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Susan Walsh / AP
The recent warm spell across much of the U.S. has included Washington, D.C., where it was 80 degrees on Thursday -- perfect weather for recreating near the Washington Monument.
So now that March feels like May in much of the U.S., what's May going to feel like? The East Coast and South can expect above-normal temperatures, federal forecasters announced Thursday -- a day when Atlanta and Chicago were among the cities that posted new daily highs.
After a brief cooling, the warm spell should continue through the rest of March, especially in the East, and into early summer across the South as well, said Ed O'Lenic, chief of operations at the U.S. Climate Prediction Center.
"It's warming up mighty early," he added.
Signs of a premature spring range from early cherry blossoms in Washington, D.C., to farmers preparing to plant.
"This warm weather will advance crops beyond where they normally are," Reuters quoted meteorologist Joel Burgio of Telvent DTN as saying.
Wheat in the South was ahead of normal, Burgio said, fruit trees are blooming early in the Southeast, and Midwest farmers will be lured into starting spring field work earlier than usual.
"The concern is that if a sudden change to colder weather comes after this very warm interlude, then you could have some crop problems," he said.
But the Climate Prediction Center wasn't expecting that. "Above-average temperatures this spring are most likely from the Desert Southwest through the central and southern Great Plains, the Great Lakes, and the Eastern U.S.," the center said of its three-month outlook, "while the Pacific Northwest and Alaska are favored to be cooler than average."
In Washington, D.C., temperatures reached an all-time high, and in less than a week more than 900 new record highs have been tied or broken. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
This week, dozens of cities have seen temperatures above 80 degrees and much of the region has been 30 degrees warmer than normal.
On Thursday, Atlanta saw 82 degrees Fahrenheit, a degree warmer than its previous record for a March 15 back in 1973. Chicago broke its record with 77 degrees, 3 more than in 1995.
On Wednesday, 307 sites across the country -- the vast majority in the Midwest -- broke their record for the warmest March 14. Ninety-three tied their record.
The same was in store for the rest of the week as well, though a notable exception to the warmth has been the Pacific Northwest where snow, ice and rain have kept winter alive.
This time last year, officials were worried about a heavy winter snowpack and its potential to create massive flooding -- a scenario that played out in many areas.
NOAA
Now, however, the threat isn't snow and flooding but heat and drought.
"What a difference a year makes," Laura Furgione, deputy director of the National Weather Service, told reporters at the agency's annual Spring Outlook news conference.
The drought concerns focus on west Texas and New Mexico -- and more recently Georgia, three-quarters of which is in severe, extreme or exceptional drought.
Drought and dry weather also raise the chances of wildfires.
In the Chicago suburbs, warmer weather was tied to four brush fires in three counties. One destroyed a bar and killed six horses, the Morris Daily Herald reported.
"It does seem like these fires are popping up early," local fire chief Ron Hoehne told the Daily Herald. "I can only assume it's because of a lack of snow or rain so far this year."
So is global warming behind the temperature increase? While "extreme events like we've seen are consistent" with warming, O'Lenic said when asked at the news conference, "it's impossible to connect any single event like this one with climate change."
D.C. Cherry Blossom Festival blooms early
He also cited two naturally occuring factors: La Nina and what's known as the Arctic Oscillation, a measure of changing atmospheric pressure.
The Arctic Oscillation flipped from last year, when it helped create conditions for heavy snow, O'Lenic noted, so this winter has seen "the other side of the AO coin," with cold Arctic air being blocked from coming down into the U.S.
Last winter also saw a strong La Nina, a cooling of the Pacific Ocean, that lasted through spring and impacted weather globally. La Nina did return this winter, he added, but this time it "is fading fairly rapidly."
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News
Leave a Comment:
Doom and gloom again! Of course if people are willing to look at actual facts about this winter and spring you can check here.
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/17jan_missingsnow/
In other words, natural patterns that cycle from time to time. And remember that while we were having a mild winter, Europe, Russia and Asia was extra cold where over 600 people died. Though you hardly ehard a peep out of the media about those deaths. But be sure the media will parade even a single heat stroke death during the summer for all it is worth.
You don't work for the Cato Institute, by chance?
Same website offers this:
The globe is warming at a faster rate than it ever has before and Humans are the main reason Earth is warming.
http://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/big-questions/is-the-global-earth-system-changing-and-what-are-the-consequences/
Not that I'm suggesting anything should be done about it (or even attempted). That tipping point passed long ago.
Don't put away your shovel yet!
Moral of the story - horses shouldn't drink . . .
I sure wish we could get some of that warming here in western Washington. Here it is, the middle of March, a week from the beginning of spring, and there is still a little snow on the ground that is FINALLY starting to go away!
economykiller,
A few questions:
1. Where in this article did you find doom and gloom? I've peeked and prodded every word, and I can't seem to find it.
2. You state that "natural patterns ... cycle from time to time." You offer this statement as though you're the first to realize that natural phenomena oscillate. Do you mean by this statement that scientists who have spent their adult lives (sometimes their pre-adult lives too) studying climate somehow missed this simple truism in their calculations?
