Had two smaller ones here yesterday morning. Warmer than usual weather in December and a quickly moving cold front generates ideal conditions for these kind of events. Something that will probably become more of the norm.

It's not too strange. I remember a tornado touching down on Christmas, or Christmas Eve in Lake City, Florida. It's not common, but still.. happens.

This isn't Kansas, my dear. Neither the Great and Wonderful nor Dorothy and her little dog can help us with what we have wrought.

Peel Layer,

The physics of tornado formation is highly complex - and no link currently exists between tornado formation and human activities.

Don't misunderstand me. Human-caused climate change is most certainly having very negative impacts on our weather. Extreme weather events like drought, floods, abnormally-heavy local precipitation, and heatwaves are now 50 to 100 times more frequent than they were just 32 years ago (1980).

But it's not accurate to blame every extreme weather event on human activities. Extreme weather of all kinds has happened in the past - and so far increases in just some types of extreme weather have been scientifically tied to human activities.

Tornadoes aren't one of them.

strange, dark, paranoid, little world in which you live, probusiness. as someone who is steeped in business all around the world, and deal with regulation, taxes, labor and market challenges everywhere, i must say that your notions strike me as particularly narrow and bizarre.

TO: ProBusiness who wrote:

"Okay, I'm ready - a rare weather event so MUST go due to Global Warming. Forget the fact that although rare they HAVE happened in the past just like hurricanes that have hit New England decades past have ALSO happened but THIS time it is due to SUV's and trucks, air conditioning, and cows with gas. So let's hear the nonsense further. Tornadoes in December MUST be due to Global Warming."

Well, how much devastation are you willing to accept before you're convinced that burning fossil fuels is the cause of global warming?

I've read that we only have 4 years left to address this conundrum before it's irreversible.

I'm glad that I live in a State where the majority here agree that it's NOT worth the risk to ignore the reality of global warming, and folks actually DO things to cut down on burning fossil fuels.

If you really believe in what your name says, termslimits than it is you who has the narrow world-view.
If the greatest leader of all-time, almost like another william taft, came
around woud you really only want him to have four years to improve the whole
nation? That’s a very immature stance to take man.

Americangirl, i’ve read a lot of stuff that the doomsdayers say but it’s
obviously not all true, why by into that
money-hungry green-industry talking-points when you can do the real
investigation on your own and see that it’s probably not the way that you
currently beleive your global warmongering says it is.

"Okay, I'm ready - a rare weather event so MUST go due to Global Warming. Forget the fact that although rare they HAVE happened in the past just like hurricanes that have hit New England decades past have ALSO happened but THIS time it is due to SUV's and trucks, air conditioning, and cows with gas. So let's hear the nonsense further. Tornadoes in December MUST be due to Global Warming."

Always seems funny to me that during discussions regarding weather, the first mention of "global warming" usually comes from someone trying to slam those who might believe that there's something to global warming...You'd sort of think the global warming groupies would come first...just sayin'.

TO: LitterHater who wrote:

"Americangirl, i’ve read a lot of stuff that the doomsdayers say but it’s obviously not all true, why by into that money-hungry green-industry talking-points when you can do the real investigation on your own and see that it’s probably not the way that you currently beleive your global warmongering says it is."

That's why I asked the question: "How much devastation are you willing to accept before you believe?"

The research is there, but like they say: You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

All the research in the world is there for you, but if you still choose NOT to believe, it won't do you one bit of good.

We do seem to be experiencing conditions favorable to tornados more and more, but whether its realated to global warming, I do not know. I would think it should be studied thoroughly and not ignored as "normal routine" though.

Tornadoes in December? Strange indeed. In sourthern states? Interesting. Hurricane season hasn't even started yet. Less than two months into the federal fiscal year and FEMA is out of money people. NY, NJ & Conn are at the top of the FEMA list. Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, please move to the back of the line. Jsut 3 of the 34 states that get more federal $0.95 for every $1.00 they pay in taxes. Gotta love that fiscal cliff.

I would think it should be studied thoroughly and not ignored as "normal routine" though.

Scientists are looking at it, TFNJ. They just don't see any strong link.

