Support for LAist comes from
Audience-funded nonprofit news
Stay Connected
Audience-funded nonprofit news
Listen

Share This

Climate and Environment

Don’t Be Surprised By A Hot, Hot LA Summer

()

With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today during our fall member drive. 

Usually, during April, temperatures in L.A. hover between 70 and 80 degrees.

On Wednesday, they reached as high as 90 in parts of the San Fernando Valley.

A few scorching days aren’t indicative of how hot our upcoming summer may be. But if we look at long-term climate trends, we can see that it’s been consistently, miserably hot during the summer for much of the past decade.

California’s had its hottest five years on record in the last six years. And both L.A. and California as a whole had above average temperatures the first quarter of 2020.

Support for LAist comes from

If we look at the entirety of the globe? It’s been alarmingly hot, with the second-hottest first quarter on record.

“The fact that it’s so warm in early 2020 ... is both remarkable and it suggests that there’s a good chance that 2020 might set a record as the warmest year since our estimates began in the mid-1800s,” said Zeke Hausfather, Director of Climate and Energy at The Breakthrough Institute in Oakland.

Long-term warming trends are a direct result of humans pumping massive amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

If you’re hoping that a downward trend in emissions during coronavirus quarantine might help, don’t get too excited.

Greenhouse gas emissions can last for hundreds, if not thousands, of years in the atmosphere, so nothing short of widespread sustained reductions will have any sort of sizable impact on our bleak-looking climate future.

At LAist, we believe in journalism without censorship and the right of a free press to speak truth to those in power. Our hard-hitting watchdog reporting on local government, climate, and the ongoing housing and homelessness crisis is trustworthy, independent and freely accessible to everyone thanks to the support of readers like you.

But the game has changed: Congress voted to eliminate funding for public media across the country. Here at LAist that means a loss of $1.7 million in our budget every year. We want to assure you that despite growing threats to free press and free speech, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust. Speaking frankly, the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news in our community.

We’re asking you to stand up for independent reporting that will not be silenced. With more individuals like you supporting this public service, we can continue to provide essential coverage for Southern Californians that you can’t find anywhere else. Become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission.

Thank you for your generous support and belief in the value of independent news.

Chip in now to fund your local journalism
A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right
(
LAist
)

Trending on LAist