3. How exactly does one "parade even a single heat stroke death"? I only ask because "death" is an abstraction and even the concrete dead are fond of lying about. Neither the abstract nor the concrete take too well to parading.
4. Would you define your term "hardly ehard"? I've not come across it before. It sounds vaguely related to internet porn.
Lune
That darned Bush!!! He did it again.
yup, I know..... Bush did it again. . He wielded so much power that he changed the global warming/cooling during his term as president.
It seems a pity that the human race will perish because so many don't understand cause and effect. Faced with somebody speaking the facts, they begin to yap like dogs--a not-very-bright species--and try to drown the facts out.
One of the consequences of global warming is the loss of tillable land. You've seen the pictures of Texas. The corn-raising states, which should have been covered by snow this winter, never were, and a large part of them are low on subsoil moisture and not getting any precipitation. The markets are aware of this. A very good price for a bushel of corn--a miraculous price--say, five years ago, was $4.00. Corn closed today at $6.69. The price of a bushel of corn in China, where they're trying to grow their own, is $10.00.
You needn't believe me, you needn't believe tornadoes, rising and acidifying oceans, and floods. I don't have to prove anything, and to deniers, nobody and nothing can. But you're going to get mighty, mighty hungry, mighty soon.
Good heavens, why do intelligent people have to put up with these fools and knaves?
Everyone in the Pac NW OR and WA are wondering if we're in for another cool and wet summer. Last year summer didn't start until late Aug. So nervous, all I see is Rain in the forecast for the next several weeks. EEEK! =(
I remember a couple of winters ago when DC was getting record snows the faux newz propagandist pricks were saying "Oh DC just got 8" of global warming! Oh ho ho hoo ha haa! Aren't I clever? We're so funny! Oh ho ho.." Dorks...
That's right Sok, why do we have to put up with fools and knaves like yourself. And doomsday threats will get you nowhere.
When we have lower than average temperatures in the winter- Did not see the "gee it is mighty cold earlier in the winter season"
Yes, the Earth has temperature swings- Did the article address any of the major SUN outburts last three weeks? DOES THAT HAVE ANY EFFECT ON THE EARTH"S TEMPERATURE???????????
Always blame it on the homosapien.........before it was cool- after the dinosaurs were wiped out.............
STOP BEATING THE ENVIRONMENTAL DRUMS OF WAR...... how are we ever going to charge those 30 mile range Chevy volts??????? Do a study on the generation, time to charge, and the huge amount of power it takes to charge this SHORT range piece of crap- not to mention the enviromental disaster waiting to happen with those batteries......
I believe it was those Chilean UFO's from the other story I just read that are causing this great weather up here in Wisconsin. There can't be any way that it is just normal occurances, weather patterns, or global warming. I also believe that those UFO's are using all of our gasoline and that is what is causing the high gas prices too. Very convincible I tell you...
Well put Dave. The global walarmist fearmonger liberals out there are all about controlling our lives and not really about leading by example. If they were, their Dear Leader Obama would be leading by example and not flying all over campaigning in Air Force One or on vacations while his wife tags along separately in a separate plane with a separate security posse/entourage. Their carbon footprint is horrid - and don't get me started on those private parties for millionaire and billionaire friends of theirs. Algore is well on his way to becoming the worlds first "green" billionaire. He has made a LOT of money lobbying for junk science - and sheeplecrats buy it.
The Volt is taxpayer subsidized crap, and just last week GM announced laying off its 1,300 employees temporarily because the car wasn't selling. Leave it to feel good liberals to use taxpayer dollars in an attempt to artificially create a market where there is none.
Wally, you don't have to put up with me. I thoroughly expect you to ignore me.
For a thrill, go look at the closing prices on the Chicago Mercanile Exchange. Prices are at http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/agricultural/grain-and-oilseed/corn.html. The top line is corn for May delivery, and you can see that the prior settle (price) today was $6.69.
I don't actually expect that you will go to that URL, because that would be verifying a fact.
It is doomsday, Wally, if nothing is done about it.
Sokrates @#1:10
"--a not-very-bright species--"
Not to generalize, or paint everyone with the same broad brush, but that is the real problem, isn't it?
To save deniers the trip, below is what the CME sent out in tonight's email after the market closed; I chose soybeans but corn and wheat also went up.
Soybeans
US soybean futures end higher, climbing to new 6-month highs as strong export demand extends the market's upward trend. Nearby soybean futures settled higher for the 24th time in the last 32 days, as drought reduced South American production raises concern about tighter US and global supplies. Weekly export sales reported by USDA this morning gave provided new fuel to bolster bullish attitudes, analysts say. China remains an active buyer of US soybeans, a feature seem confirming trader's ideas that smaller South American crops are generating additional US export demand, analysts add. CBOT May soybeans ended up 18 3/4c at $13.69/bushel.
It really is real, it really is potentially disastrous. I'm not making money from scaremongering (nor is any scientist). I do make money from corn and soybeans. And they're getting harder to grow.
