Pacific Northwest Heat Record Update

For other record temperature posts, see:
Record Heat
Record Cold

As predicted, heat records were set or tied in the interior of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and northern California Wednesday; a few more were set today:

 ...PRELIMINARY RECORD HIGHS BROKEN OR TIED TODAY...  
  
    STATION            OLD RECORD (YEAR)   NEW RECORD       
    MULLAN PASS (ASOS)     76     (1943) TIED  76               
    SANDPOINT              84     (2001) TIED  84  
    WENATCHEE (ASOS)       89     (1994)       90  

A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 85 DEGREES WAS SET AT BUTTE MT TODAY.  
THIS TIES THE OLD RECORD OF 85 SET IN 2001.  

...RECORD HIGH MAXIMUM TEMPERATURES REPORTED FOR SEPTEMBER 23RD 2009...  
  
                                                             RECORDS  
STATION              NEW RECORD      OLD RECORD     YEAR    KEPT SINCE  
  
MULLAN PASS             78              74          1952       1938  
OMAK                    90              89          1939       1931  
PULLMAN                 93      TIED    93          2001       1940  
WINCHESTER              88      TIED    88          2001       1939  
  
...RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURES REPORTED FOR SEPTEMBER 23RD 2009...  
  
                                                             RECORDS  
STATION              NEW RECORD      OLD RECORD     YEAR    KEPT SINCE  
  
EPHRATA                 58      TIED    58          1966       1948  

STATION                  PREVIOUS        NEW        RECORDS  
                         RECORD/YEAR     RECORD     BEGAN  
  
MEACHAM, OR              88 / 2001       91         1948  
PENDLETON(ARPT), OR      90 / 1994       92         1934  
REDMOND, OR              92 / 1994       97         1949  

A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 98 DEGREES WAS SET AT MONTAGUE CA   
YESTERDAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 96 SET IN 1991.  

A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 93 DEGREES WAS SET AT MT SHASTA CITY   
CA YESTERDAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 92 SET IN 2003.  

A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 92 DEGREES WAS SET AT ALTURAS CA   
YESTERDAY. THIS TIES THE OLD RECORD OF 92 SET IN 1949.  

A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 90 DEGREES WAS TIED AT KLAMATH FALLS   
TODAY [Sept. 23]. THIS TIES THE OLD RECORD OF 90 SET IN 1974.   

How to Help Boil a Frog

Today's Tom Toles:

Economic Destruction for Fun and Profit

"Promoting alternative energy will destroy the economy."

Don't try telling that to investors on Wall Street, who have sharply bid up the price of a lithium-ion battery company's initial offering today. Shares of A123 Systems (symbol AONE) are up over 50% from this morning's offering price of $13.50, which had been raised from earlier estimates of around $8. After a delayed opening, the shares began trading at $17 and reached a high of $21.14 before retreating slightly to $20.29 at 4 pm. Volume was over 41 million shares.

The company, "one of the world's leading suppliers of high-power lithium ion batteries", has contracts to supply batteries for hybrid and electric cars to 7 auto manufacturers worldwide, including Chrysler, GM, and Nissan.

The A123 CEO Dave Vieau was interviewed this morning on CNBC:


From the press:

• AP, A123 Systems goes public with a splash
• MarketWatch, A123 Systems jolts IPO market
• WSJ, Traders Give A123 Systems IPO a Charge
• TheStreet.com, A123 Systems Soars on IPO, but Why?
• Bloomberg, A123 Surges in First Day on Electric-Vehicle Demand
• BoGlo, Shares in A123 IPO hit $20.09 in afternoon trading
• WaPo, MIA
  

Image (click to enlarge): September 24 stock chart for A123, from MarketWatch, via Fidelity Investments

Disclaimer: CapitalClimate unfortunately does NOT own shares in A123.

Google Earth Provides Climate Change Visualization

BNET reports that Google Earth on Tuesday launched a series of guided tours to provide a visualization of climate change projections. According to the official Google blog,

In collaboration with the Danish government and others, we are launching a series of Google Earth layers and tours to allow you to explore the potential impacts of climate change on our planet and the solutions for managing it. Working with data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), we show on Google Earth the range of expected temperature and precipitation changes under different global emissions scenarios that could occur throughout the century.

Also in cooperation with the Danish government, Google has launched the YouTube COP15 channel in anticipation of the Copenhagen climate change conference (fifteenth Conference of the Parties under the United Nations’ Climate Change Convention) to be held in December.

The introductory tour (short version):

Rare Heavy Dust Storm Brings Red Dawn to Sydney

An unusually strong dust storm brought red skies and extremely low visibility to Sydney, Australia this morning. Although dust storms are fairly frequent in the Australian interior, it's very rare for storms of this intensity to reach the coast. At midday, the heavy dust cloud covered half of the state of New South Wales. The visibility restrictions caused widespread disruption in transportation systems and ferry service was suspended. Long delays occurred at Sydney Airport as Qantas flights were diverted to Brisbane and Melbourne. More than 500 fire alarms were reported between 3 and 7 am as dust particles set off detectors.

Coverage from the Sydney Morning Herald:

• Slideshow: Sydney enveloped in red dust
• Sydney turns red: dust storm blankets city
• Health warning as dust blankets Sydney
• Sydney dust blanket spreads across NSW
• Passenger chaos as dust chokes Sydney Airport

Today's forecast for Sydney:
"Strong to gale force west to northwest winds, gradually easing late afternoon or evening. Raised dust clearing, otherwise fine. Cloudy periods."

Image (click to enlarge): Sydney Opera House enveloped in dust, from Sydney Morning Herald

Video: Obama Speaks to UN on Climate

President Obama's speech to the UN climate change summit this morning as broadcast on CNBC (transcript here):



Note to CWG/WaPo: No mention of the word "science".

Federal Appeals Court Rules Global Warming A Public Nuisance

The Warming Law blog reports that the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York yesterday issued a ruling that greenhouse gas emissions by 6 power companies are a public nuisance. The companies had been sued in 2004 by 8 states, the City of New York, and several environmental organizations. The suit (State of Connecticut, et al. v. American Electric Power Company Inc., et al.) had previously been dismissed by the District Court on the basis that it was about a political question. The Circuit Court reversed that position and sent the case back for further litigation. Warming Law plans to provide further analysis, but its initial reaction is:

First, this opinion is pretty stunning, coming as it does from two Bush appointees to the Second Circuit, both in terms of the power of its recognition that global warming is a crisis and in its insistence that courts can play a role, through the use of nuisance law, in addressing the crisis. Following on the heels of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Mass v. EPA and coming at a time when EPA is moving steadily forward in using its Clean Air Act regulatory authority to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it is a powerful reminder to politicians in Washington that the train has left the station in terms of efforts to address global warming, and if Congress wants to lead this effort, and make sure we have a comprehensive and market-based solution, it better act soon.

Other reports:

• ABA Journal, 2nd Circuit Reinstates Global Warming Suits Against Power Companies
• NY Times, States Can Sue Utilities Over Emissions
• Reuters, U.S. court reinstates emissions suit vs. utilities
• AP, Pollution lawsuit against power companies revived
• AP (via Forbes.com), Fed appeals court revives pollution lawsuit
• Dow Jones (via The Australian), US appeals court reinstates global warming lawsuits
• WaPo, MIA