- Ten-Degrees-Above-Normal-I.mp3
- Ten-Degrees-Above-Normal-I.mp4
- Ten-Degrees-Above-Normal-II.mp3
- Ten-Degrees-Above-Normal-II.mp4
It’s going to be a hot one
And we ain’t done
[Verse 1]
Jeez,
Today is ten degrees
Above normal
Hard to keep pace
With the human race
[Chorus]
Rapidly rising rate
Acceleration
Rapidly declining fate
Deterioration
[Instrumental, Guitar Solo, Drum Fills]
[Verse 2]
Does the temperature rise
Surprise?
Arise!
Hard to keep pace
With the human race
[Chorus]
Rapidly rising rate
Acceleration
Rapidly declining fate
Deterioration
[Instrumental, Saxophone Solo, Bass]
[Bridge]
Normal no more
Woe, no more normal
At all
Increases day-by-day
what else can I say?
Pray?
Won’t help
Cry? Why?
No yelp will help
[Chorus]
Rapidly rising rate
Acceleration
Rapidly declining fate
Deterioration
[Instrumental, Guitar Solo, Drum Fills]
[Outro]
Normal no more
Woe, no more normal
At all
A SCIENCE NOTE
Some areas of the world are now warming so rapidly that it is becoming increasingly challenging to measure changes against historical “normal” or average temperatures. Jeff Boyne, a National Weather Service meteorologist and climatologist, explains, “There are climate normals that are updated every 10 to 15 years, because the planet is warming so fast. The ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) regions are warming so fast that those normals are being updated every 5 years.”
The unprecedented rate of global warming is challenging the traditional methods of measuring and using climate normals. To keep pace with these changes, we must adapt our monitoring, forecasting, and planning approaches, ensuring that they are as dynamic as the climate itself.
How fast are humans causing the climate to change? When we started our experiments in the 1990’s, we thought the time scale was in millenniums. If climate change were happening on a linear basis, we would have been correct; however, by the late 90’s we were convinced climate change was non-linear.
Doubling time refers to the duration needed for a quantity to double in size, a characteristic of exponential growth. By 2020, substantial data revealed that the doubling time for certain anthropogenic climate impacts had decreased significantly, shifting from 100 years to merely 10 years. For instance, the rate of sea level rise has surged from approximately 1.5 millimeters per year to over 3 millimeters. This trend suggests that the doubling period is likely to further contract, heightening the prospect of sea levels ascending at a rate of one foot per year by 2050.
Tipping points are Critical Milestones that directly impact the rate of acceleration in climate change by multiplying the number and intensity of feedback loops. Identifying and understanding these tipping points is crucial for climate science and policymaking. Crossing multiple tipping points could lead to a domino effect, resulting in a much more rapid and severe climate change than currently projected.