If you are a Dumb-ass and you want to believe things are not changing (humans are the main cause)
In scientific terms which most of you don't get...THINGS DON'T HAPPEN THIS FAST
You deserve what is coming...Get AC now (if the gulf -stream gets diverted....Europe might get cold-er)
Sokrates needs to get a life and stop being such an imitator.
How much do you want to bet that these @!$%#ers are wrong...and they want to predict our whether 100 years in advance hahahaha.
You can't fix stupid. Climate swings? Wow. Um yeah, over hundreds of years dumb a$$, not in 1 year. Always an excuse in place of common sense. Record breaking weather not ringing a bell in your skull? Typical Repub moron. "Oh yeah, it's Bush's fault right". When your skin is burning off and you have to fist fight for food I bet you will be like "this is normal weather, just a climate swing". Deny deny deny. Like a child hiding under a blanket. Maybe it won't see you in your invisible land.
Climate change or not, when have Republicans been correct about ANYTHING?!
Seriously.
• How's the hunt for WMD in Iraq?
• Or the connection between Bin Ladin and Hussein
• Remember the upper income tax cuts that were going to create millions of jobs?
• Or the capital gains tax cut that would spur investment and job growth?
• How about the repeal of banking regulation. It was going to result in big *savings* for consumers!
• Or the Bush energy policy that was *sure* to lower the price of gas?
And now I'm supposed to believe that you have an impartial understanding of climate science that is not at all influenced by the same multinational corporate thugs that hypnotized you into believing the laundry list of OTHER baloney you *swore* was true.
Fat chance. I can't believe ANYONE takes you people seriously anymore.
For the last two springs in the Northern Hemisphere I havnt been able to establish my gardening skills.. the warm weather tricks me into believing its time then comes up and bites me in the ...
I hear ya bgods...I live in the 57th state, and in these parts, weez only listen to O'bama!
Nice picture. Nice, sunny day, people out for a stroll or riding a bike.
And people claim that 'global warming' is a bad thing.
lol
Sokrates-3314271 "Good heavens, why do intelligent people have to put up with these fools and knaves?"
Because the 'fools and knaves' are usually right more often than the 'intelligent' alarmists.
lol
By the way - more bad news. The 'fools and knaves' are reproducing much faster than the 'intelligent people'.
PS - I wonder how many tons of 'greenhouse gases' Obama emits when he flies Air Force One to one of his fundraisers in California?
Sokrates-3314271 "US soybean futures end higher, climbing to new 6-month highs as strong export demand extends the market's upward trend."
Not to worry. Food and energy cost increases are not included in the government's 'Core Inflation' index, so inflation is still under control - Just ask Obama and he'll make you feel like things are just great, and whatever problems we might have are 'Bush's fault' but he's taking care of them.
Time to stop laughing and go to bed - By the way, it's also hot here in Costa Rica, but they are #1 in the World for 'sustainable living', and their life expectancy is better than the USA.
Roy...It's only bad if you live in Texas
Was last year not HOT enough...I live in the Woodlands (north of Houston (5 miles))
Most of the trees are dead and they are not so because the rain is back this winter (not much of a winter)
My heat was only needed 2 times this winter...WHAT WINTER...It's March...I used my AC today
Global Warming is a misnomer. It is a desperate attempt by the ignorant to justify their position on climate change. Climate science is a relatively complicated, new and misunderstood science. Meteorologists and others that study the weather and the wider climate are just beginning to understand it. If you really want to understand climate science and how it is still being explored than I suggest watching some programs on storm chasers. These are people willing to risk their lives to further the science in order to develop early warnings systems to save other peoples' lives.
Those that talk about Global Warming and then point to the European winter of 2011/2012 as evidence that it does not exist are people in search of a desired outcome. The question isn't if the world is warming. The question is whether the climate is experiencing extreme deviations from the historic averages? The answer to that question is an unequivocal "yes." Many long standing historic records that occurred randomly over the past century are being replaced with records that have occurred within the last 20 years. Not only are there some areas of the world experiencing record highs, but there are some experiencing record lows. Some places are experiencing record precipitation while others are experiencing record drought. The sum total of all that is climate change.
Climate change is real, it is now. If we ignore it, then we ignore it at our own peril. The world population continues to grow and climate change is only going to make it harder for people to find the food necessary to survive.
So... At some point, with all of this warming, won't the water in the oceans start turning into... I don't know... water vapor... ?
And how is it again that solar fluctuation has no effect on global climate?
And how is it, again, that carbon is the problem, but methane, sulfur dioxide, and water vapor have no bearing on the greenhouse effect?
And how is it again that roughly 160 years of climate data (and not all of it reliable) prove that the end is nigh for all life on Earth?
How is it that widespread use of Bt has less to do with crop failure by eliminating microculture in topsoil, than "global warming" ?
Ah yes, MANBEARPIG!
So, from the point of view of someone who is neither a proponent, nor a denier, of AGW, it seems there is a bigger picture to be had. It also seems that adaptation has been the strong suit of all life throughout GLOBAL history (of which we are told very little by the media, as it is often bad for politics).
