July 2019 hottest month on record

I promised "the latest on the climate" today as I wrote that "July 2019 [was] the the hottest month on record."  CBS News helps me deliver on that promise, as it reported July was Earth's hottest month on record last Thursday.

July 2019 is now officially the hottest month on record. The average global temperature last month was 1.71 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday. CBSN contributing meteorologist Jeff Berardelli explains.

One of the contributing factors Jeff Berardelli cited for the record was the record heat wave in Europe.  He also mentioned record heat in Greenland and Alaska.  I haven't written about either until now, but the resulting record melting of the ice sheet is an event I need to cover here.  Also, my wife and I have a friend in Alaska who has been telling us about how hot the state has been this summer.  It's been warmer there than in here in Detroit, which fits Berardelli's observation that the U.S. Midwest has been either average or cooler than average this summer.  It's one of the ironies that one of the countries most responsible for greenhouse gases is feeling less of their effects and therefore not being prompted to act.

I have two things to say before I return to correcting papers.  First, welcome to the 400 ppm world.  Second, are you scared enough by climate change?  My readers should be.