August tied the record for the hottest month ever recorded, both globally and in the oceans. The planet is getting warmer, thanks almost entirely to human activity:
August’s sweltering temperatures capped the warmest summer on record for both Western Europe and the contiguous United States. Across the lower 48 states, the average temperature last month was 24.2°C, the highest on record for August and 1.94°C above the 20th-century average, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on Wednesday.
That made August the first month since last November when global warming exceeded 1.5°C, an important number in humanity’s efforts to curb climate change.
In related news, Singapore-based AlphaGeo ranked 72 of the world's largest cities on climate-change resiliency and put Chicago at the top of the list:
Chicago’s rank as the most “climate resilient” location was guided by the combination of its low physical exposure to a bevy of climate risks — inland flooding, coastal flooding, heat stress, drought, wildfires and hurricane winds — and the city’s high adaptation to those risks, including via infrastructure, early warning systems and policy responses.
“Chicago is the most resilient major city in this analysis, benefiting from low coastal and tropical hazard exposure combined with robust urban infrastructure,” the report found.
Chicago’s geography shields it from some of the most catastrophic natural disasters that affect coastal regions, like hurricanes and rising sea levels, the report noted.
No other U.S. cities made the list of the top 20 most resilient locations. Others in the top five include Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Melbourne, Australia; Barcelona, Spain; and Ankara, Turkey. Many in the bottom of the rankings were cities in South Asia, the report said, although Phoenix, Ariz. was ranked the 17th least resilient city. Those cities faced the greatest heat exposure and relatively low adaption rates, the authors said.
I haven't read the report, so I don't know if it also mentioned that Chicago has about 44 km of shoreline with the second-largest body of fresh water in the world (when combined with Lake Huron), and the largest body of fresh water located entirely within one country. That will also help us as things get worse. And they are getting worse: the Illinois State Climatologist reported this week that Illinois set records for the most tornados in a year (just through July!) and the largest hailstone ever recorded in the state (168 mm, 557 g).
Before any of that happens, however, I will be spending a chunk of my day along the Normandy coast, imagining a time when most of the world united to destroy a fascist regime. Should be educational.
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