Extreme Temperature Diary- Thursday October 9th, 2025/Main Topic: A Crushing Year for Science in America – Guy On Climate
Dear Diary. We all know that science is under attack across the United States. I am currently reading the Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan written as he was dying from cancer nearly thirty years ago in 1996. His warnings that this day and age of attacks on science would come are truly prophetic. This year my friend Michale Mann along with Peter Hotez have published Science Under Siege, which is my next read. Trump is a symptom of this scientific collapse but I’d greatly spurring scientific decline via his policies on organizations involving climate and medicine, for instance.
Examining the rise of the anti-science movement | Had a fantastic conversation with Major Garrett about my new book w/ @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social, #ScienceUnderSiege, on @cbsnews.com #TheTakeout:
www.cbsnews.com/video/examin... — Michael E. Mann (@michaelemann.bsky.social) 2025-10-08T23:57:46.189Z
Science Under Siege - a rallying cry against the 'forces of darkness' | Great review of my new book with @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social, #ScienceUnderSiege, by @clivecookson.bsky.social for the @financialtimes.com (paywalled): www.ft.com/content/c4dc... — Michael E. Mann (@michaelemann.bsky.social) 2025-10-09T13:55:01.808Z
I noticed long ago that we did not have a good set of priorities. Fortunately, I was a baby boomer, growing up during the space age of the 1960s and 1970s when priorities for education were much higher than now. I had some great teachers in high school that helped put me on a path towayelped ds a meteorology degree. Even then salaries for athletes and entertainers were much higher than for educators, which was one symptom where we were headed as a people. Now private mostly religious schools are preferred to public schools. Science and mathematics test scores continue to go down. This problem sorely needs to be fixed by an administration that truly cares about the future of humanity.
The New York Times has published a short article today putting financial numbers behind science investment. Here is that article:
A Crushing Year for Science in America – The New York Times
A Crushing Year for Science in AmericaThe Trump administration has sharply cut funding for scientific research and eliminated thousands of jobs. We spoke to scientists about the work that was lost. Flowers left outside the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Silver Spring, Md. Credit…Jason Andrew for The New York Times
By Alan Burdick
 Oct. 9, 2025
By most metrics, 2025 has been the worst year for the American scientific enterprise in modern history.
Since January, the Trump administration has made deep cuts to the nation’s science funding, including more than $1 billion in grants to the National Science Foundation, which sponsors much of the basic research at universities and federal laboratories, and $4.5 billion to the National Institutes of Health. Thousands of jobs for scientists and staff members have been terminated or frozen at these and other federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Park Service.
To thousands of researchers — veteran scientists and new grad students at state universities and Ivy League institutions alike — these sweeping reductions translate as direct personal losses. Each may mean a layoff, a shuttered lab, a yearslong experiment or field study abruptly ended, graduate students turned away; lost knowledge, lost progress, lost investment, lost stability; dreams deferred or foreclosed.
“This government upheaval is discouraging to all scientists who give their time and lend their brilliance to solve the problems beleaguering humankind instead of turning to some other activity that makes a more steady living,” Gina Poe, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, wrote in an email.
Next year looks to be worse. The 2026 budget proposed by the White House would slash the National Science Foundation by 56.9 percent, the N.I.H. by 39.3 percent and NASA by 24.3 percent, including 47.3 percent of the agency’s science-research budget. It would entirely eliminate the U.S. Geological Survey’s $299 million budget for ecosystems research; all U.S. Forest Service research ($300 million) and, at NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, all funding ($625 million) for research on climate, habitat conservation and air chemistry and for studying ocean, coastal and Great Lakes environments. The Trump administration has also proposed shutting down NASA and NOAA satellites that researchers and governments around the world rely on for forecasting weather and natural disasters.
“The administration’s targeted cuts to waste, fraud and abuse in both research grant funding and visa programs are going to strengthen America’s innovative and scientific dominance,” said Kush Desai, a White House spokesman, in an emailed statement. He declined to provide specific examples.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science has estimated that if the administration succeeds in its plans to cut the 2026 federal science budget to $154 billion from $198 billion — a 25 percent reduction — it would represent the smallest amount that the federal government has spent on science in this century. The result “would essentially end America’s longstanding role as the world leader in science and innovation,” Toby Smith, senior vice president for government relations and public policy at the Association of American Universities, told The New York Times in July.
The Times has been asking dozens of scientists from across the country to describe what has been lost as a result of these changes. Their first-person accounts for this series, which you can read here, will appear regularly over the coming weeks, including in this newsletter.
Has your scientific work been cut? We want to hear about it. You can fill out the form at the bottom of this page or email us at climateforward@nytimes.com. You may be contacted by a New York Times journalist.
Here are more “ETs” recorded from around the planet the last couple of days, their consequences, and some extreme temperature outlooks, as well as any extreme precipitation reports:
Exceptional and persistent heat in North Africa and Middle East.
Several countries are still witnessing MINIMUM temperatures >30C: Emirates,Oman,Somalia,Djibouti and even Algeria.
Such widespread minimums >30C in October had never happened before. — Extreme Temperatures Around the World (@extremetemps.bsky.social) 2025-10-09T10:06:21.535Z
EXTRAORDINARY HEAT WAVE IN THE CAUCASUS
Full summer temperatures also at high elevations
34.5C Meghri ARMENIA
RUSSIA
31.0 Akthy 1010m asl
27.7C Gunib 1420m
GEORGIA
30.3 Akhaltsikhe 990m
In IRAN 30C at almost 2000m ! — Extreme Temperatures Around the World (@extremetemps.bsky.social) 2025-10-09T18:32:08.595Z
In China 39 more records for October:
2 stations broke October highest temperature record(Fuling & Tiancheng),and 37 stations broke or tied the highest record for daily minimum temperature
Temperatures are expected to rise further in the next 3 days!
