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The Front Page
06/11/2002
Listen in RealAudio 
Starting a century ago, scientists suspected that we might be altering nature's own
greenhouse effect by burning coal, oil, and gas. But it was not until 14 years ago on
June 23, that the phrase "global warming" made the front page of many U.S.
papers.
Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton for the Weather Notebook's special weekly segment on global
climate change.
The summer of 1988 was blasting the country like a blowtorch. The Mississippi River
hit record low levels, and much of Yellowstone burned to cinders. In Washington, then
congressman Tim Wirth sponsored a hearing on global climate change. He invited
Jim Hansen, a NASA scientist.
Hansen took the stand on June 23, as downtown DC set a record high of 98 degrees.
With his brief testimony, Hansen caused a sensation.
He didn't actually blame the heat wave and drought on global warming, but he did say
he was confident the earth was warming and that this likely was related to an
enhanced greenhouse effect.
Since that hot day in the nation's capitol, a lot more has happened.
A global treaty to limit carbon dioxide, one of the greenhouse gases, is now making its
way around the world. And temperatures have fluctuated from hot to cool, to hot again
over the last decade. It appears we're once again on a warming trend with the first
three months of 2002 tied with 1998 for the warmest January to March period ever
recorded.
That's well above anything we saw back in 1988, when the words of one scientist set
Washington on fire.
The Weather Notebook is a production of the Mount Washington Observatory. Our
global climate change series is underwritten by the New England Science Center
Collaborative and Roy A. Hunt Foundation. Thanks today to meteorologist and writer
Bob Henson of Boulder, Colorado.
Today's Links
More Information
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories/s887.htm
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