Summer Solstice

Largeflower Rose Gentian (Sabatia grandiflora)

spreading in our dry lake

The summer solstice is upon us in the northern hemisphere. For many of us who live in the subtropics or tropics of Florida this is a welcome date because we know its downhill to cooler weather, though if past years are any indication of what will occur this year it will likely be mid-November before we feel our first cool air of Fall. Still, November is only 3 months distant.

Florida Narrow-leaved Sunflower (Helianthus angustifolius)

also likes the dry lake bed

Monster Heat Wave

for First Day of Summer

Father's Day will likely be the hottest in memory for many in the West as dangerous heat continues to build from Southern California through Texas. The core of the heat will migrate slowly westward and will take root in the Southwestern states, where the most extreme temperatures are likely and could rival levels rarely felt over the past 100 years.

Blood Lily (Scadoxus multiflorus)

only blooms when the ground is saturated

The heat will be so intense that roads may buckle and tires could blowout if traveling at maximum speeds. You'll also notice a lot of those "do not use the AC" signs across the southwest. Pay attention to those signs to avoid overheating while driving through the steepest inclines.

Earth's Heat Extends Unprecedented Streak of Shattered Records

American Beauty Berry (Callicarpa americana)

has started to bloom. These will add great

purple colors to the woods in fall.

How Hot Will it Get?

The most severe heat wave so far this year is bearing down on the West. In Southern California places will see temperatures in excess of 120°F. As the heat builds over the Father's Day weekend it will peak on the first day of summer with temperatures around 100° in Los Angeles, 110° in San Bernadino, and 121° in Palm Springs. Further east the forecast is for 119° on Monday, June 20, 2016 while the high temperature is forecast to reach 111° on Tuesday in Las Vegas.

The blistering heat is the result of an upper-level ridge of high pressure that is building slowly over the Southwest USA.

The Moth Orchids (Phalaenopsis) have started

to bloom as humidities rise in mid-summer

Warmest May on Record

The warming influence of the intense 2015 - 2016 El Niño event is waning, but May 2016 was still the planet's warmest May since record keeping began in 1880, said NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) on Thursday. In the NOAA database, May 2016 came in 0.87°C (1.57°F) warmer than the 20th-century average for May, beating the previous record for May, set in 2015, by 0.02°C. This is the smallest margin the monthly global temperature has broken a record by since August 2015. NASA also reported the warmest May in its database, although the Japan Meteorological Agency placed May 2016 slightly (0.01°C) behind May 2015. May 2016 marked the 13th consecutive month that the global monthly temperature record was broken—the longest such streak since global temperature records began in 1880. Global ocean temperatures were the warmest on record for any May, but global land temperatures were the third warmest. Global satellite-measured temperatures in May 2016 for the lowest 8 km of the atmosphere were the 2nd warmest for any May in the 38-year record, and the year-to-date period was the warmest on record, according to the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH).

Rosy Camphorweed (Pluchea rosea)

spreads across drier sections of our 700 acre lake bed

3rd Consecutive

Warmest Year on Earth

The impressive global warmth in recent months is due to the steady build-up of heat-trapping greenhouse gases due to human activities, plus a spike due to a large amount of heat being released from waters in the Eastern Pacific due to the powerful 2015-16 El Niño event. This event peaked in December, and has NOAA’s global surface temperature for the year so far(January-May 2016) is a remarkable 0.24°C (0.43°F) warmer than the previous record, set in 2015. Last month, NASA/GISS director Gavin Schmidt reported 99% odds on this yearbecoming the warmest in global records, which would make it Earth's third consecutive warmest year on record.

Why Do Planes Have Trouble Flying in Extreme Heat?

This week's building heat wave in the West coincides with the summer solstice. It could give the great heat wave of June 1990 a run for its money in some areas. On June 26, 1990, Los Angeles set an all-time June record of 112°F, while Tucson and Phoenix set all-time highs for any date with almost-unfathomable readings of 117° F and 122° F, respectively.

Temperatures in this range can make air travel difficult, since the near-ground atmosphere becomes so thin that some types of aircraft cannot obtain sufficient lift to take off. Extreme heat can also damage the internal components of some aircraft. Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport halted all takeoffs as a precaution during the all-time record heat of June 1990. Urban legend has it that the closure was due to the tarmac melting, but an airport spokesperson confirmed to KJZZ radio last year that it was uncertainty about aircraft performance at that temperature that actually led to the closure. More recently, on June 29, 2013, 18 US Airways flights were cancelled because the regional aircraft involved had been certified for takeoff in temperatures of no more than 118° F, according to the UK Telegraph. Temperatures on that day hit 119°F in Phoenix, the city’s third-highest reading on record.

Golden Shower Tree (Cassia fistula)

in full bloom

Hot Times at the Poles and Everywhere Between

Global temperatures continue to run at a near-record pace as we transition from the recently deceased El Niño toward a potential La Niña. We’ll have a full report on May’s global climate with the release of NOAA’s monthly summary later this week, including another bumper crop of all-time local heat records. Two of the most striking heat reports in the last several weeks have come from opposite ends of the globe.

On May 27, the daily low temperature at Esperanza Base, on the outer end of the Antarctic Peninsula, was 8.8°C (47.8°F). This was the warmest daily low on record anywhere in Antarctica, including the Antarctic Peninsula, King George Island, and other islands lying below the 60°S latitude that are considered part of the continent by the Antarctic Treaty. This temperature smashed previous daily lows by an amazing margin.

Common Guava Bloom (Psidium guajava)

A few days after the mild night at Esperanza, a major burst of early-season warmth swept across southwest Greenland. According to the Dutch meteorological agency DMI, temperatures at the Nuuk airport hit 24.8°C (76.6°F) on Friday, June 9. This was the warmest reading ever observed in Greenland for the month of June, easily topping the 23.3°C (73.9°F) set on June 15, 2014, in Kangerlussuaq, about 200 miles north of Nuuk. Downslope winds blowing offshore from the mountains of southwest Greenland helped warm the atmosphere in the Nuuk area (the same process that drives foehn and chinook warming). Nuuk’s record high resulted from this downslope warming on top of already-unusual mildness throughout the depth of the atmosphere over much of Greenland. This extreme early-June warmth led to the third noteworthy spike of the year in surface melting atop Greenland’s ice sheet, following major melt events in April and May.

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Illustration by Selman Design, Photographys by The New York Times

The Republican's Big Hot Mess

What a total, utter freak show the Republican National Convention promises to be, and not in the manner that Republicans feared just months ago when they thought there would be a Cruz v. Trump battle for delegates. Now they're looking at four excruciating days that will be light on appropriate speakers, short on cash and long on God[-knos-what other than the music of Trump's voice and the shimmer of Trump's hair.