There’s one thing that can be said about Tuesday’s high temperature in Albany. It was not as high as it was on one very hot day in June two years ago.
Still, the temptation to say something about the summer heat was too great, so:
As you can see from the reading above, at 3:28 p.m. Tuesday, the thermometer reached a high of about 106 degrees.
Was that a record? Not quite. On June 28, 2021, a different thermometer, also in Albany, topped out at 110, and I’m not sure if that was a record either.
Someone with a long memory sent me an email Tuesday and said she recalled a Democrat-Herald editorial in 2003 in which I had ventured the idea that a little global warming might be a good thing.
So what did I think of climate change now?
What I think is that heat waves in summer are not that unusual. There are examples in the recent history of waves of dangerous heat sweeping the country. Think of the 1930s and ’40s.
Just the other day Oregon Public Broadcasting did a piece on the fires on the north Oregon coast that came to be known as the Tillamook Burn. The fires started in 1933 and were made worse by summers that were very dry and hot.
Besides changes in the cimate, mankind faces all kinds of threats, among them pandemics with undetermined origins, the loss of free speech in the western world and what that means for liberty, and thermonuclear weapons in the hands of unpredictable tyrants willing to start wars.
Not to mention poverty, homelessness, and beggars in the streets of American towns.
Once we deal with threats and solve problems like those, we can see if anything can be done — other than killing our energy economy — to manipulate the climate so as to prevent days with excessive heat. (hh)
Oh my God, Hasso. I’m speechless (and have writer’s block, too) at how right-wing you are! I thought you had come around a little more on that than you have. I read your blog, but I didn’t listen to your recording. I’m afraid to…after reading what you had to say, At least you said the words, “changes in the climate.” but I think you are a climate change denier. That is, you don’t think there is man-made climate change. Again, God!!
Jeez, Cap B, I can see why you hide behind a fake name in public. To call someone a “denier” and equate that derogatory name-calling with “extreme right wing” politics says an awful lot about yourself. I’m not sure if all of you left-wing Democrat haters are also cowards, but you are giving your group a bad look with your words. Or maybe you’re just a harmless troll like most anonymous commenters and your words are just as fake as your name. I’d be embarrassed, too.
The recording was only six minutes and well worth listening to, no matter your politics, if you are interested in Albany or the weather in the Willamette Valley. Or you could take two minutes and prove yourself to be a loud-mouthed phony with an opinion worth keeping to themselves.
Wow, Bob Z! Knock yourself out by spewing hate and insults! Oh, you already have. Sorry. Your diatribe didn’t make enough of an impression on me to register, I guess. Hasso. You are clever with your saying cut out the insults a while back. You knew darn well that would only encourage and increase the insults, and get you more readers!!! Clever man!!
More readers? All you do is make posts that have NOTHING to do with the topic. Don’t flatter yourself. I see why you’re afraid to use your real name when you constantly spew hatred.
Good on you, Cap.
I’m guessing here, but Hasso is probably amongst Albany’s wealthiest people.
And in America the rich are the biggest polluters. According to CNN, the wealthiest 10% are responsible for almost half of the pollution that causes global warming in the U.S.
It’s time for local government intervention. No more massive homes in North Albany. No more big cars. No more golf club memberships.
Albany needs to do what Portland did. Impose a large income tax on its wealthiest folks. Then confiscate most of their wealth. That should cool things down for a while.
You shook the tree. Now all the “global warming” nuts (“chicken littles”) will be falling out.
Sorry, I’ll rely on others for expertise on climate change.
You know, experts like Greta Thunberg, AOC, and Billie Eilish.
A consensus of experts like these can’t be wrong when it comes to science.
Click bait!
Hasso, thank you for ‘taking the heat’! The Panama Hat and Hawaiian shirt is truly your statement of the day!!
Oceans warming, glaciers melting, 40% of the world facing water shortages, animal populations decreasing or becoming extinct. Storms becoming more powerful worldwide……do we need more proof?.
The bottom line is people don’t care if it doesn’t affect them. A little heat, well it’s just the weather. Global Climate that is a different story.
True Katherine! Climate change is real! When is the last time you heard the ocean’s water is so warm it’s ruining the coral? The glaciers are melting. We need to make a change.
Put your politics away and start working together.
Ignorance must be bliss! Human caused pollution, overpopulation, over extraction of natural resources, loss of natural habitat, species extinction, etc must be addressed before it is too late. Peace with earth, goodwill to all.
Bro, I’m with you. Being a Pantheistic Transcendentalist is not easy in today’s world of denial.
Nature is my religion. The planet is my church.
When climate deniers like Hasso attack my religion and church he should be charged with a hate crime. Hate speech is not free speech.
Hasso’s blog is becoming contrary to the public good. The city council needs to step in and censor him.
Im still upset about the man made climate change that ruined Doggerland! Free speech is my religion and your desire to censor me is hate speech. Please leave the West- you both can’t handle and don’t deserve it if you hate free speech.
You definitely sound like today’s Democratic Party, “You WILL believe what we say and not question it!” We see it in government, media, schools etc. Mindless robots is what they want.
In 1714 Daniel Fahrenheit made the first graduated thermometer, 309 years ago. at that time, for the first time people could see what the temperature actually was. Before that time no one knew what the temperature was other than, it’s freezing or it feels hot etc.
So all this talk about ancient temps is pure conjecture, extrapolation if you will. When you do not know what you are talking about, some of you just make s**t up.
It is kind of like the ancient salmon runs on the Willamette river, nothing before 1885 and not much till the dams went in so there was enough water to have a run in the fall.
Hasso, are you able to add the feature to your webpage making it possible for people to give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, or equivalent to any given comment? I sure would like to let it be known on what comments I agree with. I imagine I’m not the only one of your followers who would like this feature.
I remember weather from 60 years ago. 100 mile an hour winds, the entire Willamette valley with biblical flooding, sometimes the rain wouldn’t stop until after the Fourth of July. just in time for the farmers to burn all of their fields and add to the smoke from the wigwams that burned 24/7. population…pollution…farmland loss. We should stay focused on clean air and water here in the valley and the rest of Oregon.
Hasso, trusting those cheap thermometers is a bit foolish.
Buy 3-4 of them from the same store and compare. You’ll likely see a 3-4 degree variation. Sometimes worse.
Many years ago, I kept fish, having 16 tanks at one time. I used the little stainless steel thermometers that hung over the lip of the tank. I had 1 that initially was 8 degrees different from the norm.
You shouldn’t be able to post things without clear citations or evidence. Please think of the impressionable minds reading these before you make generic claims to the public. Not impressed.
If you’re referring to Hasso, obviously he can post whatever he wants and that makes your statement ridiculous. You don’t get to be your entitled self here!
It’s great to know that some believe everything posted on the web/news is all total facts not opinions. I’m looking forward for my gov issued rose colored glasses to guide me forward for these facts.
Risible
I too remember the bad storms we had in the 1960’s with wind and flooding. You can research just about anything with computers and smart phones and I suggest people do so. I researched the worst hurricanes and the worst one was in Galveston with approximately 8,000 deaths in 1900. We have had some bad ones in 1800’s too. Hurricanes start in Africa. So my information I have heard is the study of Climate change or Global warming only goes back to the late 1950’s..I don’t know if that is true or not. What I am saying is no matter what you believe or not believe do your own research if you can. It is fun and you can learn a lot.