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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (May 6, 2021)
A3 THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, MAY 6, 2021 Hotter, drier and wetter is America’s new normal By SETH BORENSTEIN Associated Press America’s new normal temperature is a degree hotter than it was just two decades ago. Scientists have long talked about climate change — hotter temperatures, changes in rain and snow- fall and more extreme weather — being the “new normal.” Data released Tuesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration put hard fi g- ures on the cliché. The new United States normal is not just hotter, but wetter in the eastern and central parts of the nation and considerably drier in the West than just a decade earlier. Meteorologists calcu- late climate normals based on 30 years of data to limit the random swings of daily weather. It’s a standard set by the World Meteorologi- cal Organization. Every 10 years, NOAA updates nor- mal for the country as a whole, states and cities — by year, month and season. For the entire nation, the yearly normal tempera- ture is now 53.3 degrees based on weather station data from 1991 to 2020, nearly half a degree warmer than a decade ago. Twenty years ago, normal was 52.3 degrees based on data from 1971 to 2000. The aver- age U.S. temperature for Noah Berger/AP Photo A helicopter drops water while battling a fi re in California in August. the 20th century was 52 degrees. The new normal annual U.S. temperature is 1.7 degrees hotter than the fi rst normal calculated for 1901 to 1930. “Almost every place in the U.S. has warmed from the 1981 to 2010 normal to the 1991 to 2020 nor- mal,” said Michael Palecki, NOAA’s normals project manager. Fargo, North Dakota, where the new normal is a tenth of a degree cooler than the old one, is an exception, but more than 90% of the U.S. has warmer normal temperatures now than 10 years ago, Palecki said. In Chicago and Ashe- ville, North Carolina, the new yearly normal tempera- ture jumped 1.5 degrees in a decade. Seattle, Atlanta, Boston and Phoenix had their normal annual tem- perature rise by at least half a degree in the last decade. Charlottesville, Virginia, saw the biggest jump in normal temperatures among 739 major weather stations. Other large changes were in California, Texas, Virginia, Indiana, Arizona, Oregon, Arkansas, Maryland, Flor- ida, North Carolina and Alaska. New normals are warmer because the burning of fos- sil fuels is making the last decade “a much hotter time period for much of the globe than the decades” before, said Cornell Uni- versity climate scientist Natalie Mahowald. For Phoenix, the biggest change in normal came in precipitation. The normal annual rainfall for Phoe- nix dropped 10% down to 7.2 inches. Rainfall in Los Angeles dropped 4.6%. At the same time, Ashe- ville saw a nearly 9% increase in rainfall, while New York City’s rainfall rose 6%. Seattle’s normal is 5% wetter than it used to be. Climate scientists are split about how useful or misleading newly calcu- lated normals are. Mahowald and Univer- sity of Oklahoma mete- orology professor Jason Furtado said updating nor- mal calculations helps city and regional planners to prepare for fl ooding and drought, farmers to decide what and when to plant, energy companies to meet changing demands and doc- tors to tackle public health issues arising from climate change. But Pennsylvania State University climate scien- tist Michael Mann said he prefers a constant base- line such as 1951 to 1980, which is what NASA uses. Adjusting normal every 10 years “perverts the meaning of ‘normal’ and ‘normal- izes’ away climate change,” he said in an email. North Carolina’s state climatologist Kathie Dello said, “It seems odd to still call them normals because 1991-2020 was anything but normal climate-wise.” Gun restriction legislation moves to Gov. Brown’s desk By PETER WONG Oregon Capital Bureau SALEM — Gov. Kate Brown is the fi nal stop for the Oregon Legislature’s major gun legislation this year . The state Senate voted Wednesday to accept the House version of a bill that combines requirements for locks and safe storage of fi re- arms with a narrowed ban on concealed-handgun license holders bringing guns into some public places, nota- bly the Capitol and Portland International A irport. The vote was 17-7. State Sen. Betsy Johnson, of Scap- poose, was the lone Dem- ocrat to join six Republi- cans in opposition to Senate Bill 554. Five Republicans and one independent were recorded as excused or absent. Sen. Floyd Prozanski, a Democrat from Eugene and chairman of the Senate Judi- ciary Committee, said the bill follows the principles laid out by a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision. The court for the fi rst time concluded there was an individual right to bear arms under the Second Amendment to the U.S. Con- stitution, but that right can be regulated. “What we do know is that reasonable regulations can be placed on these individual rights we have,” Prozanski said. “The bottom line is that Associated Press Oregon lawmakers have approved tougher restrictions on gun storage. we have a bill that does in fact address certain areas that we feel as a state need to be regulated.” Oregon would join 11 other states with some form of requirements for locks and safe storage of fi rearms, according to the Kaiser Fam- ily Foundation. As for the narrower scope of the ban on guns in some public places, Prozanski said it was a compromise. The original Senate ver- sion would have left it to all local governments to decide restrictions for themselves. T he fi nal version limits the option to school districts, community colleges and state universities. The option for cities, counties and spe- cial districts was removed. The ban still applies to the Capitol in Salem and the pas- senger terminal at the Port- land a irport. State of Safety Action, a nonprofi t that advocates prevention of gun violence, issued a statement of support after the vote. “Safe storage saves lives, helping prevent uninten- tional shootings and fi rearm suicides,” Henry Wessinger, the group’s president, said. “It will make it harder for potential school shooters to obtain a gun, and it will support responsible gun ownership.” Senate Republican Leader Fred Girod, of Lyons, took issue not only with the restrictions but also the pro- cess that allowed the House to merge its safe-storage bill with the original Senate ver- sion, which dealt with fi re- arms in public places. “This is an example of how bad this building can get,” he said. “We were locked out of the process in this bill.” But, like his counterpart in the House, Republican Leader Christine Drazan, of Canby, Girod also took issue with the way some gun rights advocates lobbied in opposition to it. The Senate’s March 25 vote on the origi- nal version prompted threats against some Republican senators and a recall eff ort aimed at Girod, because they did not walk out to call a halt to Senate business. “There is a fringe group out there that is sure not wel- come in my offi ce,” Girod said. “It is not OK to threaten people’s lives, their staff . It’s not an appropriate way to lobby.” Under the b ill , g uns must have trigger or cable locks, be stored in a locked con- tainer or in a gun room. An off ense is a Class C violation, which carries a maximum fi ne of $500, unless someone under age 18 obtains access, in which case it is a Class A violation with a maximum fi ne of $2,000. No jail time is imposed for violations. Stolen fi rearms must be reported to police, generally within 72 hours. The Capi- tol and the Portland airport passenger terminal would be off -limits to all fi rearms, including those borne by holders of concealed-hand- gun licenses, except for law enforcement. Violations are considered Class A misdemeanors with maximum punishments of one year in jail and a fi ne of $6,250. The Oregon Capital Bureau is a collaboration between EO Media Group and Pamplin Media Group. National Nurses Week, May 6-12 Everyday Superheroes 2021 GRADUATION To honor and congratulate the Class of 2021 The Astorian is creating a graduation publication for our local high schools that will publish on Tuesday, June 1st. This full-color publication will include biographies and pictures of each valedictorian Graduating high schools: and salutatorian, name and photo of each 2019 JEWELL graduate and special congratulation ads from Saturday, June 12 local businesses, family and friends. WARRENTON To participate in this publication, contact your sales representative today 503-325-3211 DEADLINE: THURSDAY, MAY 13 Friday, June 11 ASTORIA Saturday, June 5 KNAPPA Saturday, June 12 SEASIDE Thursday, June 10 2111 Exchange St., Astoria, Oregon www.columbiamemorial.org