I am uncomfortable with the statement, "The globe is warming at a faster rate than it ever has before and Humans are the main reason Earth is warming." (courtesy comment 1.2)
Because any real scientist worth the frosting on their shredded wheat will tell you there is always more to know. For instance: "While "extreme events like we've seen are consistent" with warming, O'Lenic said when asked at the news conference, "it's impossible to connect any single event like this one with climate change." (courtesy of the article above-Pretty sure it's ED O'LENIC, meteorologist with the NWS, MSNBC is the memory hole when it comes to quoting sources)
Here's the deal. I am simply skeptical of anyone claiming to have ANY absolute truth. Absolute truth (being static) does not generally jive with REALITY (in a constant state of flux). There is no evidence that the globe is hotter now than it's EVER been before; hotter than any time since the last ice age (about 10,000 years) MAYBE, but the fact is we "KNOW" very little, when it comes to the finer points of climate history on Earth. Any good meteorologist will tell you that the reason the weather predictions are so frequently wrong is that the best we can do is extrapolate predictions from past weather data. You can make a good guess, but there is no way to "KNOW" anything about the future.
PS- I live in the Pac. NW. Last year sucked for tomatoes unless you are me and have a green house. I don't bother trying to grow corn, or soy because the season is generally not long enough and both are too water/energy intensive. If it's cold again, I guess I can grow more cole crops and cabbage. See, working WITH nature is a peach, even if my peach tree doesn't give up a single one (those are the best years for winter pears, anyway. Isn't adaptation great? Hint: the stock market has ABSOLUTELY no bearing on the food security or the survival of humans and to use stock market data as an indicator of food security is dishonest, at best, but keep trying.
It IS, BTW, very ironic that I had JUST watched South Park's "Two Days Before The Day After Tomorrow," when this article came out. It's very funny.
Re 1.31
Probably, harsh as it may sound, climate CHANGE will prove to be humanity's latest poulation "bottleneck." We're a little overdue for one, so I welcome it with open arms, and try to adapt. It's not about denial, but about acceptance.
Believe it or not, scientists do take into account all the things you mentioned (solar fluctuations, methane, sulfur, water vapor) and much more. The sun hasn't varied all that much as measured from space since the 1970s (see NASA or NOAA website); methane is important but has been fairly constant for a while; sulfur actually causes moderate cooling, and water vapor is a 'positive feedback' since warmer air can hold more moisture. When you analyze all this in detail, it's hard to escape the conclusion that carbon dioxide has been the major driver of global warming at least since the 1970s.
What concerns me is what effect this early warming trend might have on potential severe weather.
Yeah, I agree. The early onset of massive tornadoes -- and the extended area they covered -- is worrying.
CLIMATE CHANGE = abnormal weather patterns. In other words, colder and wetter in Europe (eastern European storm dumped 15 FEET of snow in 1.5 days) while it WARMER (by 30 degrees in some places) here in the states.
Keep on ignoring it so that history can make you the laughing stock and your children & grandchildren can pay the price
There is no such thing as a "normal" weather pattern, only statistical averages. The Earth has been warming and cooling for 4.5 billion years, long before the arrival of mankind, with the biggest "climate change" being the last Ice Age about 10,000 years ago (and the Earth somehow warmed up with out the nouveau chic "Global Warming".)
If you want more recent history, I suggest you Google "Little Ice Age". That ran from the 13th century to the late 18th century.
It's called "Weather".
If you want more recent science, I suggest you Google IPCC 4, read the entire thing, and think hard, HARD, before you want to go typing completely debunked misinformation across the internet again.
Remember everyone, this is 0.9 degrees Celsius warming. Business as usual puts us at 6 degrees by 2100, which makes the planet pretty much unlivable. Don't worry about this spring or summer (although you should keep to high ground, except when the tornados come). Worry about where we are headed. The heat and changes we are UNQUESTIONABLY seeing now were explicitly and accurately described in testimony before Congress by Dr. James Hansen in 1988. See where he says we are heading. believe him because as you can see he was and is right, and ACT.
Diogenes22,
Weather is what happens day to day; climate is the statistical averages that you mention. Climatologists have asserted ad nauseam that no discrete weather event can be definitively linked to climate change as a causative agent. People who don't understand this difference (as you seem not to) are the sort who can't understand that a player's batting average doesn't determine whether or not that player will get a hit at any particular plate appearance.
Lune
@Tim…
I would suggest you include the word “faked” in your searches of IPCC 4 reports. You’ll start to see admissions by Dr Murari Lal that his claim that “Himalayan glaciers will have melted by 2035 last night admitted it was included purely to put political pressure on world leaders.”
Also, do a search on IPCC and “email”. Dr. Phillip D. Jones from the University of East Anglia had a real blast making up the numbers for IPCC 3.
As an aside, from the IPCC’s own website: “The IPCC is a scientific body. It reviews and assesses the most recent scientific, technical and socio-economic information produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of climate change. It does not conduct any research nor does it monitor climate related data or parameters.”
