Currently in Portland — June 16, 2023: Turning cooler

The weather, currently.

The weather is confused! We're running hot and cold here in Portland, and I'm getting weather whiplash. And also experiencing wardrobe confusion. I've gone from a sundress to a sweatshirt and who knows what's next. Friday looks like a pretty nice day, with temps reaching the mid/high 70s. But the weekend... hasn't quite decided yet. It'll be cooler, for sure. And we'll likely get some rain, too. But just how cool, and how much rain, and exactly when, all seems in flux. It'll be a great opportunity for us all to live in the moment! As much as I'd been looking forward to the cool-down, I'm now wishing for slightly warmer days. I guess I'm as fickle as the weather.

— Stella Harris

What you need to know, currently.

In an address to climate negotiators on Thursday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for a coordinated exit strategy for the global fossil fuel industry.

“We are hurtling towards disaster, eyes wide open,” said Guterres, calling the continued use of fossil fuels “incompatible with human survival.” His comments come in the run-up to this year’s global climate talks in Dubai, and amid fresh evidence that global warming is accelerating and that the countries of the world aren’t doing nearly enough to stop it.

The planet just completed its warmest first-half of June on record, with global ocean temperatures at an all-time high for more than three months straight. The waters in the Main Development Region of the Atlantic Ocean, the region of the tropics where most hurricanes form, are as warm in June as they typically are the first week of September.

The grandfather of climate science, James Hansen, has a new post out that argues that we could be in the early years of an acceleration of global warming, which may see us reach 2.0°C of warming by 2050, and 1.5°C as soon as 2024.

That fossil fuel companies are intentionally causing this to happen to make more money for themselves needs to be widely seen as morally reprehensible. We’re nearly there, and already popular movements are in place to bring a better world into being.

—Eric Holthaus

What you can do, currently.

Welcome to the new-and-improved Currently!

If you’re a big fan of Currently, please share us with a friend! Our brand-new referral program is a way to give our biggest fans direct ownership of our company. We are the first weather service in the world to do this, and we’ll have much more in the coming days on our hopes and dreams for member-ownership, as well as Currently as a whole.

Thank you for taking this exciting journey with us!

—Eric Holthaus