Local weather is not the same as global climate.
brianlux
Posts: 42,051
A simple fact that is well stated in this article:
http://news.yahoo.com/welcome-global-weirding-104500970--politics.html
So much for “HotLanta.” Georgia is starting to look a lot like the opening scene from The Day After Tomorrow. The governor has declared a state of emergency for 89 counties as a wave of “crippling ice” befalls much of The Peach State in a storm the National Weather Service warns, “may be of historic proportions.” This statewide IcePocalypseMageddon occurs a little more than a week after Georgia’s last devastating ice storm, when the National Guard was called in to aid thousands of people stranded in their homes, vehicles, and schools. A few weeks prior, the polar vortex dropped temperatures from Chicago to Mexico, breaking more than 50 records and leaving Minneapolis with sub-zero temperatures for 62 straight hours. In short, America’s 2014 weather has gone from Winter Wonderland to Class 3 Kill Storm.
That U.S. weather patterns seem more at home in the Book of Revelation than February hasn’t made an impact on Senator Ted Cruz, who joked to attendees of the Conservative Policy Summit about the nip in the air: “Al Gore told me this wouldn’t happen.” This sentiment has been echoed across social media by climate-change skeptics:
The “If global warming is real, then why is it cold out?” line of argument has been around since the early days of the climate change debate, but the positively Hoth-esque temperatures have increased the volume of those hoping to undercut the “inconvenient truth” of anthropogenic global warming. So, does the recent spate of cold snaps prove Al Gore a filthy, PowerPoint-loving, Oscar-winning liar? No. Sorry, Donald.
Most obviously, climate is different than weather—that’s why the Midwest and Northeast have faced three snowstorms in the past two weeks while the drought in California has been so severe that water deliveries from reservoirs to the Central Valley have been cut to zero. Climate trends are exactly that: trends. One swallow doesn’t make a summer, and one blisteringly cold month doesn’t prove 97 percent of climate scientists wrong.Another key component of “global warming” is right there in the name: “global.” In December 2013, North America was colder than average, but Russia and most of Europe were far hotter. Despite what Ted Cruz thinks (or wants), the world extends beyond the continental United States, and most of it has been crazy hot. For every cold snap in the U.S., there’s a wildfire in Australia so intense that it creates its own weather.
It’s also important to note that although, baby, it’s cold outside, it’s not nearly as cold as it was generations ago. The East River froze at least a dozen times between 1780 and 1888. In fact, after a particularly hard winter in 1866-1867, frustration with halted ferry service eventually led to the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. As webcomic xkcd noted, St. Louis, once the frozen home to a handful of sub-zero temperatures every year, hasn’t had a day that cold since the 1990s. That’s the thing about extreme weather: It’s extreme. The colds get colder, the hots get hotter, and the hurricanes get more destructive.
The global trend is clear: The average global surface temperature has risen roughly three-quarters of a degree Celsius since 1899. Year-to-year variation, however, is another set of data altogether. Rises in global temperature aren’t linear. Some years, average global temperatures rise sharply; other years, they fall or stay the same (some of this can be attributed to El Niño weather anomalies). Volcanic eruptions, solar flares, and yes, polar vortexes can all affect surface temperature.
Hard scientific proof hasn’t been able to melt the resolve of skeptics, however. According to the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, the percentage of Americans who believe global warming is happening has dropped seven points, a number that’s bound to go up after this latest deep freeze: The results were “likely influenced by the relatively cold winter of 2012-13 in the United States and an unusually cold March just before the survey was conducted.” Fortunately, the number of Americans who refuse to believe in climate change’s existence at all is a relatively small 16 percent. For those whose opinions are frozen in time: Let it go.
http://news.yahoo.com/welcome-global-weirding-104500970--politics.html
So much for “HotLanta.” Georgia is starting to look a lot like the opening scene from The Day After Tomorrow. The governor has declared a state of emergency for 89 counties as a wave of “crippling ice” befalls much of The Peach State in a storm the National Weather Service warns, “may be of historic proportions.” This statewide IcePocalypseMageddon occurs a little more than a week after Georgia’s last devastating ice storm, when the National Guard was called in to aid thousands of people stranded in their homes, vehicles, and schools. A few weeks prior, the polar vortex dropped temperatures from Chicago to Mexico, breaking more than 50 records and leaving Minneapolis with sub-zero temperatures for 62 straight hours. In short, America’s 2014 weather has gone from Winter Wonderland to Class 3 Kill Storm.
