In the absence of efforts by the states, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has stepped up to do the right thing for children.Map makes clear weather severity
Indiana broke 128 records in 2012. None of the broken records are likely to land the state in the Guinness Book, but they should serve to draw attention to the dramatic weather in 2012 and what it means for the future.
An Extreme Weather Map developed by the Natural Resources Defense Council based on data from the National Climatic Data Center shows 3,527 monthly weather records were shattered in 2012 nationwide. This is an increase from the number of heat, rain and snow records broken in 2011, which was 3,251.
Indiana was also fifth among the states with the highest percentage of new heat records and was included in the council’s list of “especially hard-hit regions.” In 2012, Indiana had a total of 109 new heat records, nine new rainfall records and 10 new snow records.
The worst incident was the summer drought, which was the worst drought in 50 years.
The council said the broken records show a notable pattern for the increase of extreme weather in the U.S. and the need for governmental officials to take action.
Headline news with a twist
Sportswriters are scrambling to explain how they failed to follow up on the Manti Te’o story, but headline writers, at least, are having a field day with stories about the purported hoax. Some of our favorites:
•“Spin one for the Gipper” – Foxsports.com
•“Notre Shame” – New York Post
•“Holy Hoax!” – Chicago Redeye.com
•“Fool’s Gold” – Chicago Sun-Times
•“No Such Dame” – MSNBC.com
