We've just finished the hottest three months of the year in Vermont, and it's safe to say that this was a hotter-than-usual summer.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center, the average temperature in Vermont between December 2009 and July 2010 was 45.2°F. The August figures aren't yet available, but considering how warm August was, that average will surely rise.
The previous record highs for yearly average temperature were 44.9°F in 1949, 44.5°F in 1953 and 1998 and 44.1°F in 2006.
And Windham County has had what the climate center calls “abnormally dry” weather, or the lowest level of its five-stage drought intensity monitor.
While the dry and warm weather has been good for farmers and gardeners, and has helped all the various road construction projects around Windham County go much more smoothly, there is still reason for concern.
This summer, we've seen 100 degree days in Moscow, a place that usually see high temperatures in the 70s. The brutal heat wave in Russia during July and August has killed more than 15,000 people.
Besides Russia, eight other nations have set their all-time temperature records in 2010, including Niger (118°F), Sudan (121°F), Saudi Arabia and Iraq (both at 126°F), and Pakistan (130°F).
Torrential rains have caused massive flooding and landslides in Pakistan which have claimed the lives of nearly 2,000 people and left 20 million homeless. China has seen similar weather with similarly deadly results. And a chunk of Greenland's ice shelf estimated to be four times the size of Manhattan has tumbled into the ocean.
Jeff Masters, co-founder and director of meteorology at Weather Underground, the Internet weather data service, recently wrote that “Earth has now seen four consecutive months with its warmest temperature on record, and the first half of 2010 was the warmest such six-month period in the planet's history.”
“It is not a surprise that many all-time extreme heat records are being shattered when the planet as a whole is so warm,” he added. “Global warming 'loads the dice' to favor extreme heat events unprecedented in recorded history.”
The National Wildlife Federation recently released a report that warns this summer's hot weather may become the norm by the middle of this century if greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming, such as carbon dioxide, are not brought under control.
According to a study last year by NOAA, we're on track to see a 9- to 11-degree rise in average temperatures over much of the United States by the end of this century, based on our current emissions path.
What does that mean for our region?
New England could face warmer winters and the possible end of not only maple sugaring, but skiing, snowmobiling, and ice fishing. The prime area for maple production could shift northward into Quebec, and New England's winter tourism industry would be devastated.
If nothing is done, it won't be long before we're living in a very different Vermont:
• Hotter summers with more 90-degree days.
• Heavier rainstorms with more flash flooding and the crop and property damage that goes with it.
• Warmer winters with more sleet and freezing rain and less snow.
• The bright colors of autumn's foliage season gone as maples die from the stress of pollution, insects and warmer temperatures.
Conservatives still try to wish away the mounting evidence that the Earth's climate is changing. The leaders of the industrialized world continue to balk at pursuing aggressive, strict and legally binding limits on greenhouse gases. And the international community, tasked with providing aid to victims of extreme weather, is stretched to the limit.
But it is clear, as global warming continues unchecked, the incidents of extreme weather we've seen in New England and around the globe in recent years will keep growing in number and intensity.
If the experts are right, our planet is in big trouble.