Killer heat waves here to stay,
global warming researchers say

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

In Fresno, Calif., the morgue is full of victims from a California heat wave. A combination of heat and power outages killed a dozen people in Missouri. And in parts of Europe, temperatures are hotter than in 2003 when a heat wave killed 35,000.

Get used to it.

•For the next week, much of the nation should expect more "extreme heat," the National Weather Service predicts.

•In the month of August, most of the United States will see "above normal temperatures," forecasters say.

•For the long term, the world will see more and worse killer heat waves because of global warming, scientists say.

Click here for the rest.

Nearly twenty years ago, I remember spending my first or second summer back home from college. It was glorious. We partied every night it seemed, reveling in the absurd situations we aggressively created--we were young Situationists and didn't even know it. But that's neither here nor there: that part of my life was when I first remember speculating with friends that the unusual weather we were then experiencing, strange storms, and prolonged periods of really hot weather that we had never known before, even in Texas, was a manifestation of global warming. I recall entertaining the notion, but asserting that we couldn't really be sure; in the grand scheme of things, the weather has always been weird, if you wait long enough. Back then, the effects of global warming was something that would happen at some point in the future.

Well, it's the future right now. Speculation about weird weather is a game that all of us are playing. And it's pretty easy to win if you simply always bet on global warming.

Heh. "The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades."

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$