US Temperatures: Yup, Still Rising

A few years ago global warming was a highly debated topic but in recent months, perhaps the past year, the discussion has fizzled. Clearly the state of our economy has captured President Obama's attention while environmental issues have been pushed aside, but global warming has not dissapeared and is not improving.

A recent article in TreeHugger provides findings from a new study, conducted by The Weather Channel and the non-profit Climate Channel, declaring that "we're now seeing more record high temperatures and fewer lows in the US than ever before." Andrew Revkin, a contributor to Dot Earth of The New York Times, explains that while there have been an increased number of record high temperatures the most noticable shift is in the reduction of record low temperatures.

I find this study interesting because so much debate focuses on day-time temperatures and very rarely on night-time temperatures. The study also states that by the end of 21st Century when the temperatures have increased by 3ºC there will be even fewer record lows. As this is the most recent study done on climate change I hope that it reignites the global warming debate and pressures the Obama Administration to take action on the environmental issues the US is facing.

Below is a video describing the work by Gerald Meehl of the National Center for Atmospheric Research: