Sunday, July 11, 2021

West coast heat wave is nothing new

 



 

Don’t let the green people fool you into thinking the heatwave and its associated forest fires are anything new or even related to manmade global warming.

The United States has seen this kind of behavior for hundreds of years as part of a regular pattern, not particularly caused by actions of humanity that is commonly referred to as global climate change.

Some of the warming trends may have a lot to do with the overall natural warming of the environment that started 40,000 years ago, with a brief intermission for the Little Ice Age between the 13th Century and 1870.

Most climate change science bases its finding with events that start at the end of the Little Ice Age, but instead of attributing warming patterns to the continuing of what transpired previously, they have come up with theories claiming man has caused the warming, especially in the latter half of the 20th Century.

Unfortunately for climate change science, records don’t support their theories, at least when it comes to heat waves such as the one that the west coast is currently suffering.

These events have been going on so often for so long dating back to before the American Revolution that it is ludicrous to claim they are a product manmade global climate change.

Many of these events have caused forest fires such as those reported today. But I will go into more detail about the history of forest fires in a later essay since there is significant documentation to show just how full of shit green science is in this regard.

Instead, I’ll give you a few examples of heatwaves that have occurred in the past. Although there are reports of many events occurring in the latter half of the 19th Century, I’ll use those from the first half the 20th Century which have significant documentation untainted by the new Green Deal.

These examples are hardly exhaustive but show a consistent pattern to demonstrate that the events of today are not unique or nearly as extreme as the green people claim, more or less normal – if extreme temperatures can be considered normal.

One of the most serious heat waves struck the East and West Coasts in July 1901. Scores of people died. New heat records were set. Crops were ruined. This, of course, could not be attributed to auto emissions sending carbon emissions into the air, or even industrial coal plants because these were just then coming onto the scene. Major industrial development began for the most part from about 1890, far too soon for even Green science to claim its effects on environment.

The heatwave in 1901 extended through most of the country. Colorado reported burning winds and temperatures exceeding 100 degrees.  Corn burned and oat fields were ruined in the farm belt. Temperatures ranged from just over 100 degrees to 112 degrees in some cities. Most cities saw temperatures between 102 to 108. Chicago saw a temperature of 103 at 5 p.m. St. Louis reached 106 degrees, exceeding the record set in the heatwave of 1881. Most mid-west cities saw temperatures over 90 degrees for more than 34 consecutive days.

The heat wave of 1909 was felt coast to coast with Fort Worth, Texas recording temperatures of 110 degrees with temperatures of 120 degrees reported in portions of the city. Other U.S. cities saw temperatures above 100 such as Natchez at 105, Jackson, Mississippi at 100, Little Rock 105, Shreveport at 104.  Crops throughout the country dried up

Regionally, heat waves hit various parts of the country every year. Some years are more severe than others. But every few years, we see a major outbreak such as the one in 1915 which broke a lot of records, and again in 1916 when Milwaukee saw temperatures of 102 as did Racine, WI. A number of deaths were reported as a result of the heat.

The summer of 1917 saw another serious heatwave that left dozens of people dead in Chicago with as many dead in Philly, New York, Pittsburgh Detroit and Boston.

Red Bluff, California reported temperatures as high as 104 degrees. Kansas City and Philly saw 101 degrees. Atlantic City Athens, MI, DC, Boston, NY, Chicago and Milwaukee saw temperatures at around 100.

At year later in 1918, another heat wave hit leaving scores dead in Philly, St. Louis, and other towns.

The temperature in Detroit was recorded at 112 degrees.

The year 1924 brought another massive heatwave across the country. Scores of people died in Chicago. Storms swept the Midwest causes millions of dollars in damage. One storm in Racine County wiped out a strip of land one mile wide and 12 miles long. The heat caused crazed dogs to bite people in the streets of Chicago. California saw 100-degree heat in many of its cities as well as a heavy death toll.

Yet most relevant to today’s situation is the heat wave of 1925. It strongly resembles what we are seeing on the West Coast currently.

Temperatures of more than 100 degrees were felt up the coast from Mexico to Portland, Oregon.

The temperature near Death Valley on the border between California and Nevada reached 120 on July 15, then went up four degrees to 126 on July 16.

Most of southern California saw temperatures at about 106. Seattle registered its heat at 100 degrees; Portland at 102. Victoria, BC was near 100.

Forest fires spread throughout Oregon. A brush fire on the outskirts of LA scalded 3,000 acres before extinguished.  Heated rails caused a train derailment in Metolius, Oregon. The air temperature was reported there 112 degrees.

The heatwave of 1926 resulted in record temperatures throughout the Midwest. The central plains reported more than 50 deaths. Sioux City reported a temperature of 104 degrees. Nashville, St. Louis and other cities, 100 degrees. Washington, DC also reached 104 degrees, a record at the time.

The West Coast was again hit hard with high heat. The heatwave affected more than 30 states with deaths reported everywhere.

Another heat wave struck the country in 1929, destroying crops. A serious drought also occurred which continued into 1930 and a repeat of the heatwave. In 1930, more than 150 people died as a result of the heat. More than 14 states from Ohio to California reported 100-degree temperatures.

Washington DC set a new record when the temperature reached 106. Toledo reached 102. Corn and wheat pastures were ruined. Iowa corn crop lost 50 million Bushels. Daily products declined.

Several regional heatwaves struck in the years after this.

But the heatwave on the west coast in 1937caused record breaking temperatures from Mexico to Canada. Many people died, including 18 suicides in LA authorities claim were a result of the heat.

The 1938 heatwave also mirrors current events inflicting 100 degrees heat up and down the west coast.

Temperatures at Death Valley, recorded a Rice, CA, were 126 degrees.  Bakersfield reached 109, Fresno, 104, Sacramento Valley, 100. Scorched earth and crops were reported in Arizona and Colorado. Yuma reached 110 degrees, Phoenix, 106.

Forest fires in Northern California were reported at the worst in 20 years.  Some of these were caused by lightning strikes in extremely dry conditions.

A year later, the heat wave of 1939 was reported then as “the worst in California history.”

It struck in September and before it ended 80 people had died. Los Angeles had a three-day extreme heat day, the first day of which recorded temperatures at 103.2 degrees, followed the next day by 106, and followed by 107.2 degrees on the third day. The city suffered six straight days of over 100-degree heat. San Francisco saw near 100-degree temperatures as well. Emergency rooms throughout the region were swarmed with patients suffering from the effects of the heat.

The 1940s saw several similar heatwaves, that included one in April and another in May on the west coast, both of which showed major sudden shifts in temperature of as much as 30 degrees above normal.

The 1944 heatwave hit the west coast hard and spurred a series of forest fires in California and the Northwest. Another heatwave in 1957 created havoc across the country, many deaths as well as many storms.

These are just a few of many examples of events that would continue  through the second half of the 20th Century and the first two decades of the 21st Century that it is difficult to call them unusual, despite the hyperbole of a headline-frantic media and the machinations of manipulative green scientists trying to sell the idea that these events – although serious – helped prove their theories of man-made climate change, when it fact, they appear to show that much of what we are seeing in the world is the product of a continued, steady natural climate change that has been ongoing since the retreat of the glaziers from North America.

But that kind of science doesn’t get you federal grants and doesn’t make for salacious headlines.

 

 


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