Had that one filed away in my mind because I once watched a documentary about Scott Juarek (a runner popular for being able to manage such feats) where the runners explained that they had to run on the white paint on the road so the soles of their shoes wouldn't melt. Humans are crazy (and I'd love see how far I could go in such heat myself :D).
Come on, boys! The way you're lollygaggin' around here with them picks and them shovels, you'd think it was a hundert an' forty degrees...! Can't be more than a hundert an' thirty five!
Of course it's difficult. Having a FUPA is living life on hard mode. I wonder if government jobs would ever consider offering a mumu option for their uniforms.
The hottest air temperature ever recorded in Death Valley (Furnace Creek) was 134°F (57°C) on July 10, 1913. During the heat wave that peaked with that record, five consecutive days reached 129° F (54°C) or above.
I think the dinosaur moment would be more of a global phenomenon, e.g., rising ocean temperature. My understanding is that Death Valley is obscenely hot with or without humans. The rising ocean temperature and melting ice caps, on the other hand...🦖🌎💥
Yeah, global warming was kind of a bad name for it. Because yes, it will get warmer globally on average, but also colder, drier and wetter at certain places. Northern Europe might get a lot colder when the Gulf Stream is gone for example.
The term "global warming" first appeared in print in a scientific journal article authored by an American geochemist in 1975. I think the mistake isn't the naming, as it's an accurate name that succinctly describes the issue. I think the mistake was not realizing how profoundly science illiterate the American public was at the time and still continues to be.
I'm not questioning the sad state of scientific literacy, then or now, but it really wouldn't have been all that difficult for the news media to properly explain the issue.
I graduated high school the year before that article was published.
While in high school, I wrote reports on the "greenhouse effect". I later found myself helping my parents and others grasp the actual effects of "global warming." Poles heating faster than the tropics. Shifting weather patterns that would cause some regions to at least temporarily see a period of cooling, etc.
If I could do it, getting it right was certainly within the capabilities of university trained journalists.
When I first heard about it in school in the 90s, the preferred term seemed to be "global greenhouse effect", which still implies warming but better describes the underlying physical principle.
But now we should really call it "global climate catastrophe" or "global climate extinction event" to communicate how dire the situation is.
This will look great in my unusual-but-highly-descriptive metaphor collection next to "yes, you fart in your sleep, and it is not subtle at all. You sound like a saxophone full of Doritos"
I was there 16 years ago and I remember it said 43 degrees (Celsius)
(I remember because my ex at the time said it was too hot for her, but I loved it. But of course I had to leave)
