her, would feel like mockery. Today however, she was just glad to no longer be alone with this dull atmosphere dragging her down.

She hurried to the door, not without limping a bit, to unlock it for him. As the door swung open, Lucy couldn’t stop her lip from quivering, threatening to burst out into tears just from seeing his face. She was so, so, happy he was here.

Natsu himself however felt his grin fade the moment their eyes met.

“Hey, what’s the matter? Did anything happen? What’s goin’ on?” Lucy barely noticed him dropping off two grocery bags by the entry, before he gently grabbed her arms. The tender look in his eyes was the final blow for her - she felt so angry and sad at the world, yet she had never felt so seen and cared for as she did when Natsu came. The dam was broken and the waterfalls were set loose, and she was hiccuping and hulking like a child failing to communicate its emotions.

“My… my…” she began, “My toe huuurts” She couldn’t stop herself from crying out, unable to form any other words to explain her out of place behaviour.

“What?”

“My- my- my thoe-” With sobs cracking through her voice it was hard to talk any clearer, but luckily for her she didn’t have to explain any further.

“Oh my god- Lucy, you’re bleeding! Hey- come here.” With a swift motion he scooped her up from her feet, immediately heading for the bathroom. “How did things end up like this?” He wasn’t expecting an answer - not yet anyways. Inside of the bathroom he sat her down on the toilet lid, immediately tending to the swollen toe.

At the same time Lucy was trying to collect herself. It was embarrassing enough that she had broken down like this in front of him, but now he probably thought she was weeping over a stubbed toe. It really wasn’t fair, she thought, because she wasn’t crying because of her frustration. She was incredibly happy right now, to have Natsu there to help her cope with her unfortunate day. If he had caught her just a moment earlier she wouldn’t have broken down like that - she’d be upset and short tempered, sure, but nothing like this.

Thanks to her manual breathing, she calmed down significantly. Not enough to actually stop the consistent flow of tears, but now she wasn’t gasping for air in panic anymore.

“Thanks for helping me,” Lucy sniffled. “And sorry for scaring you.”

Natsu, who just finished putting a bandaid around the now purple nail, looked up at her with a gentle smile.

“No worries. Stuff happens, right?” Though his words told her that he was fine not knowing what was going on, his face was clearly searching for the explanation to her behaviour.

“Well,” a sob slipped out, “I guess it does.” She wanted to tell him about her morning, she really did, but right now she just wanted to get comfortable and warm in her bed. Truth is, she really wanted Natsu to lay beside her - not only for the heat, but for the comfort of human contact as well.

“Wanna check out what I got for you?” It took a brief moment before Lucy understood he meant the grocery bags that almost were forgotten in her hallway.

“Does anything have to go in the fridge or the freezer?”

“No… Why?” He stood up from his squat, cleaning up the small mess he had made rummaging through her cupboards.

“Then… Can we rest for a minute?” Lucy took a square of toilet paper to wipe her tears. “I don’t have any energy to… do stuff right now.”

“Yeah, sure, no problem. Can you walk fine?” Lucy nodded, the toe wasn’t that injured - she had gone through way worse, though those times her body was pumped with adrenaline. Natsu helped her up anyway, held her close to him as they headed to the bedroom. Lucy might not be hurt physically, but she rarely broke down to this extent emotionally, so of course he was still worried.

“Isn’t it kinda cold in here?” He always thought Lucy’s apartment felt colder whenever he hadn’t been there in a while, but wasn’t this way colder than usual?

Lucy didn’t answer. She only had one goal ahead of her, and that was to get into those sheets and get some well deserved rest. Besides, she could tell him all about her day later, they weren’t in a rush. So as soon as she could she crawled up on her soft bedding, and without a moment of hesitation, she dived in under the comforter. She had her back turned towards Natsu, but before shutting her eyes, she turned slightly and lifted the duvet, giving a clear invitation for Natsu to join her. The mattress sunk behind her as he laid down, shuffling closer and embracing his position as the bigger spoon.

“The landlady cut off the heating a few days ago. That’s why it’s cold here,” Lucy explained, her voice cracking meekly. Natsu pulled her closer, making sure his body heat warmed up the bed for her. He properly felt bad for her - clearly the cold and the stubbed toe weren’t the only reasons why she cried, so she probably had a really bad day overall. Whether or not she had been having nightmares or bad memories from her past, or if built up sorrow and anger just let loose, he didn’t know, but he knew that Lucy would tell him when she was ready to. His hand reached over her upper body in search of hers, and as he found it he gave it a supportive squeeze.

