2941 Monthly Weather Records Broken in the U.S. this Year

by: Dragontide

Sun Dec 18, 2011 at 11:32:02 AM CST

 In a recent diary of mine, a question of extreme weather frequency was brought up. (in the comment section) I had pointed out the extreme events of 2010:

1. Earth’s hottest year on record
2. Most extreme winter Arctic atmospheric circulation on record; “Snowmageddon” results
3. Arctic sea ice: lowest volume on record, 3rd lowest extent
4. Record melting in Greenland, and a massive calving event
5. Second most extreme shift from El Niño to La Niña
6. Second worst coral bleaching year
7. Wettest year over land
8. Amazon rainforest experiences its 2nd 100-year drought in 5 years
9. Global tropical cyclone activity lowest on record
10. A hyperactive Atlantic hurricane season: 3rd busiest on record
11. A rare tropical storm in the South Atlantic
12. Strongest storm in Southwestern U.S. history
13. Strongest non-coastal storm in U.S. history
14. Weakest and latest-ending East Asian monsoon on record
15. No monsoon depressions in India’s Southwest Monsoon for 2nd time in 134 years
16. The Pakistani flood: most expensive natural disaster in Pakistan’s history
17. The Russian heat wave and drought: deadliest heat wave in human history
18. Record rains trigger Australia’s most expensive natural disaster in history
19. Heaviest rains on record trigger Colombia’s worst flooding disaster in history
20. Tennessee’s 1-in-1000 year flood kills 30, does $2.4 billion in damage

 And now a new report from the NRDC (with interactive map) clearly shows the frequency of extreme weather continued into 2011. The report is from the January thru October time-line so the 2941 total will be even higher by year's end. A newly-released analysis by the IPCC concluded that:

 "Climate change will amplify extreme heat, heavy precipitation, and the highest wind speeds of tropical storms."

 I repeat my original stance in aforementioned diary. We are undergoing "Shock & Awe" as a direct result of bribes given to elected officials by Big Oil & Coal. Extreme events from climate change has been predicted again and again. The predictions are all coming true. We now have the climate skeptics in checkmate. The GOP will still not accept it as fact. But not one of them has a scientific leg to stand on in this regard.