Sam Champion: The Hottest Day Ever Reveals the Burning Truth of Climate Change

Sunday saw the hottest day on Earth ever recorded—the average surface air temperature hit 17.09C (62.76F), according to preliminary data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

“What is truly staggering is how large the difference is between the temperature of the last 13 months and the previous temperature records,” Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo told the Guardian. “We are now in truly uncharted territory—and as the climate keeps warming, we are bound to see new records being broken in future months and years.”

Buontempo is right. We’ve gotten off to an unusually hot start to the summer in the United States, and July numbers from around the globe are alarming. No matter where you look on the globe—here, the African continent, China, Europe, the Caribbean—those hotter temperatures are all replicated.

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The brutal heat dome we had in June, the heat wave this week and others that will continue into the fall mean not only very hot days but very hot evenings. Internationally, we are blowing through so many records when it comes to recorded heat extremes. We find ourselves in a constant, escalating bath. It’s not unique or normal—it is unusual and it’s happening all over the world.

Sometimes people say, “Oh well, it’s summer, and it gets hot in summer,” but the temperature pattern we are in means we are in the warmest year on record. We need to have a bigger conversation than “Hey, it’s been hot in Dallas,” and “Hey, it’s been warmer than normal in New York,” because we need to be looking at this as a global and historic pattern.

I’m not a climate scientist, but I do know them—and I listen to them. As someone who has done local and national weather since 1983, I believe what we’re seeing in real time are raw and alarming examples of climate change. We need to have a conversation about the realities of climate change, but also how we are getting our weather information.

Climate scientists have spent their lives getting degrees, studying numbers, and following trends. They don’t have a reason not to be accurate. They are judged on how accurate they are. They are not judged by how many people are following them on TikTok but on the reports they submit: Were these numbers correct? Did they lead to the correct trends? Was this scientific data verified?

Somehow, we have come to a place where an opposite discussion—a denial of climate change—can be seen as valid. And somehow this conversation occurs as if it were needed for balance—where people with no experience in climate or weather are suddenly given an equal voice with those whose whole careers had been about studying climate and weather.

I never understood the denial-of-climate-change conversation. Initially, I tried to skirt it and talked about environmental safety instead—clean water, clean air, and “better energy for your family.” I figured: Can we all find something we can agree on?

Corporations have their voices too—and they pay for this to be heard. They can put out their information and studies, and you must sometimes measure which studies are more legitimate and believable—the study that was funded by oil and airline folks, or a university and its researchers? I would much rather trust objective science over someone who has a vested interest.

It is time, long time, to say “Yes. We have extreme heat in the U.S. Yes, this is not normal, and it is part of a global trend of much warmer temperatures which we also forecasted and expected. What we’re seeing is climate change in action in a very dramatic and meaningful way.”

“The rise of climate change denial is a shame”

I grew up in a military family with this ideal of weather information and knowledge equating to safety. My dad was a United States Marine in North Carolina, where there were hurricanes. As a child, my family was from Kentucky. We had tornadoes destroy my grandparents’ home, injuring my grandmother.

As a kid, I remember having a fear of those storms, having seen the damage they can do. And I think what helps with that kind of fear is knowledge and warning. I was also a news junkie and grew up thinking news and information were very important. So, I’ve always wanted to help provide people with information to keep them safe.

I feel free to talk about climate change and climate science as much as I want on air at ABC7 New York. It is part of the real business of the weather forecast and always has been, as well as part of the immediacy of the safety information we deliver.

That’s why we deliver the watches and warnings. We follow where storms and tornadoes are developing. I, and other forecasters, try to take a moment to deliver this information to tell you the whys of climate change. Sometimes it’s an awkward transition to do, but I find it happening with more ease in more places and in more conversations—and I feel very free to do what is needed editorially.

With weather forecasting, there is the usual good news of sunny, nice days, or the regular news of storms. But whereas in 1988, three inches of rain in a forecast would have been a big deal, and people might get stressed about an inch of rain falling, today I often see those numbers doubled. I understand we are delivering information that is vital for public health, or that may have a big impact on people’s homes. And we are seeing these extreme weather events more and more, with more extended periods of uninterrupted very hot weather.

I think the rise of climate change denial is a shame. There’s no reason to believe that someone who spends their life putting together climate and weather information has any agenda other than delivering the information you need.

In the future, there will be days when the forecasts sound as folksy as people have gotten used to—what to take with you when you head out the door? But there will also be more extreme weather events, and therefore more of those events mentioned in our weather forecasts. Hurricanes will jump categories faster than we have seen before.

We will be more focused on you and your loved ones’ safety. In the real world those questions are around: Will I lose my home because I live near a dangerous flooding river? Am I going to be able to get insurance in a state where insurers have pulled out after paying out large financial damages for storm damage? What about the fires that are now a regular part of life? The hurricanes on our coastlines?

So many records are being broken we also need to focus on the computer modeling we have for forecasting temperatures and water levels and make sure the information being fed into them is done more regularly. Our weather modeling needs to become more refined as weather events become more extreme.

One sign of the times is sending forecasters out into extreme weather. The idea behind it is: “I don’t believe it if I don’t see it. I don’t believe in danger if it doesn’t look dangerous.” The goal is for us not to be blown off that beach you see us on, but to show you that you did not need to be out in this weather, or show you why you needed to evacuate that same coastline, or this bit of coastline; that the flooding I am standing in decimated this town and could be heading your way.

In reporting on, or conveying the reality of climate change, I feel a similar responsibility. I worry that every time we have a storm, and a beach is washed away, and we replenish the sand on that beach it sends a signal to people there that they are safe when I don’t think they are safe. I worry that when we rebuild in areas after mountain fires people feel safe, and I don’t think they’re safe.

I worry about climate change all the time. We see areas flooding now and communities flooding repeatedly, and I worry about people rebuilding in those areas—I just do. I hope, as a weather forecaster, I am doing the job of keeping viewers safe—and aware.