Some 35 million people in the United States have been under heat alerts today, and what's been described as a "heat apocalypse" is unfolding in Europe. With that in mind, the latest monthly climate analyses may not seem very significant, but they are a reminder of something important:
When the heat waves fade, the wildfires subside, and some sense of normalcy returns, global warming will still be with us, month to month, year to year — and action is needed now if we are to avoid its worst impacts.
In its most recent monthly analysis, NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies found that last month tied for second warmest June in records dating back to 1880. An independent analysis by NOAA showed a somewhat different result, with the month coming in as Earth's sixth warmest June on record.
The discrepancy is less significant than it may seem. It's mostly due ...