That U.S. weather patterns seem more at home in the Book of Revelation than February hasn’t made an impact on Senator Ted Cruz, who joked to attendees of the Conservative Policy Summit about the nip in the air: “Al Gore told me this wouldn’t happen.” This sentiment has been echoed across social media by climate-change skeptics:
The “If global warming is real, then why is it cold out?” line of argument has been around since the early days of the climate change debate, but the positively Hoth-esque temperatures have increased the volume of those hoping to undercut the “inconvenient truth” of anthropogenic global warming. So, does the recent spate of cold snaps prove Al Gore a filthy, PowerPoint-loving, Oscar-winning liar? No. Sorry, Donald.
Most obviously, climate is different than weather—that’s why the Midwest and Northeast have faced three snowstorms in the past two weeks while the drought in California has been so severe that water deliveries from reservoirs to the Central Valley have been cut to zero. Climate trends are exactly that: trends. One swallow doesn’t make a summer, and one blisteringly cold month doesn’t prove 97 percent of climate scientists wrong.Another key component of “global warming” is right there in the name: “global.” In December 2013, North America was colder than average, but Russia and most of Europe were far hotter. Despite what Ted Cruz thinks (or wants), the world extends beyond the continental United States, and most of it has been crazy hot. For every cold snap in the U.S., there’s a wildfire in Australia so intense that it creates its own weather.
It’s also important to note that although, baby, it’s cold outside, it’s not nearly as cold as it was generations ago. The East River froze at least a dozen times between 1780 and 1888. In fact, after a particularly hard winter in 1866-1867, frustration with halted ferry service eventually led to the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. As webcomic xkcd noted, St. Louis, once the frozen home to a handful of sub-zero temperatures every year, hasn’t had a day that cold since the 1990s. That’s the thing about extreme weather: It’s extreme. The colds get colder, the hots get hotter, and the hurricanes get more destructive.
The global trend is clear: The average global surface temperature has risen roughly three-quarters of a degree Celsius since 1899. Year-to-year variation, however, is another set of data altogether. Rises in global temperature aren’t linear. Some years, average global temperatures rise sharply; other years, they fall or stay the same (some of this can be attributed to El Niño weather anomalies). Volcanic eruptions, solar flares, and yes, polar vortexes can all affect surface temperature.
Hard scientific proof hasn’t been able to melt the resolve of skeptics, however. According to the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, the percentage of Americans who believe global warming is happening has dropped seven points, a number that’s bound to go up after this latest deep freeze: The results were “likely influenced by the relatively cold winter of 2012-13 in the United States and an unusually cold March just before the survey was conducted.” Fortunately, the number of Americans who refuse to believe in climate change’s existence at all is a relatively small 16 percent. For those whose opinions are frozen in time: Let it go.
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.
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Comments
Has the climate been changed by man? Yes. I don't believe it's as dramatic as they want you to think though.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
This was a juvenile response- essentially saying, "Well they aren't doing anything so why should we?"
Geez man... how does anything get accomplished if nobody takes the lead in change efforts?
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
This is good as well: Fortunately, the number of Americans who refuse to believe in climate change’s existence at all is a relatively small 16 percent. For those whose opinions are frozen in time: Let it go.
And doubting our knowledge of it does not automatically mean a person favors harming the environment.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
jobs!?? ... you gotta be fucking kidding me? ... this notion of economy and jobs is the biggest fraud out there ... makes gov'ts hand out billions of dollars; causes social consequences that cost the people money ... and who really benefits!? ... these fucking executives making millions ...
just because a business employs people is no grounds for sustaining it ... especially if the consequences of that industry is a net negative ...
Global Warming is the problem ... climate change is a symptom or consequence of global warming ... by artificially increasing the temperature of the planet (global warming) we are affecting many things such as the amount of sea ice that forms which in turn affects albedo and so on ... as it relates to local weather ... temperature is the single biggest variable affecting weather (not the only thing) ... temperature affects barometric pressure ... which in turn affects wind and so on ... weather is essentially caused by the variances of temperature from place to place ... as a mechanism for the earth trying to balance itself ... so, if we are artificially warming the planet in various regions - one of the consequences is indeed affecting local weather patterns ... what we need to understand is that it isn't always going to be indicated by being hotter ... as has been written numerous times ... we are going to experience more extreme weather events ... that has already come to fruition ...
Yeah, let's destroy our energy industry, lose thousands of good paying careers, and have home energy prices go through the roof so we can stake the leader claim.
where will these thousands of jobs disappear to? are we gonna shut everything down at once?? we will still need energy and we will still need to pay people to produce it duh!! it will take almost a generation to complete a fundamental energy shift and so many good tech jobs will be created. fossil fuels made their cash lets let renewables get a shot at some of those big bad subsidies it's a gradual process and we want to get this started and not just sit with our heads in the sand!!