Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Heat dome causing record breaking heat wave

severe-weather.eu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 304 posts

Re: Heat dome causing record breaking heat wave

#21

Post by shoto_io »

kiloreux wrote: post #6

The affects of this on third world country are even worse. Here in Algeria we are having the worst drought in over 20 years. What I fear, is that if this continues to happen, people could literally start dying from thirst again. I wonder how good is desalination of sea water technology and if we could see some startups that explore this field, certainly a lot of people's lives to be changed.

I totally agree. Just note that heat (higher than average temperatures) doesn’t necessarily translates into drought (the absence of precipitation).

Re: Heat dome causing record breaking heat wave

#22

Post by ttul »

buildbot wrote: post #14

It was very bad in Seattle, most building AC systems couldn't even keep up with the load. Lots of wildlife certainly died, there were so many heartbreaking posts about finding dead cats and birds.

Same in Vancouver. The hotel I stayed at couldn’t get the room to go below 25C - about 80F. Extremely uncomfortable, albeit better than 95F outdoors.

Re: Heat dome causing record breaking heat wave

#23

Post by riffic »

Lammy wrote: post #11

Maybe it's time to start talking about ways humanity can geo-engineer our way out of this instead of just sitting here waiting to suffer. The US Air Force has been interested in this topic for decades, but there's no way to know how viable any of that research actually is. Some of the speculative documents I've read propose using carbon black dust as a way to artificially reflect heat, like https://web.archive.org/we…

One of the more compelling geoengineering strategies I've seen discussed has been Olivine weathering:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivine

Re: Heat dome causing record breaking heat wave

#24

Post by derethanhausen »

rad_gruchalski wrote: post #10
blondie9x wrote: post #3

To some seeing records such as these fall is heartbreaking. It’s agonizing and vexing when you wonder what can you do to help slow down climate change? The reality is we aren’t doing nearly enough to slow it down and the Earth is gradually destabilizing. We see insane cold snaps such as those that impacted Texas this winter, and at the opposite end of the spectrum heat waves unlike anything humans have ever experienc…

Let’s not forget about big rocks falling from the sky, volcanoes and the Sun killing this planet inevitably in about 1b years from now. There better be a planet B at some point.

Even an Earth ravaged by big rocks and volcanoes would be much more survivable than Mars in its current state.

Re: Heat dome causing record breaking heat wave

#25

Post by 908B64B197 »

kiloreux wrote: post #6

The affects of this on third world country are even worse. Here in Algeria we are having the worst drought in over 20 years. What I fear, is that if this continues to happen, people could literally start dying from thirst again. I wonder how good is desalination of sea water technology and if we could see some startups that explore this field, certainly a lot of people's lives to be changed.

Again? Didn't the Romans build aqueduct there 2000 years ago?

Re: Heat dome causing record breaking heat wave

#26

Post by jimmytucson »

I feel like extreme weather is right up there with super moons and other astronomical events when it comes to generating headlines, so I did a time constrained Google search for "heat dome" and here's what turned up:

2020-07-10 - "How a ‘Heat Dome’ Forms—and Why This One Is So Perilous (A massive, intense heat wave is settling over the continental US. The ravages of the Covid pandemic are going to make it all the more deadly.)"

https://www.wired.com/story/how-a-heat-dome-forms/

2019-07-29 - "What exactly are heat domes and why are they so long-lasting and miserable? (Since late June, bouts of extreme heat have scorched both the United States and Europe. To blame are large, stagnant zones of high pressure known as heat domes.)"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/07/29/what-exact...

2018-07-29 - "Scorching, long-duration heat wave to roast much of U.S."

https://www.axios.com/scorching-heat-wave-hits-us-millions-a...

2017-07-22 - "Meteorologists keep mentioning the 'heat dome' - What is it?"

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/What-s-a-heat-dome-11240...

2016-07-22 - "'Heat Dome' Causing Excessive Temperatures In Much Of U.S."

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/07/22/487031278...

I don't mean to make light of important meteorological events, especially as they relate to climate change, but can anybody with better knowledge tell me if this is a significant incident, or just another "super blood worm moon to appear larger than it has since 1944"?

Re: Heat dome causing record breaking heat wave

#27

Post by pphysch »

Taek wrote: post #8
blondie9x wrote: post #3

To some seeing records such as these fall is heartbreaking. It’s agonizing and vexing when you wonder what can you do to help slow down climate change? The reality is we aren’t doing nearly enough to slow it down and the Earth is gradually destabilizing. We see insane cold snaps such as those that impacted Texas this winter, and at the opposite end of the spectrum heat waves unlike anything humans have ever experienc…

As an individual, there isn't really anything you can do. Going vegetarian doesn't help. Recycling doesn't help. Using your shower for 5 minutes doesn't help. As a society, we've chosen to manage resources via capitalism. If you use less water, what that means is water is cheaper so some corporation can afford another few acres of almond trees. If consumers cut their waste in half, the slack would be picked up at the…

I agree with you but as it stands the dominant ideology of the USA-led "international rule-based order" is Liberalism (i.e. the individual is the authority). Until there is an ideological revolution in the West, this is "just how it is".

Every scientifically-correct, readily-implementable strategy to address this crisis will be killed at some point for infringing on sacred "individual liberties". Look at Biden currently doing huge damage to the international solar industry as a byproduct of Washington's floundering ideological crusade against "authoritarianism" [1].

[1] - https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3139062/u...

Re: Heat dome causing record breaking heat wave

#28

Post by 6f8986c3 »

jeffbee wrote: post #15
andrei_says_ wrote: post #4

Maybe it’s time to signal political leaders that climate collapse is an urgent issue.

Perhaps in the same way the civil engineers signal to south Florida condo boards that their buildings are about to collapse? It's the same problem, really. Collective action by a political body controlled by older people who are trying to just hold on to their wealth until they die is impossible. We need new political structures to write down the capital loss on all the junk we built in the 20th century that has no p…

Environmentalists fought against nuclear power for 70 years. The result? We burned coal.

So I’m not interested. You wanted the world to burn. So let it burn.

Re: Heat dome causing record breaking heat wave

#29

Post by rad_gruchalski »

derethanhausen wrote: post #24
rad_gruchalski wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let’s not forget about big rocks falling from the sky, volcanoes and the Sun killing this planet inevitably in about 1b years from now. There better be a planet B at some point.

Even an Earth ravaged by big rocks and volcanoes would be much more survivable than Mars in its current state.

Definitely. Can’t disagree with that. But at some point we will be on a lookout, if we are still here...

Re: Heat dome causing record breaking heat wave

#30

Post by neaanopri »

Taek wrote: post #18
kiloreux wrote: post #6

The affects of this on third world country are even worse. Here in Algeria we are having the worst drought in over 20 years. What I fear, is that if this continues to happen, people could literally start dying from thirst again. I wonder how good is desalination of sea water technology and if we could see some startups that explore this field, certainly a lot of people's lives to be changed.

I'm not celebrating people dying of thirst, but I also think that's the only thing that will get the world properly focused on the issue. We need to make big structural changes to the global economy to fight climate change, and those changes are going to have an outsized negative impact on today's wealthiest and most powerful people. They aren't going to let change happen without a fight. People dying is what it's go…

People dying in Algeria won't realistically get the US, French, or Chinese governments to significantly cut fossil fuels supplied to their citizens.
Post reply on HN