"Baked Alaska"

[Os Cangaceiros]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/baked-alaska-unusual-heat-wave-hits-49th-state-19433488#.UcS8UHHTnos

Shit's crazy, we've actually been having weeklong periods of solid sunshine! I've read temps of 80 degrees where I live, it never gets that hot here!

[Sky Hedgehogian Maestro]

I've never been to Alaska, so I can only immediately jump to "Global Warming."

[Os Cangaceiros]

It was only about a year or so ago that we had one of the coldest winters on record, though...last year in interior Alaska it dropped to around -65 degrees at it's lowest, maybe even a few degrees lower than that. So it probably has something to do with climate change but generally the weather up here hasn't been getting noticeably warmer, this is just a weird year.

[RedAnarchist]

80 degrees is about 26C, so that's boiling hot! The average for June around here in my part of England is 57F, or 14C, which is still pretty warm.

[Skyhilist]

It was only about a year or so ago that we had one of the coldest winters on record, though...last year in interior Alaska it dropped to around -65 degrees at it's lowest, maybe even a few degrees lower than that. So it probably has something to do with climate change but generally the weather up here hasn't been getting noticeably warmer, this is just a weird year.

Well global warming generally deals with average anomalies so it doesn't mean it's statistically impossible to have a cold winter, just as time goes on you'll be more likely to have insanely hot weather like this and less likely to have colder than average winters. And of course it's not a uniform thing, so in some areas, climate change (as it seems you're aware of) can even lead to colder temperatures than average.

Anyways, I'd say it's likely that it's at least intensified by global warming.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Well I don't really like the phrase "global warming", that's why I used "climate change"...I think it's a better descriptive term for the phenomena that includes things like cold snaps etc

[bcbm]

80 degrees is about 26C, so that's boiling hot!

80 boiling hot? you clearly haven't been anywhere that gets actually hot


The average for June around here in my part of England is 57F, or 14C, which is still pretty warm.

thats like light jacket or sweater weather, that is not very warm at all. thats quite nice weather in fact.

[Flying Purple People Eater]

26 celsius is not hot! In the summer here it nearly reaches 50!

At first I thought the thread was about the food. That's incredibly interesting (worrying?) though.

[Bostana]

http://cdn.meme.li/instances/300x300/38999902.jpg

[Rocky Rococo]

Central Alaska does have a very continental climate, so extremes of temperature are to be expected. It's just that in Alaska, those extremes tend to be of the low sort.

I have read recently that Arctic methane deposits are starting to "boil", which will rapidly inject large-scale amounts of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.

[Brandon's Impotent Rage]

I live in Georgia. 80F is on the low-end for summer weather. The average here is like 92F or higher.

'Course, the trade off is that we also get really screwy weather. Sunshine and pouring rain anyone?

[Skyhilist]

Well I don't really like the phrase "global warming", that's why I used "climate change"...I think it's a better descriptive term for the phenomena that includes things like cold snaps etc

Well yes, "global warming" and "climate change" (the anthropogenic type at least) are terms used to describe the same thing. Global warming isn't really considered a type of (anthropogenic) climate change, as much as it is climate change. Global warming doesn't say that it will get warmer everywhere at the same time in a uniform manner, but rather that the the global temperature anomaly (from what would be expected with no anthropogenic climate change) will tend to increase over time, while extreme weather, both hotter than the average and at some times and places even colder than the average (although the this is more unusual) should also be expected to occur more frequently in the long run.