“That’s not all though,” she continued after a deep breath, “I also barely got any sleep last night. Totally my own fault, cause I went to sleep really late, but the cold made me unable to sleep in.” She spoke softly and rubbed her thumb across the palm of Natsu’s hand. “And then I went to take a shower, except the warm water had run out.”

“So you took a cold shower? You? Lucy Heartfilia, master of turning up the heat until not even I can stand it?” Chuckles filled his lungs, because he really found it ironic. Understandably annoying and upsetting for Lucy of course, but ironic nevertheless.

“Yes, and you bet I’ll never do that again. It felt worse than getting in the middle of a fight between Gray and Lyon. Look, my fingernails are still purple!” She shoved her free hand up in his face, attempting to display the cold, stale fingertips, but accidentally smashing them against his cheek in the process. After a quick apology, she continued. “As if that wasn’t bad enough though, my dishwasher didn’t start last night, so all my dishes are dirty, which wouldn’t be a huge problem if I didn’t start washing them in that cold water, only to learn that I’m out of oats!”

Remembering her streak of unluckiness made her heart drop slightly again, but surprisingly she had already gotten in a better mood. As she shared her burdens with Natsu, she felt a weight lifted from her chest. She even got in a good enough mood that she could initiate chuckling at her mishaps.

“Hold on a minute,” Natsu intervened, “didn’t I tell you only last week not to delay grocery shopping?” They had already been through a similar scene where Lucy had procrastinated going outside for so long that she started using normal hand soap on her body instead of her usual body wash.

“I knooow,” Lucy grumbled, “but it’s so cold out! You know I don’t have proper clothing for this weather! And I have plenty of food for lunches and dinners, just not for breakfast…” She tried to defend her actions, but she knew Natsu was right. Laziness would always come back to bite her in the back if she didn’t deal with things properly.

“Good thing I know you too well.” Natsu had a smug grin plastered on his face, the type of grin she’d usually want to wipe off with a kick. Overconfident Natsu wasn’t pleasant to hang out with, mostly because he got them into trouble when he acted like that. Today however, he looked like a saint. “I went shopping yesterday and thought you could use some food to stock up on.”

“No, you didn’t.” She turned so she laid on her back, head facing Natsu. She tried to look for any sign that he was pranking her, without any luck. “You bought oats?” He nodded proudly, teeth flashing through his cheeky smile. “Thank you.” She dug her face into his chest, hugging him as tightly as she could.

“But I bet the lack of oats didn’t make your toe explode, so how did you get hurt?” Even though Natsu suspected that he had an understanding of what had happened, he wanted to hear it from her.

“I stubbed it really hard against the leg of the kitchen table when I went to boil some water,” she explained with a muffled voice. There was really nothing more to it, which kind of felt embarrassing now that she had said it out loud. She knew she was blushing, but since Natsu couldn’t see it she didn’t mind.

“I guess I came at the perfect time,” Natsu joked, now taking the liberty to rub Lucy’s arms up and down.

“You really did. Thanks.” She lifted her head to meet his gaze, giving him a thankful smile before going back to hugging him. See, what they were doing right now was weird. As in, actually odd behaviour considering their relationship. Except, despite acting weird, Lucy found great comfort in the warm touches of Natsu’s hands, which still roamed her chilled body. She would never allow this to happen if the circumstances were different, because friendship simply couldn’t cross those lines. It would only end in disappointments when she learned that he didn’t feel the same way. Today though, she just wanted to indulge in their overly close relationship. Just their torsos touching didn’t even feel like enough, so she gathered some courage and moved closer. Playing it off as an attempt to warm her feet, she tangled their legs together. Natsu didn’t have the heart to tell her that her cold feet felt incredibly uncomfortable against his calves, so he decided to persevere. After all, he knew his discomfort was far from what Lucy was experiencing, injured toe and all.

