Carbon Copy, Carbon Copied

Now

Sunny, warm. Temperatures are a degree or two warmer, high clouds are a little more prevalent, and there are a few more scattered showers along the Virginia/West Virginia border, but today is pretty much a carbon copy of yesterday weatherwise. Temperatures are mostly in the upper 70s with a couple of 80°+ readings in the warmer spots.

Continued seasonably warm and dry conditions are on tap through the end of the week and into the holiday weekend.

Tonight and Tomorrow

Mostly clear, warm. Tonight's moonlit skies will be accompanied by lows near 60° downtown to the mid 50s in cooler 'burbalonia. Tomorrow will feature lots of sunshine, only slightly more humidity, and highs 79-83°.

For the outlook through the rest of the week and the holiday weekend, scroll on down to Dan's post below.

Climate Corner: More Carbon Copied

A paper, "Global and regional drivers of accelerating CO2 emissions", published yesterday in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), reports that worldwide CO₂ emissions have been increasing at an accelerating rate. The annual rate of increase for the first half of this decade was 3.1% per year compared to 1.1% per year for the 1990s. This rate was "greater than for the most fossil-fuel intensive of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change emissions scenarios developed in the late 1990s."

News of this research appeared on page 1A of USAT ("Global carbon levels spiraling") and also in:

• SeaTi ("Scientists report rise in levels of carbon dioxide")
• UK Guardian ("CO2 emissions rise outpaces worst-case scenario")
• ChriSci Monitor ("Global carbon emissions in overdrive")
• Non-carbonated WaPo ("World CO2 emissions speed up since 2000")

Graphic from PNAS