The American Meteorological Society announces:
An international, peer-reviewed publication released each summer, the State of the Climate is the authoritative annual summary of the global climate published as a supplement to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. The report, compiled by NOAA’s Center for Weather and Climate at the National Centers for Environmental Information is based on contributions from scientists from around the world. It provides a detailed update on global climate indicators, notable weather events, and other data collected by environmental monitoring stations and instruments located on land, water, ice, and in space.
And the Washington Post’s Capital Weather Gang summarizes with ten bullet points:
1. The global temperature was the highest on record.
2. The average ocean surface temperature was warmest on record.
3. Upper ocean heat content was highest on record.
4. Global sea level was highest on record.
5. The El Niño event was among the strongest on record.
6. Greenhouse gases were highest on record.
7. Record number of major tropical cyclones in Northern Hemisphere.
8. Arctic sea ice had its lowest maximum extent
9. Glaciers continued shrinking
10. Extreme temperatures were most extreme on record.
In political terms, Hillary Clinton gets it. The Democratic Party gets it:
Other speakers on the final night of the Democratic National Convention talked about climate policy and environmental justice too (though none of them matched the intensity of California Gov. Jerry Brown, whose speech on Wednesday was an epic Trump takedown on the topic of climate change).
The convention’s only speech from a full-time environmental activist came early in the program, when League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski expounded on the contrast between the presidential candidates. “Climate change is no joke,” said Karpinski, referencing Trump’s habit of mocking climate science. “From floods in Miami, to droughts in California, to forest fires in Colorado, and rising sea levels in Virginia, it’s clear. Climate change is here, and it’s having a devastating impact.”
Karpinski went on to contrast Trump’s pro-fossil fuel, anti-regulatory energy platform with Clinton’s renewable energy and environmental justice plans. “His policies would make climate change worse,” said Karpinski. “His energy ‘plan’ would mean more pollution in our air, more poison in our water, and more public lands stripped for private profit.”
Donald Trump doesn’t.
This election matters.