The air under the blanket was finally starting to heat up, making Lucy even more grateful for Natsu’s presence. He must’ve acquired some 6th sense that told him whenever she felt lonely - a Lucy-radar if you want, because he always managed to come to her exactly when she needed him. But no matter if it was thanks to supernatural senses or if it was just pure dumb luck, she was currently content enough in their situation that she had the courage to do things that she normally wouldn’t do. Her fingers took the liberty to trail his muscular arms, slowly following the dips and bumps that made out his figure. Natsu, who couldn’t say he was used to this bolder personality Lucy sometimes showed, got goosebumps from her touch. Nice goosebumps though, the type that leaves a warm feeling in his heart. And with Lucy touching him freely, he took the chance to caress her in return, his hands moving from her upper arms to her back and ribcage, then continuing down the curve where her waist dipped the deepest. Lucy’s breathing got slow and relaxed with every stroke he made, so instead of stopping at the small of her waist, he slowly continued the quiet exploration of her body, moving down to her hips and then her thigh. He suddenly felt a huge craving to grip the soft flesh that hid under her long pyjama pants, so he grabbed her leg and pulled it over his own, also making them move closer in the process.

Lucy, who had moved on from her previous place as well, was giving Natsu’s shoulder a light massage, stroking the stiff musculature. She hid further into the shirt that clothed his chest before she collected some courage to speak.

“Did you know?” She began.

“What?”

“In the Best Friends Rulebook, the first listed rule is that best friends must have clear boundaries when it comes to physical contact.”

“What a dumb rule. Who came up with that?”

“Everyone agrees on it. You wouldn’t want to be cuddling with Gray like this, would you?” A disgusted sound made its way out from Natsu’s lips. No, he definitely wouldn’t want that.

“You know it’s different with you,” he began, trying to defend their actions. He didn’t get further in his explanation though, as Lucy’s fingertips grazed the side of his neck.

“I know. But we can’t do stuff like this if we go by the Best Friends Rulebook. Though… there is a way to make it work.” Natsu waited silently in anticipation of hearing her solution. “We could change the rulebook.”

“Are we still talking about books?” Natsu asked. He knew what metaphors were and how they worked, but dragging them out like this made him lose the thread.

“No,” Lucy answered bluntly. “I’m talking about you and me.” She was incredibly happy he couldn’t see her face right now, because even though she felt like they were on the same page with their feelings for once in their lives, being this open with her emotions made her embarrassed, and frankly, a bit nervous. Any sign of rejection would cut deep, now that she was this vulnerable. But she continued. “Best friends might not be able to act like this, do these things, but… when they’re not only best friends, but also…”

Her heart was beating so fast now, to the point that she wondered if Natsu could even hear what she was saying over the loud heartbeat. She had to continue though, this was the moment of truth. Her hand, that hadn’t stopped moving across his shoulders, arms and upper back, gripped his T-shirt in an attempt to calm herself - or to at least make sure she wouldn’t float away from all the air she was holding in her lungs.

“Also lovers… they can do this.” There. She said it. Knowing she couldn’t change the outcome no matter what at this point, she looked up at Natsu again, determination flowing in her eyes. And Natsu… he looked normal. He didn’t look surprised, sad, confused or angry - just like his normal, easy going self. She would have felt offended when his ribs started shaking in a lighthearted chuckle, except she really couldn’t get upset with him when he looked so thoroughly happy. He took her face in his hands and gave her forehead a soft kiss.

“Then let’s change to that other rulebook,” he said, continuing to kiss her left and then her right cheek, before giving in to what could only be described as cute aggression, showering her face in quick, sloppy pecks. Lucy, who was surprised by this sudden affection, couldn’t stop her bubbling laughter from spilling out of her mouth. She was so relieved that he understood the implication. She had told him that she wanted them to be lovers, and he had accepted. In fits of giggles she tried to bend away from him so she could properly look at him. She failed, at first, due to his constant moving, but after a second try she could pry herself away from his smooching-rifle. Natsu looked so joyful as he looked at her, that she fleetingly wondered how they ever could have gone as only friends for as long as they had. She grabbed his face in the same way he had grabbed hers, and felt an overwhelming amount of love pulse through her veins.

“Natsu Dragneel, I love you. I love you so, so much,” she confessed. She had dreamt about this moment for way too long, and even if it went nothing like she had expected, she felt like the happiest girl on earth. Give it to Natsu to solve the challenge of making Lucy’s days better, no matter what she goes through, because he has always known exactly how to cheer her up, even when he didn’t know it himself.

“I love you more, Lucy.” She could no longer wait, so she smashed their lips together, allowing them to mould into what could only be described as a perfect kiss. Natsu moved his hand away from Lucy’s cheek and into her tangled blonde hair, deepening their connection. This certainly wasn’t what Natsu had expected waking up today, and he had definitely not expected it after seeing her cry like she did, but nevertheless he was happy with the outcome.

