The LA Times updates on the ongoing climate-fueled drought/heat/storm catastrophe in Oklahoma. The video above reviews the looking glass world of Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, as well as a reality check from Associate Oklahoma State Climatologist Gary McManus.
LA Times:
The year has been so wild that Gary McManus has given up keeping track of the weather records set in Oklahoma. Begrudgingly, McManus, the associate state climatologist, briskly rattled off a few:
—The all-time low temperature (31 degrees below zero).—Greatest 24-hour snowfall total (27 inches).
—Most tornadoes in one month (50 in April).
There’s been no measurable rain in the western half of the state since October. The 11-month period ending in August was the driest such period statewide since records were first kept in 1895.
McManus said this year’s back-to-back weather calamities were “out of the realm of your imagining. It’s not just that temperatures are above normal, it’s that it’s above normal for so many months in a row.” And this is the state that bore the brunt of the Dust Bowl.
—
McManus follows up with a candidate for the “It would be funny if it weren’t so damn sad” hall of Fame. –
“I think it would be a mistake to not think that this has become the new normal,” McManus said. “Until it stops happening, we should expect it to continue.”
It’s a classic quote that should go down along with Buckaroo Banzai’s “No matter where you go, there you are…”
“I think it would be a mistake to not think that this has become the new normal.”
Time to get back to work. The goal: make sure that this type of quote is used as little as possible in the 21st century. Hopefully the dimming/aerosol emissions aren’t hiding too much of the radiative forcing.