🧃 Ten Degrees of Separation

Welcome to The Strawman, the daily climate newsletter that’s questioning everything after hearing March in Kazakhstan felt like a June in Tuscany.

Central Asia’s Sauna Season

Welcome to The Strawman, the daily climate newsletter that’s feeling a bit like an overcooked potato in the microwave - hot, spinning, and wondering how we got here.

This week, scientists confirmed what your Kazakh cousin already knew from his sunburn: Central Asia’s recent “bonkers” heatwave wasn’t just unusual - it was basically impossible without climate change. Temperatures hit nearly 30°C in places like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan in mid-March. That’s 5–10°C above pre-industrial norms - and at least 4°C of that spike is directly attributed to climate change.

To put that in perspective: this kind of heat in March is like Santa showing up to your BBQ. It just doesn’t belong there. But in today’s atmosphere, thanks to all the added greenhouse gases, it’s becoming the new normal.

This Isn’t Normal

It’s not just Central Asia baking early. Australia just clocked its hottest March and its hottest 12-month stretch ever - averaging 1.61°C above pre-industrial levels. Not to be outdone, England saw 59% more sunshine than normal, South Korea broke wildfire records with 48,000 hectares burned, and Japan’s spring temperatures fanned the flames even further.

Meanwhile, India’s meteorological department is bracing for a brutal summer, with predictions of record-breaking heatwaves in the coming months. (Reminder: 50.5°C was hit last year — basically egg-frying-on-the-sidewalk territory.)

Agricultural impacts, water stress and public health emergencies are all ramping up as a result. In short, climate change is doing what it said it would do - just much faster and with fewer polite warnings.

Climate’s Smoking Gun

This isn’t just about vibes, it’s about data. The research from World Weather Attribution, a collaboration of top universities and meteorological agencies, found that these temperature spikes would have been essentially impossible without climate change.

And if that weren’t sobering enough, the 4°C figure they cite is a conservative one. The real number could be higher, but uncertainties in climate modelling err on the side of caution. The big takeaway? Climate change isn’t just nudging the weather anymore — it’s drop-kicking it into uncharted territory.

We’ve built a world of crop cycles, city infrastructure, and energy systems based on a stable climate and now that climate is acting like a roulette wheel in Vegas.

Takeaway
When March feels like midsummer and the map is on fire, it’s no longer a warning — it’s a reckoning.