Recent analyses of changes in severe local weather (tornadoes, thunder days, lightning and hail) in a few selected regions provide no compelling evidence for widespread systematic long-term changes.

However, there was almost intriguing analysis presented to the AMA last year, after the deadly outbreak of tornadoes in places like Joplin. Seems that two jetstreams (equatorial and mid-latitude) got 'tangled up' that year, and created the perfect conditions to spawn massive tornado outbreaks.

The researchers observed that the equatorial stream was pushed much farther north than usual - and that 'push' could be tied to warming conditions at the equator. It's interesting, but far from conclusive.

Side note: how did you fare through Sandy? We were climate refugees for two weeks (no power, water, etc.), and it still looks like a war zone around here.

We are like the frog that is put in a kettle of water slowly heated that kills said unsuspecting frog. Instead of the frog that is placed in a kettle full of hot water jumping out. Even the simple thinkers, like me, can look at the history of my local climate through the weather channel and see that things are getting warmer just based of the record highs and lows and current weather. No need for a genius to tell me. I can see it. Not admitting it is denying your own eyes.

American Girl: Don't know how old you are but when I was a kid all we heard about on the news and at school was how the earth was heading for another ice age. When the people didn't fall for their bull and failed to fall in line to the eco-nazis ideas they jumped on something that's been happening throughout earths history the cycle of global heating and cooling. It's a proven fact that the earth has been going through these cycles since the beginning I mean heck the poles at one time had no ice on them whatsoever and Antartica was a tropical land. Go back to the 13th century and there was no north sea ice and plenty of more evidence that this is purely a planetary cycle. Think about this we have on this planet right now 1% more land mass then existed just 10,000 years ago and that means that the water was frozen up in the polar caps. Now mother earth is wanting that land back and there's nothing anybody can do about it.

Hellp Physicist, a large tree fell on our sun room, but no damage to the actual house luckily. But yeah no power for a week. We sat there waiting it out inthe dark cold. Don't want to go through that again.

Hope things are getting back to normal for you.

American Girl: Don't know how old you are but when I was a kid all we heard about on the news and at school was how the earth was heading for another ice age.

Absolutely incorrect. A grand total of 7 papers predicted a cooling trend, based on increased sulfate emissions from coal plants. When the coal plant emissions were cleaned up (remember the EPA rules to reduce acid rain?), that brief cooling period ended, and global warming from CO2 was evident to all but a handful of well-paid deniers.

That's such a tired talking point, T-Bird. It's absolutely false, and people should just stop using it to divert from the true facts of the matter.

TO: T_Bird69 who wrote:

"American Girl: Don't know how old you are but when I was a kid all we heard about on the news and at school was how the earth was heading for another ice age..."

I guess we're not the same age and didn't go to the same school, cause I was always taught that the planet would finally end in heat (and flames if you want to go biblical).

Hello Physicist, a large tree fell on our sun room

Wow. Glad no one was hurt.

I just put down $13,900 for a permanent, automatic natural gas generator. I've had to leave my home for at least a week 3 times in the last 15 months, and I'm just tired of dealing with that. When the generator is installed, falling trees will be the biggest worry here.

I'm in the process of taking trees away. The one that fell had been on my mind for a while and seems I waited too long. In the dark we were watching it sway knowing it would fall. Luckily in landed more toward the yard.

Yeah, a generator would have been great.

It's a proven fact that the earth has been going through these cycles since the beginning I mean heck the poles at one time had no ice on them whatsoever and Antartica was a tropical land.

True enough. However that does not mean that the current well-documented warming trend is not due to our dumping more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels. Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were very high 50 million years ago when Antartica had a tropical climate, possibly due to enhanced volcanic activity. The relationship between average global temperatures and atmospheric carbon dioxide is well established. What is different about the current warming trend compared to previous ones is its speed. Previous cycles occured over thousands or hundreds of thousands of years, allowing adequate time for the ecosystem to adapt to the changing environment. The current warming trend is occuring over decades.

Doomed just a matter of time greed has won for now, the weather will only get worse good luck looking for another planet idiots

These "Rare December Tornadoes" aren't so rare!!

