Daniel SwainMar 13
All signs continue to point to an exceptional, long-duration, and record-breaking to (in some cases) record-shattering March heatwave initially centered across U.S. Southwest but expanding to much broader region next week. This is effectively a full-on summer heatwave in March.
Show threadDaniel SwainMar 13
The broader points I emphasized earlier this week during my (recorded) livestream are all still relevant. All-time March heat records will be smashed and mountain snowpack will be decimated, with implications for long-term wildfire risk & water supply. https://www.youtube.com/live/Kww_WjCG-HI
Early signs of historic March heatwave for the Southwestern U.S.? (Not what we need...)

YouTube
Show threadDB SchweinMar 13

@weatherwest

When my weather app is listing "collapse of the ocean current" as trending weather...that's not good.

Show threadrj07thomasMar 13

@deirdrebeth @weatherwest 's funny but I've had a lot of time on my hands recently (eye operation) and have watched The Day After Tomorrow again for the first time in ages. Re-evaluated it and decided it is a caricature. Yes, lots of utterly ridiculous stuff (for starters an all-American hero like Dennis Quaid would never drive a Honda) but I've been looking at AMOC trends and...yeah. Looks like AMOC is weakening, and has been for decades. And one particular drop coincided with the coldest UK December in 100 years, and a 13cm rise in sea levels in New York.

https://www.channel4.com/news/the-key-atlantic-current-that-could-change-europes-climate-forever

The key Atlantic current that could change Europe’s climate forever

Western Europe could face winters as cold as Canada because of the impact of climate change on a key Atlantic current, known as the AMOC, which helps regulate our weather.

Channel 4 News
Show threadDB SchweinMar 13

@rj07thomas @weatherwest

That's one of my go-to disaster movies for that very reason. It skirts the edge of reality.

Quaid may have been all-American, but he was also a scientist, so the better made car works for me 😁

Show threadrj07thomas

@deirdrebeth @weatherwest one of the darkly humorous things I've noticed reading up on the dire (or not) state of the AMOC is people saying "yeah, but in reality this would take decades, not days or weeks.".

If it's been weakening since the 50s (and that's a big if) then that's lots of decades. Almost 10 of them in fact ;-)

Mar 13 at 7:47pmWeb
Show threadDB SchweinMar 13

@rj07thomas @weatherwest

Yes! We're 45 years past the largest push by scientists to get people to understand what was going to happen if we didn't change our ways (there were individuals pushing since at least 1910), and yet I hear people say "but they said it would take generations!". Yes, they did. And we've had 2-3 generations born since then.

Show threadrj07thomasMar 13

@deirdrebeth @weatherwest that news footage I posted really hit me because it's only a month old; this is clearly making scientists more and more uneasy but is relegated below well, almost everything (I only found it because I started following noc.ac.uk on Bluesky).

I've left it far too long to take real notice but this unexpected timeout in my life has woken me up to the realities of what is happening to the AMOC.