July 23, 2021: Fish Are Frying - in the Rivers - More Proof of Climate Change

 

7/23/21: Today’s topic: “Climate Change for Dummies.” Or: Most Trump fans, including their fearless, clueless, classless leader.

 

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“Fatal to fish.”

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First: Fish. As record high temperatures blister the western United States, we get fresh proof that climate change is not only upon us, but will bring problems on multiple levels and in unexpected ways. In Montana, where anglers have long enjoyed fishing for trout in cold mountain streams, the fish are dying. 

The problem is twofold. Trout thrive in water temperatures from 45 to 60°. Now, earlier in the season than ever before, Montana rivers, like the Bitterroot, have warmed dangerously, with temperatures in the low 70s. At that level, The New York Times explains, trout become lethargic. 

At 75° they begin to die. 

Climate change has also been altering weather, and most of Montana and the West are drier than ever before. So, low river levels also affect the $500 million fishing business in “Big Sky Country.”

Yellowstone River - picture taken by author during cross-country bicycle ride.

 

Similar problems of elevated temperatures and low water have affected fishing in Colorado, California, Oregon, Washington, and several other states. Yellowstone National Park announced yesterday that it would shut down all fishing, beginning at 2 p.m., as water temperatures rose. The ban continues until sunrise the following day when waters have cooled. Current “conditions are extremely stressful and can be fatal to fish,” park officials have informed visitors. 

Second, we focus on cars. Bowing to grim reality, Mercedes announces it will switch entirely to electric cars by the end of the decade. Whether we like it or not, the days of unlimited burning of fossil fuels are ending. The luxury car maker merely recognizes that fact. Mercedes joins Volvo, Volkswagen, Toyota, and General Motors, among others, in planning to switch.

 

Third: Forest fires and drought. There are currently more than 80 large forest fires burning out West, where drought has gripped the land. 

The largest, the massive Bootleg Fire in Oregon has burned up 408,930 acres, which, when we do the math (640 acres = one square mile), means the flames have destroyed 639 square miles of real estate. 

Hamilton County, Ohio, where I live is 413 square miles in size. So the Bootleg Fire is roughly equal to burning up all of this:

Two of the reddest states in the nation, where people voted for Trump, even though he said climate change was a hoax, are also seeing forests reduced to glowing embers. When I check Sunday afternoon, The National Interagency Fire Center reports that Idaho firefighters are currently battling 23 large blazes. In Montana, where fish are dying, there are 20. Ten other states are fighting a combined 43 additional large fires. 

The vote in Idaho went 64% to 33% for Trump over Biden. 

The vote in Montana went Trump’s way, too, 57% to 41%. 

It could be even worse. Farther north, British Columbia has had to declare a state of emergency. That province has 275 active large fires and Mexican firefighters have had to come help.

 

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“We would need a solid decade of really wet years.” 

As CBS recently reported: 

“In the West, snow is like our battery; it’s where we store water,” said J.T Reager, a water scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “Now, we’re getting less snow. The snow season is markedly shorter.”

 

“Is this something that is caused by climate change or something that’s just made worse by climate change?”

 

“I think it’s something that’s definitely made worse by climate change,” Reager said.

Climate change is making the West hotter and drier, which means more rain than snow is falling, and much of that is evaporating.

 

“Over the long-term, what we’re seeing with our satellite data is a picture of continual drying,” Reager said.

 

A NASA satellite is documenting the loss of water stored in the mountains, reservoirs, and underground aquifers. “These are some images that we’ve taken from the satellite mission from April 2010, 2015 and 2021, showing this steady drying progression of water in the West,” Reager said.  

 

“Given how severe this drought is,” [a reporter] asked, “how long would it take to recover from something like this?”

 

“We would need a solid decade of really wet years, which is probably just not gonna happen,” he replied.

 

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A normal year’s worth of precipitation in three days. 

ON THE FLIP side of climate change, record flooding in China has surprised climatologists, even though they have long warned that warmer temperatures inevitably mean heavier rainfall in areas where rain is common. It’s not a mystery. You’d think someone could explain the situation to Donald J. Dimwit – assuming he had any interest. Warmer air holds more moisture. That’s a simple fact. When extra moisture finally comes down it often breaks old records. 

According to Chinese officials, the city of Zhengzhou, hammered by this week’s torrential rains, saw a normal year’s worth of precipitation in three days. 

This comes on top of a disastrous 2020, when record flood levels were measured on 53 rivers in China. 

 

FUN FACT: Trump pal and former head of the Trump 2016 Inaugural Committee, Tom Barrack, is free on bail today. 

To show you what prosecutors think, bail was set at $250. 

Ha, ha. We’re joking. It was set at $250,000,000. Because authorities sense Barrack is a scumbag and might flee the country.

 

(For more evidence of climate change, feel free to read the posts for 1/29/21, 2/15/21, 2/23/21, 2/24/21, 3/5/21, 3/28/21, 4/8/21, 4/22/21, 4/25/21, 4/28/21, /5/3/21, 5/4/21, 5/10/21, 5/20/21, 5/24/21, 6/4/21, 6/10/21, 6/16/21, 6/17/21, 6/22/21, 6/29/21, 7/1/21, 7/17/21, and 7/20/21 and 7/22/21.