Read the first and last sentences. It’s a scientific body that does no research??? Pretty much par for the course when it comes to the UN.
@Lune…
You’re arguing semantics, not facts.
I am so sick of hearing these common misconceptions on Climate change.
1. Climate change is the warming of earth over LONG periods of time. Just because you have a warm day or warm early season doesn't mean it's always climate change. An example of this could be the world increasing in 1 degree fahrenheit, over the past century.
2. Climate change is extremes in all types of weather including snow, rain, and heat.
So just because we have a warm day or maybe a really nice season doesn't mean it's climate change, I don't know about all of you, but I rather enjoy this weather, and crops are turning out better as a result, if you read the article, so why worry?
Climate change does not equal abnormal weather patterns. First of all you have to define normal. There is no verifiable science to support your first sentence.
Our scientist will not define what normal is because nothing is static on earth-everthing changes.
We have myopia on this climate issue- all the sky is falling retoric is based upon short time surveys(which the accuracy of the tests / government money) is suspect.
The louder they cry the sky is falling the more millions come in to their "research models"
Nothing is certain- back in the 70's the scientist parents were dooming and glooming over the NEXT ICE AGE..............
So until they can tell us what a normal weather pattern is- they have no basis for extrapulating data to the doom and gloom level.
Sorry, everybody--"Mercantile," not Mercanile.
OK, forget trying to get anything across to the ignorant. Forget about global warming. Why can't we harvest clean cheap electric? This "nice" warm weather is driving my AC bill way up. Why the hell are the right-wingers who aren't profiting from oil prices or electric prices want to pay more for gas and electric? Stoopid? If I can commute to work for fifty cents a day on solar energy, why would you prefer $8 in gas? Oh yeah, CO2 isn't a hazard to people or the environment. Go start your cars, drive into your garages, and put some Rush Limbaugh on for 15 minutes. That will solve a lot of the problem. Honestly, don't do it for the global warming thing, let's get on cheap replenishable electric because it's cheap! Hmm, less lung cancer, buildings not covered in soot, quiet streets, normal weather, and significant savings in all aspects of your life. Then we can sell our clean tech to evolving countries and actually create U.S. jobs. Or is that also bad? I just don't get how so many people are brainwashed into paying more, suffering more, sending their kids to die in wars just to control oil prices. I wish one conservative would actually stop and think about that. What are you arguing FOR?
Quit - Why are electric cars the only option you give? Fuel cell is far better and already out in the Honda and Mercedes with no government help due to it not giving kickbacks to those in office to those like Obama. Also, take a long look at what type of people live greener than the other, it looks like conservatives seem to have much greener homes than liberals i.e. Gore vs Bush. Tell somebody you are taking away their income and they fight it, tell them they are going to change and they fight it, tell them they are wrong and they fight it. Give people options and stop forcing ideas down their throat, they will will do what's correct all on their own. Solar for new housing is actually penalized nearly everywhere in California so what option is there? Electric cars have no ability to be versatile enough for multiple uses, long and short drives, so why not offer more fuel cell cars? You might stop and think about what are the climate change people trying to control? The IPCC started trying to gain control of money and governments over thirty years or so and they started with global cooling or did you conveniently forget they pushed that first for control.
diogenes22,
Your post indicates that you no more know the difference between facts and semantics than you know the difference between weather and climate. Let me help you grasp the difference. To do so, I'll stick with the elementary baseball analogy.
When a player steps up to the plate at any discrete plate appearance, she may get a hit or she may not (for present purposes we'll set aside the slightly complicating no-time-at-bat factors). That's a fact. Over time, we collect these facts, from which we calculate her batting average. Note the key attributes here. The facts determine the average, not the other way about. The facts are concrete; the average is abstract. The average *in no way* constrains the outcome of any future discrete plate appearance: That is, a player's existing batting average doesn't determine the outcome of any particular time at bat, although the outcome of any discrete time at bat will most assuredly affect the player's batting average.
Now, the same logical relation exists between weather and climate. Weather phenomena are the facts (times at bat), from which we calculate averages; these averages are climate (batting averages). Discrete weather facts averaged over time yield climate, not the other way about, so climate can *in no way* be a causative factor of weather. Climatologists have pointed out that fact until they're blue in the face, but Republicans and other fools apparently didn't play baseball in grade school.
To extend the analogy just a bit, we would expect the batting average of a very young but good player to gradually improve over time as the player grows in strength and skill, and we would expect the batting average of an aging player to gradually decline over time as his physical faculties begin to fail. Those are natural processes. But if the batting average of a young player jumped from .291 to a whopping .382 in a single season, or the batting average of a mature player suddenly dropped from .302 to .215 in a single season, then we would be warranted in suspecting that something other than the natural maturation or decline of these players was afoot.
When we see weather averages (climate) changing rapidly and in unexpected ways, we're quite warranted in spending some pocket change (and that's all that climatologists get, in the grand scheme of fiscal expenditures) to figure out why.
