The earth's average temperature has reached a new record
high. Yikes. That means we're seeing the hottest
temperatures the earth has seen in modern times. At
least you're right out to meteorologist Scott with us
for more on what's driving up these temperatures a
when they could come back down Scottie. Yes, Jay, this
is just unprecedented. I mean, look at that thing that
should not look like this not only setting one new
record but setting three new records in four days. And
unfortunately, there's just no sign that this is going
to stop. I want to show you the trend lines on the
earth's temperature since 19 1979. The chart there you
can see behind me, this displays the average air
temperature 2 m above the planet's surface. Well, tha
dark black line up there that is this year and you can
see it started way back there peaking actually abo
everything else at the beginning of the year, but
really took off July 1st right there and you can see
it's still climbing. Monday was the first new record
record Tuesday, the fourth of July climbed even higher.
Wednesday tied Tuesday. But then on Thursday we jumped
again. The new global average temperature 63.01 F.I
want to show you why this is happening. We've got th
excessive build up of heat all around the equator. Yes,
it is summer and yes, the equator is normally hot. Bu
look at how far these high temperatures reach up into
the mid and upper latitudes of the planet. We're
talking Siberia is getting temperatures in the nineties
right now and we've had weeks of nonstop heat waves
across the southern us, across Africa, across Asia. And
June was the hottest on record and all of that heat
just build up in the earth's systems. Most of it
getting stored right here in the oceans. Look at those
water levels and the sea, sea surface temperatures i
June were the hottest on record. Now, because of that,
this year's hurricane forecast has actually just been
upgraded to above average. So we're going to have more
storms than we thought. And the oceans, they help
regulate the air temperatures. But when they're this
hot, there's just nothing they can do. And that heat in
the water is warming the land, take a look, higher
temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico over here causing
Florida now to have its highest year in recorded
history. The temperatures there are about 3 to 5
degrees higher than normal and the heat records we are
setting are not because it's summer. We're seeing this,
you guys because of the earth storing that heat because
of human caused climate change. And El Nino in July,
you guys, here we go. July is going to be the hottest
month of the year in the US followed by August. So
we're going to see a lot more of these records
throughout the summer. Great, thanks for bringing us
such great news, Scottie. Just when I woke up and saw
this this morning, shocked your sunscreen. Yeah, you
can't not right. All right. Joining us now to discuss
what this means for Earth is Pam Knox, director of the
University of Georgia Weather Network, as well as an
agricultural climatologist. Tha for joining us. So
when we hear the record heat is 69.2 F, it sounds like
a pretty pleasant temperature, especially, you kn
with the heat in Georgia right now. But why should we
be concerned by that temp Well, keep in mind that it's
not just the temperature at one location, but that's
the average over the whole planet. So we, we're talking
about temperatures that range from about zero degrees
to almost 100 and 40. In some cases, 100 and 40 would
be a new record. But still, it's a huge range and very
little of that land is right at the average. And so
people are experiencing really warm temperatures in
many places and unusually warm. As, as your
meteorologist pointed out Siberia, the other place
that's been really unusually warm is Antarctica where
they're having a lot of uh problems with melting the
ocean around Antarctica is unusually warm. You know,
it's usually pretty cold this time of year, but it's a
lot warmer than we expect. And that is all contributing
to this global warmth. And so it's not just that one
place, but the fact is that it's covering such a large
area, the whole and a is really concerning. Yeah. Hey
Pam, you pointed out in Antarctica and we just found
out also that that has right now the lowest sea level
ice in history as well because of these, these heat
temperatures, I said July is going to be the hottest
here in the US as we move forward. What does all thi
heat that's built up in the system mean in July, August
September when we're looking at storms, but also just
our day to day life. Well, you know, it's usually th
hottest time of the year for the northern hemisphere at
least is July. And so we could expect that the ocean
temperatures are going to continue to remain warm. And
as you mentioned, I mean, yesterday, they put out a new
forecast for the hurricanes and now they're thinking
the hurricane season in the, in the, um, Atlantic is
likely to have more storms than usual. We've alread
seen a couple which is really unusual for this time of
year. And so, um, that is certainly going to affect th
development of storms it's, it's competing with El Nino,
which tends to inhibit the storms a little bit because
there's, there's strong winds aloft. But if you have
enough warm water, then that's gonna certainly affect
things. And of course, all that warm water puts off a
lot of water vapor too. So, things are likely to be
quite humid this year and that's really uncomfortable
for a lot of people. Now, summer is just starting.
Scottie is warning us things are probably going to get
worse in terms in terms of heat records. Are we going
to see more of them broken It would not surprise me at
all. I mean, we, we're still a month away from really
when the hottest time of the year is in the northern
hemisphere. And so likely we're gonna see some, I think
there's some signs of relief. We've seen some uh
Saharan dust coming off of Africa now and that does
tend to cool off the Atlantic Ocean a little bit. So
that's good news and that it will help to keep the
temperatures down a little bit, but that's just one
small part of the world as a whole. And so I think
these warm temperatures are likely to occur, especially
because we're in El Nino and that means that there's a
huge pool of warmer than normal air and water in the
Eastern Pacific Ocean and that can affect the climate
around the world. And so long term, how should we
mentally and physically prepare for these increased
temperatures. What should we expect on our bodies and
our lifestyle, we're gonna have to get used to dealing
with warmer temperatures. It's not gonna be all the
time. It's not gonna be every season, but we're in this
creep upward and it's not gonna go away because a lot
of the impacts we're seeing now, um, are caused by
greenhouse gasses that were put into the atmosphere 30
years ago. And so what, whatever we're putting in now
is just gonna make things worse. So the number one
thing we need to do is reduce, putting out more
greenhouse gasses and that will hopefully slow the, the
warming that we're seeing. But in the meantime, you
know, people have to learn how to adapt to that. That
means we're probably gonna see more air conditioning,
but of course, it takes energy to run air conditioning.
And so we have to figure out how to deal with that like
a ripple effect. Pam Knox, agricultural climatol
for the University of Georgia. Thanks so much for
coming on and talking about this pleasure.