Dec. 2010--- At least 20 tornadoes struck Arkansas,Missouri and Illinois.

http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/tornado-deaths-cincinnati-arkansas_2010-12-31

Dec. 2011

6 tornadoes hit Louisiana.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/bmx/?n=event_12222011

There were MANY more Dec. tornadoes. The NBC NEWS staff apparently don't know how to research!

Just use Google and the search term December tornadoes!!

LittleHater, the name only urges that we rid ourselves of the scourge of the professional poltician of both parties, and find some true, learned, competent, devoted, citizen statesmen, who are like our founding fathers and the people they thought would continue in their steps. We, unfortunately, have allowed ourselves to be taken over by he incompetent Washington establishment, comprised of thieves from both parties, whose members thrive behind all the venom spewed in their resective names and colors by their moronic, sheep-like rank-and-file, who fight for their ridiculous, ill-conceived dogma that doesn't even mean anything.

Why did Comcast collapse Peel Layer's post?.. although hyperbolic, it parroted the NBC talking points.

Did Comcast do that? I thought it was a result of other posters hitting the "!".

Physicist: I don't know wth you're calling false because it's the absolute truth I lived it. At the time it had absolutely nothing to do with coal fired plants, but the eco-nazis sure was pushing the ice age bs. Heck it was one of the main teaching points in science class not just at my school but we had the same exact science books that were used nation wide and getting taught the same exact thing that's FACT. It's FACT that schools, news and eco-nazis was pushing the ice age bs then just as man made global warming is getting pushed now, but this time they are riding on what the planet has always been doing. What you typed up in 1.20 is absolute horse @!$%# there wasn't nothing I typed in my previous post that was false.

It's FACT that schools, news and eco-nazis was pushing the ice age bs then

I understand your confusion, T-Bird, because one of those 7 papers caught the attention of Time magazine, and actually made the cover story.

It's always best to go to actual science sources for science issues. Time magazine is not a science source. Many ecology activists are unfamiliar with the actual science as well. I don't ask my dentist about heart issues - I ask my cardiologist. Go to the science source, and you'll understand the science much better.

Physicistdude,

He probably had a science teacher that had heard the ice age story and thought it worth telling in class.

Didn't know about any Time story, but it was taught in schools nation wide. It was broadcast on the main world news sources of the time (ABC,NBC,CBS, BBC) just like the mmgw bs is being done and being pushed by the same type of individuals. There isn't anything confusing about any of that, facts are facts that the scientific community, schools and eco-nazis were pushing the ice age bs then to further their agenda. Not only is there no confusion you should listen to people I know where they were schooled on US Military bases overseas and taught the same thing.

Whew...and I thought no one would actually blame politics!! Thank you so much for being the first!!! {major sarc}

What do you mean “blaming politics”? I’m blaming the weather and bad
luck for the fact that the south is disproportionately targetted with abnormal
weather events not the obama or bush or clint eastwood or anything like that.
If there is anyone to blame right now though it would be ignorant people like
you who don’t understand the heartache and devestation that these people are
going through right now just before the holliday season. Maybe you should move
to somwhere that doesn’t celebrate christmas if you want to be such a negative
nancy and leave the good folks of georgia alone.

Drop the litter after that tirade. Georgia is not alone in weather related tragedies. Have you already forgotten Sandy or perhaps the memeories of the terrible wildfires in Colorado have slipped your mind.

I’m not saying that disasters don’t happen elsewhere just that the
weather is the most brutal towards people in these southern states. For
example, Florida is forced to deal with the most lightening-realted deaths year
after year with north carolina not that far behind. Also floods and extreme
heat are common plagues that these people are unjustly affected by and while
colorado may have these horrible wildfires they are also less-developed and
therefore have more open areas in which fires don’t affect people like they
would if they happened in georgia. Aside from earthquakes and tsunami’s, the
south has to deal with all other types of weather-tragedies and the fact that
you’d try to dismiss then like that is utterly disgraceful and you should
really take a moment to consider what is really happening in the world.

TO: LitterHater who wrote:

"I'm not saying that disasters don't happen elsewhere just that the weather is the most brutal towards people in these southern states..."

I don't wish any harm to anyone, especially, like you said, during the holiday season.

But I'm not sure to which "historical gems" you refer.