The most extreme heat event in East Asia history — Extreme Temperatures Around the World (@extremetemps.bsky.social) 2025-10-09T15:17:29.086Z
\EXTRAORDINARY HEAT IN JAPAN
Another day with 34C (9 out of 9 this October !)
and minimums >28C. It's like a July in the southern half of Japan.
October records of High Minimums and Maximums below:
What's happening in East Asia is absolutely incredible,more abnormal than ever. — Extreme Temperatures Around the World (@extremetemps.bsky.social) 2025-10-09T08:20:11.303Z
Record warm also in the Northern Maldivean atoll of Hanimadhoo
With a minimum temperature of 28.2C
Every atoll of MALDIVES this month broke its October heat records from North to South — Extreme Temperatures Around the World (@extremetemps.bsky.social) 2025-10-09T00:25:19.430Z
HISTORIC HEAT IN THE CARIBBEAN
Minimum 29.0C Roatan Island
HONDURAS HOTTEST OCTOBER NIGHT IN HISTORY tied
Honduras has been breaking records for years,every single month continuosly. — Extreme Temperatures Around the World (@extremetemps.bsky.social) 2025-10-08T21:28:22.407Z
September 2025 Globally,according to Copernicus,had an average temperature of 16.11C which is 0.66C above the 1991/2020 normal and ranked the 3rd hottest on record behind 2023 and 2024.
World most above average country was Canada,the most below was Libya. — Extreme Temperatures Around the World (@extremetemps.bsky.social) 2025-10-09T16:17:02.418Z
When will the climate change coastal property bubble pop? A significant acceleration in coastal flooding from a lunar orbit shift (mid-2030s) will significantly stress the market. My 2024 post: "When will climate change turn life in the U.S. upside down?"
yaleclimateconnections.org/2024/08/when... — Dr. Jeff Masters (@drjeffmasters.bsky.social) 2025-10-09T13:26:32.585Z
From western Alaska storminess to Arctic Report Card, there's a lot to talk about with Katie Writer on the latest Alaska Climate and Aviation podcast. #akwx #Climate #weather
www.buzzsprout.com/951223/episo... — Rick Thoman (@alaskawx.bsky.social) 2025-10-09T03:16:22.622Z
Youth-led US climate activists widen focus to fight authoritarianism #Climate — Climate Tracker (@climate.skyfleet.blue) 2025-10-05T12:51:52.531Z
Big coastal low coming! Coastal flooding threat is a big concern. — Jeff Berardelli (@weatherprof.bsky.social) 2025-10-08T21:54:50.894Z
That’s the definition of a humdinger!
It’s a high-end solution, no doubt. AM Euro run is bombs away w/ coastal gusts near hurricane force and 30 ft waves offshore. Hurricane-like eye! Big fall coastal flood threat, with long-lived onshore fetch, coming off Supermoon.
It may not verify this intense. — Jeff Berardelli (@weatherprof.bsky.social) 2025-10-09T20:26:08.063Z
#Milton. A year ago. Images:
1. Winds (gusts 100+)
2. Rainfall (up to 20”)
3. 1-in-500 year rain event. — Jeff Berardelli (@weatherprof.bsky.social) 2025-10-09T16:18:28.991Z
World nearing 'crucial turning point' as clean energy outpaces power demand
#renewable #climate
www.newsweek.com/world-nearin... — Dr Paul Dorfman (@drpauldorfman.bsky.social) 2025-10-08T08:48:51.971Z
MIT: Buildings and roads built with new type of concrete could soon serve as giant #batteries capable of powering homes and electric vehicles.
#climate #EV
www.independent.co.uk/tech/concret... — Dr Paul Dorfman (@drpauldorfman.bsky.social) 2025-10-09T07:26:39.462Z
Covering all of California's water canals with solar panels could generate 13 gigawatts of renewable power and save 63 billion gallons of water per year: buff.ly/3Gx1wUq
We have so many solutions. Implement them. #ActOnClimate
#climate #energy #renewables — Mike Hudema (@mikehudema.bsky.social) 2025-10-08T18:07:03.852Z
Renewables overtake coal as world's biggest source of electricity
#renewables #climate #elctricity
bbc.com/news/article... — Dr Paul Dorfman (@drpauldorfman.bsky.social) 2025-10-09T08:36:20.562Z
The people behind America’s disaster recovery.
From cleanup crews to powerline techs, these are the workers called in after catastrophe.
grist.org/labor/the-pe...
#Disaster #Labor #Climate #Weather #Union #GreenSky — Grist (@grist.org) 2025-10-07T19:55:24.562Z
🎥
We need to choose #climate resilient development (1)
PL RP🩷💚💙
#ClimateAction
original graph by IPCC
@pumpkinplanet.bsky.social @notoriousron.bsky.social
@johnscottg.com @bethbramble.bsky.social
@billydillydally.bsky.social @carlietrott.bsky.social
@debbie292d.bsky.social @hamkold.bsky.social — My Zero Carbon #ClimateAction (@myzerocarbon.org) 2025-10-09T14:17:51.327Z
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