Lune
Diogenes22... show me the results of the eight, I repeat, 8 investigations on EAU (aka climategate) and the supposed scientific fraud. If you look, you will find that ALL EIGHT studies found NO, I repeat, NO instances of scientific misconduct OR frauds. In fact, Issa, Vitter and Inhofe, all Repugnican senators, were going to investigate "climategate" but decided not to.... I WONDER why, considering these ass-clowns are the puppets of the OIL industry.
Myopic is an understatement.
@Lune...
Has the phrase "poetic license" ever hit your vocabulary?
I know the difference between the words "weather" and "climate". If you want to argue the etymology of words, I got a 5 on my A.P. Latin test back in the 80s (I went to a Catholic High School and granted, I've forgotten a lot since then. :-) )
With that said, you're arguing words not facts.
@notliborcon...
All of the Global Warming pimps have a vested interest in keeping the THEORY of Global Warming going. If Global Warming isn't real--they're out of a job (and billions of dollars)
Their numbers have not proved out. Period. The temperature numbers that Dr. Broeker first postulated in 1975 have not come to pass.
Since there is a financial incentive involved, I trust them as much as I trust the makers of asbestos.
Nothin' to see here! None of all this weird, global warming has anything to do with all that craaazy Global Warming!
Tim is flummoxed and has to say something stupid.
Tim is a big fan of non-peer-reviewed science, and his favorite movie is 'Soylent Green."
Climate change is more easily observed by changes in the behavior of migratory species, as well as plants and animals moving toward/away from certain areas. That is much more reflective of long term changes and avoids seasonal variations.
Not all climate change will be bad for humans; some effects will be to create temperate zones in previously arid or cooler areas (although new arid areas will surely be created as well). The primary concern with human caused changes is long term...and most people are incapable of caring about long term effects, which is why scientists are the ones that are sounding the warning, it's their job to look at changes centuries from now.
I bet there isn't a global warming naysayer within a mile of THIS story. They only come out of the woodwork when it snows---- ANYWHERE!
Dang I missed it. I predicted 80+ in Denver for March given the mild winter. It was Chicago instead even more amazing
I'll go with 88-90 for Denver before the end of April and 90-93 in Dallas
Toss in a huge 30 inch Denver up slope snowstorm right after record breaking heat, 6' in the mountain burbs like Netherland
Actually we officially had 31.8 inches from March 17th to 19th back in 2003 here in Denver.
Highest temperature in March was 84 on the 26th in 1971.
Highest temperature in April is 90 on the 30th in 1992.
If you live here David, you know that we have had a somewhat chilly winter and the snow totals right now are near the average seasonal totals. The week or so has been very warm and pleasant, but 9 days ago I had to scrape some freezing drizzle off my windshield.
The jet steam makes nifty weather Yin Yang . Right now the West is in a Yin, the East in a Yang. Big ones that could end in a LOT of tornadoes if the West's Yin upper level cold low busts through the Eastern High pressure Yang with record warmth in place
According to scientists,we are supposed to have an ice age within the next 1,000 years.So tell me what's wrong with the Earth getting warmer,even though in the near future it's just going to get colder.
"Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation, so let's not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emission standards from man-made sources."-Ronald Reagan
Really...? Ronald Reagan? You know he had Alzheimer's disease, right?
The latest research suggests that an ice age is probably thousands of years away, even without carbon emissions. (See a report about the research on skepticalscience.com, as I recall.) The reason has to do with the fact that the Earth's orbit is nearly circular, and will remain that way for thousands more years before becoming more eccentric. We have likely already surpassed the warming that would be needed to prevent an ice age, and are heading into dangerous territory.
Nothing to see here, people. Everyone knows that global warming was just a hoax invented by 97% of the scientific community to turn us all into godless communists. This climate change we're seeing is nothing more than Al Gore with a blow drier making it LOOK like we're disrupting Earth's climate. Continue to blindly oppose all legislation that might harm Big Oil's profit margins.
See, even burnt whole wheat isn't taking this warming thing seriously.
— E. B. White
Wow - I found a quote to back up my unscientific stance.
Really I am getting sick of the price of energy. Diesel just over night went up 20 cents that is twice in three weeks. Can you blame people for want alternative, though I don't see batteries because of same issue the toxic health effects, which is also another cost I don't want to have to deal with. There are smart solutions now that can help fix some just the overall cost of doing things. Cheap housing is great for real estate and developers and, builders but does little to insure that homeowners are not stuck with the cost to heat and cool bad design. Modes of transportation that make sense for location, to use those most cost effective forms of transportation. A car that has a range of 75 miles to a 150 miles might not be right for you but it maybe right for someone else. Big Cities like New York or L.A. doing the most cost effective forms of transportation.
Wow. I never thought someone could fall for satire... After being TOLD it's satire.
I saw your sarcasm Toasty but to coin a joke I heard not too long ago: "Conservatives are so stupid they think an innuendo is an Italian suppositorie".
OK...I know you must be a Coloradan, from the "upslope" thing. But you gotta say "Nederland".
Won't someone think of the children?!?