Happiness has always been known as a short emotion, sneaking up in pulses, giving people licks of serotonin during the long winters of their emotions. Happiness has that in common with a lot of other emotions - anger comes in upset explosions, sadness waters the grieving fields of memories, only for the rain to cease after short periods of time. Jealousy comes as a storm, ripping up carefully planted and cared for greenery, only to leave the vaguer emotions like confusion to deal with the aftermath. Love, however, enters lives slowly, growing stronger for every kind and selfless act between the pair, staying unnoticed until the deepest feelings of frustration destructs the surroundings. Only then do they truly notice what amazing powers come with love - it heals, evolves and comforts.

In spring love blooms, in summer it sweats, in autumn it plays, and in winter it warms. Lucy and Natsu experience love all of the time - they have felt love for friends, family and even enemies at times, but most importantly, they have felt love for each other. The seasons have tested their resilience, gotten them through many trials and errors, but even the feeling of love comes to a consensus once in a while. Today it came in the act of showing up, tomorrow it might come in the act of keeping a distance. But they continue to love nevertheless.

[pancake-kat]

Ninjago(Dragons rising included) headcanons

•Lloyd has an intense fear of snakes, like he and Arin were gardening around the monastery once and Lloyd started screaming and freaking out over a random orange garden snake

•Sora and Nya love to spar

•Zane is normally ice cold to the touch, not just because of his elemental power but also because he needs to keep his system cool

•PIXAL watches anime, her favorite one is sailor moon.

•nya, pixal, And skylor have girls nights. After crystallized when harumi got redeemed she joined in.

•Jay seems like the guy to have multiple hatsune miku figurines in his room in the monastery. When Lloyd was still physically a kid, he would play with them like action figures(he still does it after the merge since there’s no Jay to stop him)

•Cole is an excellent baker, but if you try to get him cooking… he’s trying tho!

•Jay exclusively listens to frank Sinatra and vocaloid.

•Lloyds been bleaching his hair since he was 9(close to when we first meet him in the show) and now can’t stop since it’s part of his look. The monastery bathroom is very messy because of it.

•Arin and Zane cook together and have cook-offs, and Sora watches and judges which one prepared a meal the best.

•Kai rocks in his seat or standing when he was nothing to do or is waiting for something.

•Cole is afraid of thunderstorms, but not of Jay’s lightning.

•Nya is unsurprisingly buff

•(projecting, but-) Cole is part Arab from Lilly’s side, and Lilly is Egyptian, he knows the language to an extent.

•on that note, Kai and Nya are spanish and can speak it very fluently, which they use to talk to eachother in secret.

•Jay sometimes shocks people by accident due to his element

•when Zane is angry, he’s angry. He will lash out and ice spikes will shoot out of the ground. Everything’s gonna get way more cold. He’s accidentally almost hurt more people than he’d like to admit.

•Kai is just…invincible to fire. He can and will just sit in fire.

•Kai also has an average temperature of like 112° Farenheit or 44° Celsius.

•I like the idea of one of the DR ninja checking on Kai when he has like a fever or something and are absolutely appalled when they see that this man has a fever temp of 128° F.

•Cole is very durable. he has been recorded breaking 3 pieces of wood by having them smacked on his head. No one is sure if its just the rocks in his elemental power letting him do this or just Cole being Cole.

•MiniPix7 loves circling around and playing with Riyu. She doesn’t have to Pixal to hang with or make big projects with after the merge, so she spends her time either keeping Lloyd company, tinkering with other minipixes, or playing with Riyu.

•Garmadon is somewhere in the world right now with Vinny going on adventures and having bonding experiences.

•Jay tried to learn Spanish so he could suprise Nya at their wedding reception by speaking it fluently. He now hears a lot of weird conversations between the two siblings.

•sometimes Kai fantasies about what it would’ve been like if his parents never got taken. Maybe he would’ve excelled in his Element with Ray’s help. Maybe he could’ve had mother-son bonding time with Maya. Maybe he wouldn’t have had to juggle 2 jobs and a 10 year old at the age of 12. It’s useless, he knows. You can’t take back what has already happened. but it helps him.

•when oni garmadon was taken back into the living world, his good dragon part stayed in the departed realm, so now there’s a random dragon running around the departed realm with half of god’s power and desperately trying to go back to the living world for his kid and to reconnect himself.

