LibertyBell

Our political leaders are clueless and need to be replaced with scientists, people who actually know science. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/31/rishi-sunak-approval-100-new-north-sea-oil-and-gas-licences-fossil-fuel-climate-crisis New North Sea oil and gas licences will send ‘wrecking ball’ through climate commitments Tory MP and environmental groups criticise Rishi Sunak’s announcement of 100 new licences Rishi Sunak hopes to extract as much oil and gas from the North Sea as possible, No 10 has said, as it announced 100-plus new drilling licences in a “maxing out” policy that environmental groups said would obliterate the UK’s climate commitments. The plan was also criticised by Chris Skidmore, the Conservative MP who led a review into net zero, who said it was “on the wrong side of modern voters”. Making a visit to Aberdeenshire on Monday, Sunakclaimed the move was “entirely consistent with our plan to get to net zero”, telling broadcasters that domestic supplies were significantly more efficient than shipping gas and oil from other countries. Sunak’s junior energy minister, Andrew Bowie, described the proposals for the new North Sea licensing round, unveiled on Monday morning, as “maxing out our oil and gas reserves”, a notion backed by Downing Street. Asked whether a plan to allow new licencees to drill for reserves closer to current projects than previously allowed was an attempt to maximise the amount of oil and gas extracted, Sunak’s press secretary said this was “the definition of the new licensing round”. She said: “The prime minister is firmly of the belief that we should use the resources that we have here at home, first and foremost. It's good that Sunak is getting a lot of pushback from Labour and becoming grumpy. The guy needs to be removed. Asked in a morning interview with BBC Radio Scotland how he was travelling to Aberdeenshire, a rather grumpy Sunak, who ended the interview when it reached the five-minute limit imposed by No 10, replied: “I’ll be flying as I normally would.” He then told the Good Morning Scotland presenter Martin Geissler: “If you or others think that the answer to climate change is getting people to ban everything that they’re doing, just to stop people going on holiday, I think that’s absolutely the wrong approach.” The new licence process, overseen by the North Sea Transition Authority, will involve a climate compatibility test, but will have more flexibility than before to drill for reserves close to currently licensed areas. Sunak and his ministers have accused Labour of making the UK more reliant on overseas resources if it goes ahead with a ban on new North Sea projects. Labour says it would invest heavily in renewable sources such as wind, and also in nuclear power, which would reduce bills and make supplies more secure and sustainable. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jun/06/lord-deben-backs-labours-plan-to-halt-new-north-sea-oil-and-gas-drilling Lord Deben backs Labour’s plan to halt new North Sea oil and gas drilling UK’s most senior climate adviser says policy is ‘right thing to do’ and criticises government’s stance https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/09/missed-net-zero-targets-uk-rishi-sunak-cunning-plan Missed all our net zero targets? No sweat. Rishi Sunak is 100% on it The PM acts as if he has some cunning plan, but even his own global heating advisers can’t see how Sunak is focused on the big stuff, or what he repeatedly insists are our priorities: boats, economy, boats, hospital waiting lists, boats, inflation, boats. The naysayers would uncharitably point out that he’s failing, to which I repeat the PM’s own words: “I’m totally, 100% on it and it’s going to be OK.” In this Mr Big Stuff vein on Tuesday it was reported that Sunak and his home secretary, Suella Braverman, would be meeting sports supremos and senior police in an effort to save the great British sporting summer from climate activists. Later that day, three sexagenarian Just Stop Oil protesters brought a couple of tennis matches to a standstill by sprinkling confetti and jigsaw pieces on court. One sporting supremo, at least, was philosophical: ‘‘You don’t want things to be disrupted but at the same time they will really be disrupted with climate change,” said Gary Lineker. Advantage activists. Arresting “groups with unreasonable demands” seems to be the extent of Sunak’s interest in global warming – let alone other environmental issues that the electorate bores on about. Climate consistently ranks in the top issues of concern among voters, but presumably Sunak knows better what’s best for us and has a plan. And better than the UN secretary general, António Guterres, who last week declared that “climate change is out of control”.

Yes, please get rid of "averages" etc, I would much rather see a range of normal values within 1 SD be used for that rather than a single number.

1966 and 2010 fit the pattern of the hot and dry July and they had MUCH more extreme heat than anything we have had recently.

July is supposed to be hot and dry, August is usually the month when it gets really humid.

Yep, in July in August. Did we all forget that it was in the 40s in June? Now that was unusual. I remember mornings in August when it was close to getting into the 40s (low of 50) when I was outside viewing the Perseids, the skies were very clear, no haze, felt like early fall.

This matches up with my experience too, nothing even close to 1983, 2002 and 2010! I take it neither NYC nor LGA has had any top 5 90+ days since then either, Chris?

Do you have any reports of how high the wind gusts were near JFK as well as rainfall totals? Thanks!

The disparity has gotten worse over the last few decades though. Is there a way to compare the years through the 90s vs what has happened since? It seems like the disparity between inland vs coastal 90 degree days has increased markedly

Thats fine lol. Northerly winds eventually give us dry heat too. Same with westerly winds.

This is why I'm against the whole densely packed megacities. It isn't just bad for the climate it's unhealthy, laden with pollution and also more likely to spread disease. It's why NYC is greenifying the city, because vegetation, specifically trees, cleans the air and is healthier than having all that concrete all over the place. Not to mention how much better and healthier fresh produce is from urban farms than the processed crap.

wow I knew 1988 was hot but not record breaking hot, at least not here. Downtown Baltimore, MD, hit 103 degrees, marking a record eight days of 100 degree heat for the month, and ten for the year. That record has never been matched or broken, even in 1991, 1993 or 2010 there?

I am hoping it hits 110 there right through Monday, so every day in July is at or above 110.

Yes, I have a very specific definition of hot month and hot year. 10 90+ degree highs in a month = hot month 30 90+ degree highs in a year = hot year We can use LGA for this calculation since NYC is obviously compromised

I guarantee that 1983, 1993, 1999 and 2010 saw a lot more 90 degree highs than this though

Yes it was really uncomfortable. 2010 and 2011 felt a lot better than this.

We did manage a heatwave here and at JFK, temps in the low 90s all three days, but it was really the humidity that made it feel so much worse. Normally low 90s is perfectly fine for me, but I felt so sluggish and dizzy in this weather. Another thing-- when the humidity is really high, my A/C performs much worse. Despite running it 24/7 my room temp was between 86-88 during the peak of the heat all three days.

Yay-- official heatwave here too, just like JFK. The last three days my highs were 92,93,91 5 90 degree days in July, which is also the total for the year.

Mid to upper 90s? The highest we have had all year is 93, Chris. Lack of 100 degrees comes from the fact that our summers have become much rainier.

100 degrees with 30% humidity feels much better than this mediocre "heat" crap

dry heat is MUCH better, we need for NASA to figure out a way to suck this excess water vapor into outer space.

We had very heavy rain here for 30 min from 7:45 to 8:15 and a very strange very orange sky, it actually reminded me of back when the dust/smoke was really bad.

temps in the 90s with dew points in the 50s are a breath of fresh clean air

I think we hate humidity, rain is okay, once a week or so.,

Hit 91 here on the south shore of Nassau too.

Hit 93 here on the south shore around 2 PM before the sea breeze came in-- it doesn't make it feel any better, it just gets more humid with temps hovering around 90 for a few hours.