Photo by Joe Crimmings.
Cross-posted from ThinkProgress Green.
Speaking at a high-dollar Chicago fundraiser hosted by Oprah Winfrey as the city basked in June-like weather last week, President Barack Obama admitted to being “a little nervous” about global warming:
“We’ve had a good day,” Obama said. “It’s warm every place. It gets you a little nervous about what’s happening to global temperatures. But when it’s 75 degrees in Chicago in the beginning of March it gets you thinking … ”
“Something’s wrong,” Oprah interjected.
“Yeah,” Obama said. “On other hand we really have enjoyed the nice weather.”
Instead of temperatures in the mid-40s, the historical average, Chicago is in a record-breaking streak of 80-degree-F weather. This “extreme and unprecedented” heat wave began last Wednesday and may continue through this Wednesday. “Before the heat wave, there had only been 10 March days on record that reached 80 degrees, and on average Chicago would see one 80 degree day in March every 14 years,” the Daily Herald reports. Most of the nation has been gripped by a record heat wave of weather as much as 30 to 40 degrees F above normal. Global warming pollution is continuing to accumulate and heat the planet at a rapid pace.
