Hot town, summer in the city

It’s  been pretty hot in Washington, D.C., and along the East Coast this summer, so it’s not surprising global warming — sorry, climate change! — enthusiasts use the higher temps to argue their view. One of the leaders of the pack is The New York Times’ Thomas Friedman, who cites hot weather here and in Russia in a column headlined, “We’re Gonna Be Sorry.” Friedman mourns the failure of climate change legislation in the Senate  (forecast for months by Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma) and the continued greenhouse-gas assault on Mother Nature. Friedman notes the Russians are suffering their worst drought in 130 years and that Moscow had a high temp recently of 93 degrees, well above the city’s average July reading of 76. Yes, it’s been a hot one there and here. But recall that when Washington and other cities were weathering record snowfalls last winter, people like Friedman argued one cold, snowy winter was irrelevant to the global warming trend line (It’s about climate, stupid, not weather!). Well, they were right last winter, not now: Temperature readings in Washington, Moscow or anywhere on a given day, week, month or year are a tiny blip compared to the span of a century or several millenniums — truer increments in a climate discussion.

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