•Wu knew about this dragon counterpart before he died in the merge.

•Lloyd will never admit it, but he loves fnaf. Like an unhealthy amount.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Northwest Territories Ablaze

The boreal forests of northern Canada have evolved to burn. These forests are dominated by black spruce, a type of evergreen that is not just tolerant of fire but dependent on it.

Black spruce has waxy, resinous needles adapted to ignite during lightning storms and burn vigorously. The forests thrive if they burn every century or so because fires open the canopy up to light, stimulate new growth, and help maintain biodiversity. Fires also melt away the waxy coating on cones of black spruces allowing them to deposit seeds uniquely designed to thrive in charred, acidic soils. But Canada’s black spruce boreal forests have been burning more frequently in recent decades, putting even these fire-loving forests under strain.

When the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) on the NOAA-20 satellite captured this image of smoke streaming throughout the region on August 11, 2024, the sensor detected nearly 100 active fires burning in the Northwest Territories, according to data posted by the territory’s government. The Canadian government, including the Northwest Territories, uses hotspot data from the Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), a fire monitoring system developed by NASA, to help detect and track wildfires.The image below, captured by NASA’s EPIC (Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera) on NOAA’s DSCOVR satellite, shows a river of smoke from the fires in western Canada winding its way over the Hudson Bay.

Most fires in the Northwest Territories burn far from towns or infrastructure, so authorities let many of them burn themselves out, a process that can take weeks or even months depending on the weather. Of the 96 fires active on August 11, Canadian authorities reported that 88 of them burned unhindered by firefighting efforts. Firefighters had controlled five fires and were in the process of suppressing one, according to the territory’s government. None of the fires were close enough to settlements to trigger evacuation orders. However, dense smoke has triggered air quality warnings for fifteen Northwest Territories communities, including settlements in the North Slave, South Slave, Dehcho, and Sahtu regions.

The fires coincided with a drought classified as moderate to extreme by the North American Drought Monitor and a week of extreme warmth that broke temperature records in several places in the Northwest Territories, including the towns of Aklavik, Inuvik, Fort McPherson, and Tuktoyaktuk. All four communities surpassed 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit); Fort McPherson’s temperature soared to a remarkable 34.9°C (94.8°F) on August 7 and 8.

Though Canada’s black spruce forests are accustomed to fire, ecologists who study them are finding that some forests in the region are struggling to recover after fires due to the increasing frequency and size of fires in the region. One study led by Jennifer Baltzer, an ecologist at Wilfrid Laurier University, found that black spruce’s ability to regenerate declined at 38 percent of the 1,500 recently burned forest sites included in the study and failed to regenerate entirely at 18 percent of the sites—unusually high percentages compared to the historic norm. The analysis was based on tree regeneration data compiled and analyzed as part of NASA’s Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE).

Many of the areas burning in this image also burned in 2023, during Canada’s worst wildfire season on record. However, the total number of fires and the number of hectares burned in the Northwest Territories through mid-August 2024 are below the 10-year average so far, according to data released by Canadian authorities. The extent of burning in neighboring British Columbia and Alberta through mid-August 2024, however, was above average.

NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using VIIRS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE, GIBS/Worldview, and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) and data from DSCOVR EPIC. Story by Adam Voiland.

[mariacallous]

Humanity’s superpower is sweating—but rising heat could be our kryptonite, and an average temperature rise of 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels could bring regular, fatal heat waves to large parts of the planet, says Tom Matthews, a senior lecturer in environmental geography at King’s College London.

“We have evolved to cope with the most extreme heat and humidity the planet can throw at us,” he explains. But when our core temperature gets to about 42 degrees Celsius (around 107.5 degrees Fahrenheit), people face heat stroke and probable death as the body strains to keep cool and the heart works harder, inducing heart attacks.

Matthews cites an example from his home country, the UK. In the summer of 2022, the UK broke its high temperature record, surpassing 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). Scientists estimate there were roughly 3,500 heat-associated deaths that summer in the UK. Across Europe, they estimate high heat caused more than 60,000 deaths.

“At 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, the likes of Lagos, Karachi, [and] Shanghai start to experience heat waves exceeding our limit. At 2 degrees Celsius, the events increase at least 10 times more often, and if we get to 8 degrees Celsius, a large fraction of the Earth’s surface would be too hot for our physiology and would not be habitable,” he says.

