Real Climate Science

From Grok

“Cyclone Mahina was a devastating tropical cyclone that struck Bathurst Bay, Cape York Peninsula, in colonial Queensland, Australia, on March 4, 1899. It remains the deadliest cyclone in recorded Australian history, with estimates of over 300 deaths, though the exact number is uncertain due to incomplete records. The storm likely claimed between 307 and 410 lives, primarily affecting pearl divers and seamen from South-East Asia, the Torres Strait, and Pacific islands who were part of the Thursday Island pearling fleet anchored in the area. Many deaths went unrecorded, including around 100 Aboriginal Australians who were not counted in official tallies at the time.

Classified as a Category 5 cyclone, Mahina is considered one of the most intense tropical cyclones ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere. Its peak central pressure is estimated by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology at 914 hPa, but ongoing research suggests it could have been as low as 880 hPa, potentially making it the most intense cyclone to hit the Australian mainland if confirmed. The cyclone generated a massive storm surge, reported at 13 meters (43 feet), the largest on record, which swept inland, destroying ships and leaving debris like dolphin carcasses far from the shore.

Named by Queensland Government Meteorologist Clement Lindley Wragge, who pioneered the practice of naming storms, Mahina hit a fleet of over 100 vessels, sinking or wrecking more than half and leaving survivors to swim for days to safety. The storm’s ferocity was compounded by its collision with another weather system, “Nachon,” amplifying its destructive power. After crossing Cape York Peninsula, it moved into the Gulf of Carpentaria and dissipated by March 10.

Mahina’s rarity is notable—research indicates such super-cyclones occur in the region only once every two or three centuries. Its impact lingers in memorials, like the one at Cape Melville for “The Pearlers,” and in historical accounts, despite debates over its exact pressure and surge height. Today, it stands as a stark reminder of nature’s power, long before modern climate debates.”

According NASA, 1899 was a cold year and the water which Mahina passed over was unusually cold.

Global Temperature | Vital Signs – Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet

Large amounts of warming in the past were a “paradise” – but small amounts of warming now are “an existential threat.”

“New study reveals Canada’s subarctic was once a tropical paradise”

Palm trees once grew in Canada’s subarctic: study

“The tragedy of modern war is that the young men die fighting each other – instead of their real enemies back home in the capitals. ”

• Edward Abbey

(13) Keir Starmer on X: “Action, not just words. Britain stands with Ukraine, today and always ???? https://t.co/pDFRjKQYH6” / X

“Thirteen-year-old Barbara Kent (center) and her fellow campers play in a river near Ruidoso, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945, in the hours after the bomb’s detonation. Fallout flakes drifted down that day and for days afterward. “We thought [it] was snow,” Kent says. “But the strange thing, instead of being cold like snow, it was hot.”
Courtesy of Barbara Kent

The flakes were fallout from the Manhattan Project’s Trinity test, the world’s first atomic bomb detonation. It took place at 5:29 a.m. local time atop a hundred-foot steel tower 40 miles away at the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range, in Jornada del Muerto valley.

The site had been selected in part for its supposed isolation. In reality, thousands of people were within a 40-mile radius, some as close as 12 miles away. Yet all those living near the bomb site weren’t warned that the test would take place. Nor were they evacuated beforehand or afterward, even as radioactive fallout continued to drop for days.

As time passed, Kent says she began to hear disturbing reports that her fellow campers were falling ill. By the time she turned 30, she says, “I was the only survivor of all the girls at that camp.” She adds that she has suffered from lifelong illnesses: She had to have her thyroid removed and has survived several forms of cancer, including endometrial cancer and “all kinds of skin cancers.”

U.S. lawmakers move urgently to recognize survivors of the first atomic bomb test

According to the Guardian, plants don’t grow well in warm weather.

“Plants losing appetite for carbon dioxide amid effects of warming climate”

Plants losing appetite for carbon dioxide amid effects of warming climate | World news | The Guardian

If Republicans want to lose next year’s Congressional elections, there are few ways more effective than to ruin tens of millions of American’s summer vacations at National Parks.

“Overcrowding and piles of rubbish: Elon Musk’s Doge cutbacks plunge America’s parks into crisis
Rangers fear there will be ramifications on protecting nature after 1,000 probationary workers are sacked by the Trump administration”

Elon Musk’s Doge cutbacks plunge America’s parks into crisis

My work (and most weather forecasters) depend on a large, reliable stream of data from NOAA.

“‘Cruel and thoughtless’: Trump fires hundreds at US climate agency NOAA”

“The majority of probationary employees in my office have been with the agency for 10+ years and just got new positions,” said one worker who still had their job, and who spoke to the Guardian under the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. “If we lose them, we’re losing not just the world-class work they do day to day but also decades of expertise and institutional knowledge.”

‘Cruel and thoughtless’: Trump fires hundreds at US climate agency Noaa | Trump administration | The Guardian

War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength
Cold is Hot

“Most Americans who experienced severe winter weather see climate change at work, AP-NORC poll shows”

Most Americans who experienced severe winter weather see climate change at work, AP-NORC poll shows | AP News

The 1990 movie Total Recall was about an implanted memory in which Arnold Schwarzenegger Terraformed Mars by melting the ice.  The movie featured this car.

Arnie had a few problems there with the low atmospheric pressure which caused his skin to boil.

At low atmospheric pressures, the boiling point of water is close to the freezing point.

Now Elon Musk is talking about melting the subterranean ice on Mars, which would cause it to quickly boil away and dissipate into space. He also has his own Total Recall car.

(3) Elon Musk on X: “Mars probably had liquid oceans a long time ago, before it cooled. Now, there are vast fields of ice covered by red dust. If we warm up the planet, the oceans will return and the atmosphere will densify, making it possible to extend life to Mars.” / X

“Scientists identify tipping point for Greenland’s ice sheet — and it’s not far off

Greenland’s ice sheet has been losing a staggering amount of ice at an accelerating rate.”

(27) Roger Hallam on X: “We could crash permanently through the 1.5C guardrail within the next five years, and shatter the 2C limit as soon as 2034. This will almost certainly result in the tipping points for collapse of the Greenland and west Antarctic ice sheets being crossed, committing us to the https://t.co/yIH0jojgvd” / X

The surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet gains an average of 370 billion tons of ice per year. Most years since 2017 it has gained more ice than average, and the only year it was significantly below was 2019.

Surface Conditions: Polar Portal