Currently — July 21st, 2022

July 20, 2022

The weather, currently.

A continent-scale intense heat wave will continue building eastward in the US on Thursday, as heat index temperatures from California to New England surpass 100 deg F (38 deg C).

This multi-day heatwave comes on what is typically one of the hottest periods of the year in the US. Still, high temperatures of 98 deg F, like what’s forecast for the Boston area over the next few days, are about 15 deg warmer than normal.

Meanwhile, temperatures in Oklahoma reached as high as 115 deg F (46.1 deg C) this week, as dozens of cities there set new all-time records. A “flash drought” — a rapid-onset severe drying caused by extreme temperatures — has begun to materialize in the southern plains. According to the US Drought Monitor, “the rapidly developing situation, without relief from the heat or precipitation, will continue to intensify rapidly.”

In California, wildfire risks continue to increase as the state’s mountain snowpack has hit zero percent of normal about a month earlier than in recent history.

What you need to know, currently.

Today we republished a story from Grist on how humor may be able to help communicate the seriousness of climate change.

"I recently attended a comedy show at a small club in Brooklyn," writes Claire Elise Thompson. "The final performer asked the crowd to toss out a topic for his closing joke. I enthusiastically shouted, 'Climate change!' — which he promptly shot down: 'No one wants to hear jokes about climate change, it isn’t funny.'"

"He had a point. The climate crisis, its deadly impacts, and the chronic injustices that underpin it aren’t inherently chortle-worthy. But for some, that’s exactly why comedy can be a powerful tool in how we deal with it."