The southern states scream the loudest to "drill baby drill", and popular opinion points to global warming brought on by burning fossil fuels as the cause for this devastating and damaging climate change. It's largely the southern states that refuse to accept any legitimacy of global warming.

Then there's that time, and some say even to this day, that the racism that came out of the South was the worst in the history of the world (next to Nazi Germany), then there's salvery, and the South has a sad reputation of ignorance, etc.

Just sayin', there are other folks out there who have a whole different story about the South.

Well americangirl i agree with some of what you said but that’s all in
the past, the current people of the south are some of the most cordial and
accepting people there are and while of course there are exceptions (like there
are anywhere) it isn’t fair to criticize them all just because of it. Nobody rational
looks at the current german-people and wants to fight them because of what
their ancestors did and that’s because we have developed as a species enoguh to
realize taht such hate does not make any sense, judge a people based upon their
merits/actions not their background.

And as far as the drilling babyies crows I’d saythat the southern people were
pretty traumatized by the B.P. oil-spill and have tempered down that argument
some, in fact the alaskan people are the ones most loudly clammoring for drilling
now because they stand to make the most because of it and many of those regions
realy need those jobs to come in which would bea huge benefit for them. And i mean that the
south is very culuturally significant today and needs to be respected as such
not just cast aside as backwards or whatever some people often seem to say.

TO: LitterHater who wrote:

"Well americangirl i agree with some of what you said but that’s all in the past, the current people of the south are some of the most cordial and accepting people there are and while of course there are exceptions (like there are anywhere) it isn’t fair to criticize them all just because of it..."

Ok, so let's just say there are more "exceptions" in the South than anywhere else in the United States.

I just recently met a very nice lady from Mississippi, but as nice and as well-dressed as she was, she could hardly wait to start talking about anybody and everybody that wasn't (let's just say) "from the South".

Yeah that’s called being loyal to your home-town, as long as you aren’t
saying to hell with everyone else there’s absolutely nothing wrong with talking
up the place that you came from and know and love – most everybody does that
americangirl and I’m sorry if you grew up in some texas craphole and aren’t
able to be proud about it as well.

TO: LitterHater who wrote:

"Yeah that’s called being loyal to your home-town, as long as you aren’t saying to hell with everyone else there’s absolutely nothing wrong with talking up the place that you came from and know and love – most everybody does that americangirl and I’m sorry if you grew up in some texas craphole and aren’t able to be proud about it as well."

Texas? Me? Never. "Crapholes" are out too.

Liberals like me can only be found where the air is fresh, the water is clean, and neighbors still "love thy neighbors".

And "pride" is one of the 7 deadly sins.

^
This whole conversation is entirely based on logical fallacies; it's actually rather funny.

LitterHater,

Glad you hate litter. Me too. But on the subject of climate changes, they can happen much quicker than one would think. If, for example, an ocean current changes, then one could expect overnight changes in weather patterns. Not thousands of years.

When anomalies become more and more the norm, they are no longer anomalies. For instance, not just one or two months of increased worldwide temperature increases but rather 362 straight months. These are fast becoming something with a great deal more impact than anomalies, despite your insistence on labeling those with whom you disagree as idiots.

So what, 362 months isn’t that many in the grand scheme of things
piglizard, talk to me when that number hits a thousand (which i promise will not
happen). And Plotinus, ys you’re correct about this but he’s talking about
weather patterns caused by these invisible particulates in the air which can’t
change the climate like global underwater currents obviously can.

eat cat shlt hater

Wow, that’s a very scientific response in defense of your lofty
hypothesiss, gmdmart, you must be discovering all sorts of truths about nature
with that gargantuen brain of yours, the world’s lucky to have you.

TO: LitterHater who wrote:

"So what, 362 months isn’t that many in the grand scheme of things..."

It is now a days.

Isn't 362 months about 30 years? I've read in the newspaper we only have 4 years left to change our "fossil fuel burning" ways before much of global warming becomes irreversible.

I guess there are just some folks who just don't want to see it coming, but it's coming anyway, believe it or not, like it or not.

Not that i believe that four-years talking point thing but if it were
true wouldn’t that mean that it’s impossible to do anything? Societies the
world over rely on fossil-fuels, youcan’t just expect them to reduce their
useage to zero within four years, that’d be literally impossible to implement
on taht large of a scale.

