Well…you’ve seen me talk about the effect that climate change is having on severe weather events here in the US but I have never seen what is happening in the southwest of the country right now. This afternoon, there will be no flights into or out of the southwest due to the record breaking heat that is predicted…from Phoenix to Las Vegas the temps are supposed to be from 120 to 126 degrees which is above the temperature ceiling of all aircraft that fly today. Yep, it is so hot that the entire southwest will be on lockdown this afternoon and the disruption to lives there will be severe….I’ve talked before about the need to not confuse weather with climate, but this extreme weather is driven by the warming climate just as the melting of the Antarctic glaciers is driven by it…and the rivers that are flowing off the glaciers have never been seen in the 100 years that observations have been taken there….so, the next time you hear a climate denier talk just shut them down with these two little facts…I’m an old guy and I’ve never seen a day when it was too hot for planes to fly…but tomorrow starts the summer and I’ll bet it won’t be the last time…..