Hot Pockets

If you ever want to experience the heat and humidity of Greenwich Village August, just head to the lower level of the West 4th Street subway station in October. The heat is still there. And it turns out that, along with all other weather conditions, climate change is making the underground situation more threatening. NYT (Gift Article): Heat Down Below Is Making the Ground Shift Under Chicago. “Rising underground temperatures lead to warmer subway tunnels, which can cause overheated tracks and steam-bath conditions for commuters. And, over time, they cause tiny shifts in the ground beneath buildings, which can induce structural strain, whose effects aren’t noticeable for a long time until suddenly they are.”

+ “Catastrophic floods in the Hudson Valley. An unrelenting heat dome over Phoenix. Ocean temperatures hitting 90 degrees Fahrenheit off the coast of Miami. A surprising deluge in Vermont, a rare tornado in Delaware. A decade ago, any one of these events would have been seen as an aberration. This week, they are happening simultaneously … In 1980, the average time between billion-dollar disasters was 82 days. From 2018-22, the average time between these most extreme events, even controlled for inflation, was just 18 days.” NYT (Gift Article): Climate Disasters Daily? Welcome to the ‘New Normal.’

+ WaPo: “That heat dome has made coastal waters extremely warm, including ‘downright shocking’ temperatures of 92 to 96 degrees in the Florida Keys.” It’s almost like a hot tub and hurricane season is about to turn on the jets.