Climate Hot, Hot, Hots
Usually, my articles of shorts are called Shorts, but not this record hot July. This month is the hottest month EVER worldwide! The last hottest month was in July, 2017. Today, it will be 99º F in Sacramento, on the last day of our vacation here. This weekend, it will be 105º and 106º here.
In the Miracle category, four leading automakers have made a deal with California to almost meet the Obama standard of 52.5 mpg by 2025. The new deal will reach 51 mpg by 2026. The proposed Trump freeze would have settled at only 37 mpg, and stopped states from setting their own standards. The four automakers so far are Ford, Honda, Volkswagen Group of America, and BMW of North America, which together make up 30% of the US market. Other automakers are expected to join. Thirteen other states also follow the California standards. This is from a NY Times article by Coral Davenport and Hiroko Tabuchi. Oddly, when this was worked out yesterday, I was touring the Sacramento Auto Museum, and finding out that the enormous old cars got about 10 mpg. They also had a display of European mini-cars. Earlier in the day we toured the Rail Museum.
Yesterday, Paris reached its highest temperature ever, of 108.6º F (42.6º C). This broke the old record set in 1947. (“Ah yes, I remember it well”, from the film Gigi, which I ushered on Hollywood Blvd. in high school.) In the Netherlands it exceeded 104º F, and in Germany it hit 106.7º F, and Brussels 105º F. Cambridge, England, had 100.5 ºF. The hottest summers in Europe have all come in the last 17 years. This is from a NY Times article by Iliana Magra and Constant Méheut.