There are many factors in climate change, natural cycles, warmer or cooler oceans, human activity on a multi-billion people scale, etc. To deny any of it is insanity. At the same time it is not about who is right or wrong or what to call it but about understanding it and planning better for it regarding food, water, land, etc and taking steps to change or at least lower tragic consequences. To cling to outdated industries that give a small few the money and power risking our peril is ludicrous.
Oh yeah ! It's gonna be a warm year ! The deniers are only concerned with the next 20 years of THEIR life.They can't see that far down the road.
I don't care about what might happen somewhere down the road or what happens to your bastard grandchildren.
Typical republican
Selfish to the end and want to take MY kids and everyone else DOWN WITH them. Wally your kind are VILE!
i love it. i'll let all you so called scientists and global warming wackos argue about it. i'm taking the dogs for a walk.
I hope you and your mutts get swept up in a tornado. Then get denied FEMA aid after you're all crying to the feds for help when your houses are gone. But hey, cut, cut, cut all domestic programs and drill baby DRILL!!!
Down here in Arkansas hits been purdy warm. Them ticks and chiggers are problee gonna be bad. The boy, Junior, and me done got taters in the ground. Them weather fellers say hits gonna stay warm so me and Junior will problee git the rest of the garden planted. We got a right smart of rain. If hit keeps on rainin an stays warm we'll make a real garden. My Ant Jenny mite git to start her canin for it gits to hot. Junior said he had heered of that there global warmin. Fraid them tornaders will git bad. Few years back it come one of them tornaders and blew Uncle Cedrics mule plumb over the fence into neighbor Johns field. If me and Junior make a real good garden yall are welcome to come by and git ye some tomaters a little later on.
Lol... We gonna drop by, but only iffen y'all is inta playin' spin the cousin...
I love your humor. It is nice to see something upbeat here instead of the infighting.
I'm just pissed because the fruit trees are blooming early and I forgot to spray them with fungicide. I really hate leaf curl on my peach and plum trees....
The Earth is always, over a period of time, warming or cooling. Now that we are so overpopulated an extreme heat wave and drought over a few years, which is quite normal, could be devestating to contries that have to import food and much higher prices for us.
the earth is spinning out of control and heading toward the sun, closer and closer we go, the gravitational pull is taking over, why not, it makes sense, what is keeping us from the sun?
It's called centripetal force caused by gravity, assman.
I hope this means a good olive harvest. Last year was so cold/cool that that there were no olives. This is in the Sacramento Valley
The climate of this planet is changing. Where I disagree with some of you is why. While it is obvious that we should cut back or eliminate human pollution, I think this is mostly a natural event. I defy any of you more radical posters to show me concrete evidence that I am wrong.
We could debate this forever, when what we should be doing is figuring out how we are going to live with these changes, because they are coming and we can't stop it. Stop all the crap about who is right, and find a way for us to survive in a changing world.
Never mind those solar flares...
I agree and I hope we can start soon. I hope we do not have a drought filled year that is horribly hot. i guess the only upside to that is not having to mow very often.LOL
Thomas Simmons,
You state that you "think" our present, ongoing, and rapid anthropogenic climate change "is mostly a natural event. I defy any of you more radical posters to show me concrete evidence that I am wrong." This assertion is logically indefensible. You made the assertion (no anthropogenic climate change), so logically you should present your evidence proving that you're right. Why in the world would I or anyone else bother to prove wrong such a simple-minded assertion? At any rate, the evidence proving your assertion wrong could fill volumes. Oh wait, it already does.
You further state, "Stop all the crap about who is right, and find a way for us to survive in a changing world." Again, your logic fails. We can't in any substantial way determine how to adjust to a rapidly changing climate without understanding the causes of those changes; otherwise, by the time that we decide how to adjust to the changes, the changes will have changed. At any rate, your assertion here is the same as stating, "Stop all the crap about who is right regarding the rising temperature in the fridge, and find a way to survive with spoiled food."
Lune
So... At some point, with all of this warming, won't the water in the oceans start turning into... I don't know... water vapor... ?
And how is it again that solar fluctuation has no effect on global climate?
And how is it, again, that carbon is the problem, but methane, sulfur dioxide, and water vapor have no bearing on the greenhouse effect?
And how is it again that roughly 160 years of climate data (and not all of it reliable) prove that the end is nigh for all life on Earth?
How is it that widespread use of Bt has less to do with crop failure by eliminating microculture in topsoil, than "global warming" ?
Ah yes, MANBEARPIG!
So, from the point of view of someone who is neither a proponent, nor a denier, of AGW, it seems there is a bigger picture to be had. It also seems that adaptation has been the strong suit of all life throughout GLOBAL history (of which we are told very little by the media, as it is often bad for politics).