Air conditioning and heat-escape rooms would help, but we might need to abandon intense outdoor work such as rice farming in hotter regions. And these solutions will need to be able to meet demand. “The infrastructure must be able to withstand the surges when everyone turns on the air conditioning, and must be able to withstand hurricanes or floods,” he says.

Our best hope in the face of inevitable rises in heat? Cooperation. “We’ve built forecasting systems that will warn us when disasters are incoming by working together at enormous scale. We must continue to do the same.”

[maaarine]

Thousands of records shattered in historic winter warm spell in Europe (Ian Livingston, The Washington Post, Jan 02 2023)

“As 2022 turned to 2023, an exceptionally strong wintertime heat dome pounced on much of Europe, producing unprecedented warmth for January.

As temperatures soared 18 to 36 degrees Fahrenheit (10 to 20 Celsius) above normal from France to western Russia, thousands of records were broken between Saturday and Monday — many by large margins.

The extreme warm spell followed a record-warm year in many parts of Europe and provided yet another example of how human-caused climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of such extraordinary weather events.

On New Year’s Day, at least seven countries saw their warmest January weather on record as temperatures surged to springtime levels: Latvia hit 52 degrees (11.1 Celsius); Denmark 54.7 degrees (12.6 Celsius); Lithuania 58.3 degrees (14.6 Celsius); Belarus 61.5 degrees (16.4 Celsius); the Netherlands 62.4 degrees (16.9 Celsius); Poland 66.2 degrees (19.0 Celsius); and the Czech Republic 67.3 degrees (19.6 Celsius).

Those who track worldwide weather records described the warm spell as historic and could hardly believe its scope and magnitude.

Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist who tracks global weather extremes, called the event “totally insane” and “absolute madness” in text messages to the Capital Weather Gang.

He wrote that some of the high nighttime temperatures observed were uncommon in midsummer.

It’s “the most extreme event ever seen in European climatology,” Herrera wrote. “Nothing stands close to this.”

Guillaume Séchet, a broadcast meteorologist in France, agreed, tweeting that Sunday was one of the most incredible days in Europe’s climate history.

“The intensity and extent of warmth in Europe right now is hard to comprehend,” tweeted Scott Duncan, a meteorologist based in London.”

[wayti-blog]

“This otherworldly, ever-changing landscape is what the Sun looks like up close. ESA's Solar Orbiter filmed the transition from the Sun's lower atmosphere to the much hotter outer corona. 

The hair-like structures are made of charged gas (plasma), following magnetic field lines emerging from the Sun's interior. The brightest regions are around one million degrees Celsius, while cooler material looks dark as it absorbs radiation. 

 This video was recorded on 27 September 2023 by the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) instrument on Solar Orbiter. At the time, the spacecraft was at roughly a third of the Earth’s distance from the Sun, heading for a closest approach of 43 million km on 7 October.”

“On the solar horizon: Spires of gas, known as spicules, reach up from the Sun’s chromosphere. These can reach up to a height of 10 000 km. Centre around 0:22: A small eruption in the centre of the field of view, with cooler material being lifted upwards before mostly falling back down. Don’t be fooled by the use of ‘small’ here: this eruption is bigger than Earth! Centre-left around 0:30: ‘Cool’ coronal rain (probably less than 10 000 °C) looks dark against the bright background of large coronal loops (around one million degrees). The rain is made of higher-density clumps of plasma that fall back towards the Sun under the influence of gravity.”

continue reading

Credit: ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/EUI Team

[growingingreenwood]

Hey Mama, are you doing okay????? In class today we were looking at polar vortex in North America rn and one of the places my teacher talked about was the province i think you live in (you're Canadian, right???) and he said it was like -40 Degrees Celsius there!!!!! I don't even know how to comprehend those temperatures!!!! Like, are you still alive out there???

Hello my sweet summer child! <3 You're right, I am Canadian! And im not going to lie to you, its been rough out here. And more importantly, its been CONSISENTLY COLDER THAN THE SURFACE OF MARS HERE.

My area of the province has set several temperature records in the past few days:

January 14, 2024: New record of -45.1, Old record of -41.6 set in 2020

January 13, 2024: New record of -45.3, Old record of -41.7 set in 1972

January 12, 2024: New record of -45.9, Old record of -39.4 set in 1969

This doesn't account for the Windchill factor which effectively made the temperatures closer to -55 degrees or colder. To put it into context the only way I can think to, According to Environment Canada at:

-28 to -39 degrees Celsius exposed skin can freeze in 10-30 minutes.

