The data charts predict that, by mid-century, the average annual temperature in the city chosen as an example location for OC will rise by 3.9 degrees and in the worst case scenario as much as 6.4 degrees. Researchers hold that extremely hot days over 95 degrees will see a three-fold increase while twenty-three additional days in all will send the mercury rising above 87.8 degrees.
Feeling those beads of sweat on your forehead yet?
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Other areas, including the oven that already is the Inland Empire, outpace Santa Ana, but ecosystems and counties are interwoven. As the heat rises, the snow pack of the San Bernardino Mountains will be adversely affected to the point where there may not even be any to speak of. “That is going to present a challenge for the water system of Orange County,” says Jonathan Parfey, Executive Director of Climate Resolve.
The information compiled provides a detailed heads up for local governments to start planning for el calor to come. Are you listening, Don Papi Pulido?
The future as it stands may only be able to be mitigated, however, and not by much. “Even if we drastically cut pollution worldwide, there will still be quite a bit of warming in Los Angeles,” says lead researcher Alex Hall in the report's press release. “I was a little taken aback by how much warming remains, no matter how aggressively we cut back. It was sobering.”
With politicians like Congressman Dana Rohrbacher in Orange County denying man-made global warming even exists while foolishly musing about dinosaur farts, the future is as sobering as it is depressing. It really is up to us!
Here's to hopefully avoiding a mid-century death by heat wave during a rolling blackout!
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Gabriel San Román is from Anacrime. He’s a journalist, subversive historian and the tallest Mexican in OC. He also once stood falsely accused of writing articles on Turkish politics in exchange for free food from DönerG’s!