I am uncomfortable with the statement, "The globe is warming at a faster rate than it ever has before and Humans are the main reason Earth is warming." (courtesy comment 1.2)
Because any real scientist worth the frosting on their shredded wheat will tell you there is always more to know. For instance: "While "extreme events like we've seen are consistent" with warming, O'Lenic said when asked at the news conference, "it's impossible to connect any single event like this one with climate change." (courtesy of the article above-Pretty sure it's ED O'LENIC, meteorologist with the NWS, MSNBC is the memory hole when it comes to quoting sources)
Here's the deal. I am simply skeptical of anyone claiming to have ANY absolute truth. Absolute truth (being static) does not generally jive with REALITY (in a constant state of flux). There is no evidence that the globe is hotter now than it's EVER been before; hotter than any time since the last ice age (about 10,000 years) MAYBE, but the fact is we "KNOW" very little, when it comes to the finer points of climate history on Earth. Any good meteorologist will tell you that the reason the weather predictions are so frequently wrong is that the best we can do is extrapolate predictions from past weather data. You can make a good guess, but there is no way to "KNOW" anything about the future.
PS- I live in the Pac. NW. Last year sucked for tomatoes unless you are me and have a green house. I don't bother trying to grow corn, or soy because the season is generally not long enough and both are too water/energy intensive. If it's cold again, I guess I can grow more cole crops and cabbage. See, working WITH nature is a peach, even if my peach tree doesn't give up a single one (those are the best years for winter pears, anyway. Isn't adaptation great? Hint: the stock market has ABSOLUTELY no bearing on the food security or the survival of humans and to use stock market data as an indicator of food security is dishonest, at best, but keep trying.
It IS, BTW, very ironic that I had JUST watched South Park's "Two Days Before The Day After Tomorrow," when this article came out. It's very funny.
You already posted that on the previous page, diatribe. Climate scientists understand that solar fluctuations are important, but are very likely NOT the cause of the warming experienced since the 1970s. Go look at the data ... the Sun has only varied its energy output by about 0.1% since then. And I don't recall anyone saying the "end is nigh" for all life on Earth; but climate changes could severely impact our human civilization as well as many other species of life.
Anyway, I hope you get where I am coming from. I find that Western society has a preoccupation with blame. (Take the 'Deepwater Horizon' oil spill, which may or may not be ongoing, as an example). Maybe you saw my comment about shampoo, fabric softener and deoderant sticks... Now, that was kind of a joke with a rather serious point. I might subconsciously be harassing Tim H. for his spewing of histrionic bs and pushing of outdated, non-peer reviewed, un published research. The point is that while so many (NON scientist) global warming (anthropogenic) are running around bemoaning the falling sky, they fail to realize that REAL change in our environment equates to REAL change in the average lifestyle. What have they done? Every time I go out in public, I have some new product pushed in my face, excessive packaging and slick marketing, while some d-bag asks me am I "ready to go green." They don't seem to care that I haven't used non-green dishwasher soap in ages due to not using a dishwasher. I long ago switched to cleaning most everything, including my SELF with a combination of baking soda, vinegar, and water. I grow and preserve food and try really hard to not $hit where I eat. We're working on setting up grey water recycling, and rain water recycling since we have water rights. You see, I find the marketing and politics of the whole business to be rather distasteful. Adaptation trumps blame in my book, and I don't especially find either side to be telling the whole story. BOTH sides of the AGW argument have a larger agenda for personal gain and BOTH sides discard any anomalous information that disagrees with their chosen agenda. The blame game is B.S., especially as long as nobody really feels like they should have to make changes to their "modern" lifestyle of convenience. You can't just buy an electric car and plug it in and say you've done your part. Where does the electricity come from...?
Of course climate change will, more and more, effect the progression of life on Earth. It always has (i'm not a scientist. but have long had an interest in natural history). It has been obvious to me for some time that "civilization" cannot continue successfully on it's same wasteful trajectory, but additional taxes and carbon credit swaps are NOT real changes. They just enable somebody to make money while not changing a damn thing of significance.
PS-I am aware that the carbon tax issue was not brought up by you in your comment.
Guessing it's going to be a slightly milder but much wetter summer. Winter was almost a non-event.
As someone said earlier, we are already past the tipping point and it is too late. There will be floods and two mile wide tornadoes and every thunderstorm will leave a foot of rain along with a 100 MPH winds. Every snowstorm will be a 2 foot blizzard, and there will be swarms of locusts and grasshoppers. Category 7 hurricanes will devastate the coastal cities and cause the snakes and rats to attack the citizenry. There will no food to eat and no cheat grass to produce ethanol so that we can escape this catastrophe. It's just going to be gosh darn awful, I tell you.
Your doomsday scenarios were already predicted in the Bible's book of Revelations.
First time God destroyed the earth with a catastrophic flood...
Next time it will be a global firestorm.
If global warming is to blame, people in the midwest & northeast have no complaints about unseasonably warm weather!
I live in WI and I find this warm winter "no laughing matter". It is NOT normal and when it is 70+ degrees in March and those tornados are getting earlier and closer every year, it not funny or CUTE. When are you people ever going to wake up from your "stupor"?Sure I hate our winters but this is not normal for this part of the country and everyone with their brain and knows how to use it will realize that.
It's nice and warm up here in North Dakota, soo much better than the five snow storms from last year ^.^
I say that the warm weather should stay and if mother nature decides to change it, I'll come after her with a rifle >:(
I guess I can understand why you would be enjoying this weather.LOL