Catching Up With The Weather

A chunk of glacier broke off of Greenland. Not definitevly a sign of climate change, but taken together with other phenomena, well you get the picture.

What other When Climate Attacks episodes are we seeing? Well, Russia is on fire. Yeah, all of it. Ok, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but Russia is enduring its worst heat wave in over a millennia. Massive, nasty wildflires are scorching thousands of acres, choking Moscow and other cities with thick smoke. And estimates are that 15,000 may have died already from pollution and heat exhaustion, along with fire-related casusalties.

Hold that for a second. repeat after me, "Fifteen thousand people." Global climate change seems a tad more tangible when you think of the body count of just this one heat wave.

At this rate, the Russian heat blast may eclipse the 2003 European heat wave as the most deadly heat wave in human history.

Aside from the human, natural and financial disaster, the heat wave is a political disaster for the Russian government and may be wilting the Russians' opposition to climate change action. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who may be the most manly head of state ever, has been very visible, in  attempts to show that the government is taking action. Today, former KGB officer was shown by state television in the cockpit of a firefighting plane dropping water on a wildfire.

Can you imagine President Obama getting out on one of the firefighting boats fighting the fire on the Deepwater Horizon? BTW, I'm not saying he couldn't, but the contrast shows how serious Putin is taking the political crisis, and showing a very macho approach to the photo op.

Quite a different climate phenomenon over on my side of the world, the Seattle area has been socked in by marine clouds, leading to unprecedented levels of whining. The Pacific Ocean phenomenon is causing unusually cool, cloudy weather up and down the West Coast. Here in the Puget Sound Region, our summer has been nonexistent. While the typical August day here sees about 1.6 hours of cloud cover, of late we've been getting 9 fricking hours!

Still, a whole lot more forgiving weather situation than Russia is experiencing.