-40 to -47 degrees Celsius exposed skin can freeze in 5-10 minutes.

-48 to -54 degrees Celsius exposed skin can freeze in 2-5 minutes.

Literally not a single car in my family's worked, no matter what we did. This is including extended family, so like, 13 cars. Its just too damn cold for them. Hospitals were literally wrapping their ambulances with heated blankets in between calls so that the entire engine wouldn't freeze. In their heated garage.

Its about an eight day wait for any kind of towing or boosting services. From any provider.

We out here, we cant see anything through the ice fog because the air itself is frozen, but we out here.

Also, I feel like this is the perfect opportunity to give the rest of you much farther south than me tips for surviving other wandering polar vortex's in the future, because at least we're prepared up here:

YOU NEED SURVIVAL EQUPMENT IN YOUR CAR!!! I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH!!!! I'm talking heavy duty gloves, hats, socks, blankets, those heat reflective thermal blankets. If possible, have enough for at least two people but if you're a family ensure there's clothes for every member of your family. I also highly recommend that you get hand and feet warmers to put into your boots and gloves to prevent frostbite

Here is a good checklist to keep, and is very similar to what I have in my car:

https://todayshomeowner.com/weather/guides/winter-survival-kit-for-your-vehicle/

On that note, dressing for seriously cold weather is no fucking joke either, okay? There's an art to it, and that art is L A Y E R S . More layers than you think you need, and then one more. If you can bend your arms or legs without struggling at least a little bit, put another sweater on, underneath your windproof thick outer layer. And another pair of socks. Never leave the house without a hat and your ears covered.

Here's a good guide, which includes the warning signs, symptoms, and suggested actions for each stage of frostbite and hypothermia. Which, in case you didn't know happen in three stages of severity similar to burns but on the opposite side of the temperature scale.

Sorry to turn this into a Winter Weather Safety PSA but I genuinely cannot stress enough how important it is to be prepared in extreme cold. And please, for the love of everything good on this earth, do not and do not let your friends or anyone else walk anywhere when they've been drinking. Do. Not.

Every year in my city at LEAST several collage kids freeze to death because "their place isn't that far" "I have a good jacket." "Ive done it before."

People have frozen to death outside bars because they fell in a snowbank and were too drunk to get out and nobody saw them, because they tried to walk home.

Anyways, stay safe (and warm) out there everyone!!!!

[rjzimmerman]

Antarctic temperatures soar 50 degrees above norm in long-lasting heat wave. (Washington Post)

Ground temperatures in East Antarctica have soared more than50 degrees (28 Celsius) above normal in the second major heat wave to afflict the region in the past two years. This historic warm spell could persist for another 10 days and is an ominous example of the major temperature spikes this polar climate could experience more frequently in a warming world.

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“This heat wave is a near-record (or record) event for the region of Antarctica it’s having the biggest impact on,” Edward Blanchard, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Washington, saidin an email. “The heat wave’s large footprint is also remarkable,”as it covers a large section of East Antarctica, which makes up most of the continent.

The heat wave comes in the middle of the Antarctic winter, so temperatures are still hovering around minus-4 (minus-20 Celsius). Still, the Antarctic temperature anomaly is the largest on the globe, according to weather models.

Temperatures are expected to remain up to 36 to 50 degrees (20 to 30 Celsius) above average in parts of East Antarctica for the next 10 days. They have been substantially above average for most of July, but not as high as they are now. Last week, they climbed to 20 degrees (12 Celsius) above average.

[log6]

Brazil was hit with an extremely powerful extratropical cyclone, Europe was smashed with a massive mesocyclonic system from the Mediterranean (which is also hitting record temperatures) which delivered some of the only rain Europe has received this year. China was flooded by historic rains from Typhoon Doksuri. Greece continues to burn as wildfires continue across Southern Europe and Northern Africa. Italy was hit with record-breaking hailstorms twice. North, South, and Central America have been hit by heatwave after heatwave, with average regional temperatures going as high as 10 degrees Celsius over previous yearly averages. Life threatening temperatures. Sea temperatures in the Caribbean and Central America are comparable to a hot tub, reaching the 90s for prolonged periods, which is unheard of. North American flights are forced to limit fuel and passengers to continue flying safely during severe heatwaves. The polar ice is failing in new and unexpected ways. The whole world is boiling or burning.