The Washington Post has published an article on the temperature records that were set in virtually every part of the planet from May to July of 2018. In particular, Scandinavia experienced the hottest temperatures ever recorded. The ocean temperature near the North Pole is stunningly high: “The image below shows that the sea surface was 22°C or 71.6°F on August 13, 2018, at 77.958°N, 5.545°E (near Svalbard), i.e. 6.9°C or 12.4°F warmer than 47 days earlier and 16.4°C or 29.5°F warmer than it was during 1981-2011”. Arctic News provides the details of how far from normal the ocean temperature is:
According to the Post:
- In North America: Multiple locations in Southern California; Denver; Montreal; Mount Washington, N.H.; and Burlington, Vt.; Death Valley, Calif. posted the hottest month ever observed on Earth in July; Calgary, Canada; Pittsburg Landing in Idaho hit 118.9 degrees (48.3 Celsius), unofficially a state record; West Glacier, Montana
- In Europe: Multiple locations in Norway, Finland and Sweden; Multiple locations in Portugal; Glasgow, Scotland; Shannon, Ireland; Belfast and Castlederg, Northern Ireland; Amsterdam and Rotterdam in the Netherlands; Copenhagen; Berlin.
- In Eurasia: Multiple locations in central and eastern Russia; Tbilisi, Georgia; and Yerevan, Armenia.
- In the Middle East: Quriyat, Oman, which posted the world’s hottest low temperature ever recorded on June 28: 109 degrees (42.6 degrees Celsius).
- In Africa: Ouargla, Algeria, which may have posted the highest temperature in Algeria and the entire African continent on July 5: 124.3 degrees (51.3 degrees Celsius).
- In Asia: Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan posted their highest temperature on record.
At the same time, the US is effectively ignoring any scientific research on the problem of global warming. The Guardian points out how the US Department of the Interior has decided to vet grant proposals:
“Prominent US climate scientists have told the Guardian that the Trump administration is holding up research funding as their projects undergo an unprecedented political review by the high-school football teammate of the US interior secretary.
“The US interior department administers over $5.5bn in funding to external organizations, mostly for research, conservation and land acquisition. At the beginning of 2018, interior secretary Ryan Zinke instated a new requirement that scientific funding above $50,000 must undergo an additional review to ensure expenditures ‘better align with the administration’s priorities’.
“Zinke has signaled that climate change is not one of those priorities: this week, he told Breitbart News that ‘environmental terrorist groups” were responsible for the ongoing wildfires in northern California and, ignoring scientific research on the issue, dismissed the role of climate change.
World Politics News 
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