TO: LitterHater who wrote:

"Not that i believe that four-years talking point thing but if it were true wouldn't that mean that it's impossible to do anything? Societies the world over rely on fossil-fuels, youcan't just expect them to reduce their useage to zero within four years, that'd be literally impossible to implement on taht large of a scale."

The election is over, so there are no more "talking points".

I just read that story about 3 weeks ago, about having 4 years to do something to reverse global warming, so I don't believe it's irreversible YET, but soon. Which is why New York Mayer Bloomberg went and got Al Gore to make an appeal to the President to do more to fight global warming, especially since Hurricane Sandy absolutely devastated parts of New York and New Jersey.

I think it said that United States and China are the biggest climate abusers because we burn more fossil fuels than any other nations on earth.

And no, not all nations are as highly industrialized as we are, and that's why we burn more fuel, and contribute the most to global warming and other countries actually contribute very little.

China creates four times more CO2 emmissions than the United States does
americangirl but good luck going over there and telling them to cut that by
even 1%, they’ll never agree to it because they’re making way too much money
off of it. And why should we kill ourselves economically by stopping our CO2
emmisions when China never will, it just wouldn’t make any sense and would make
us a third-world nation. Think of it like the nuclear-missle crisis with the
Soviets during the cold war, both sides would have to agree to cut-back
gradually but the chiensse aren’ta s reasonable as the soviets were.

AmericanGirl,

You may find this article very interesting.

LitterHater,

China creates four times more CO2 emmissions than the United States does

China's 2011 emissions were 9.7 billion tons. The U.S. came in at 5.42 billion tons. Source.

That's a very far cry from 4 times as much. It isn't even twice as much, although China's population is nearly 3 times our own. Per person, the Chinese emit only a fraction of what Americans do - 17.2 metric tons for every American versus 5.3 metric tons for every Chinese citizen.

The Chinese also lead the world in green energy investments - $257 billion just last year alone.

Let's keep this factual.

TO: Physicist-retired who wrote:

"AmericanGirl, You may find this article very interesting..."

You're right. Thanks.

China's new model for "green cities".

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/13/tianjin-eco-city_n_806972.html#s221860

It does seem they have their eye on the future. Of course all green initiatives are just Al Gore scams here in America. The rest of the world could give a schitt less about Al Gore and will just leave us to our arguing libertarianism while they continue to advance.

Humans took a wrong turn way back not so smart cant even govern themselves tried for 1000s of years and look all in shambles , what stupidity keep at it more to come

Economy killer, can you please send that message to the piglizard’s
account, he could really use that information more than most although it is
very compelling data without a doubt.

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.

Wtf? If you’re talking about the nile river’s flooding of its banks that’s
been happening since human civilization first settled there and is neccessar
for vegetative life to grow there, don’t go on attributing it to global warming
as well that’s just rediculous.

LMAO

Lil' American Girl just blew Litterhater's cover. Didn't take much to do it, either. Subtle jokes and word play are beyond the capacity of little brains. Or maybe gdimatt got him off balance.

EconomyKillerdude,

Yep, you're right about the number of tornados this year. The numbers vary quite dramatically year to year, mostly as you pointed out due to La Niña/El Niño. I do wonder, though, if there has not been some change in the "alley" or in the seasons. This is currently being argued by many. I tend to believe they are happening in areas not normally associated with tornadic activity and are happening at strange times of the year.

TO: Plotinus who wrote:

"LMAO Lil' American Girl just blew Litterhater's cover. Didn't take much to do it, either. Subtle jokes and word play are beyond the capacity of little brains. Or maybe gdimatt got him off balance..."

I laughed so hard when I read LitterHater's response!

What a tickle!

People’s lives have been ruined, lrxxl, have some friggin compassion you
wouldn’t be saying that crap if it had happened to you and your family show
some respect or don’t bother trying to live in society.

STFU, your the town fool all over this vine thread.

Yeah i’m a fool because I care about the suffering and heart-break of
others and want to wish them my support... wow this world really is a twisted
place if you can throw anomosity at me for that – i really hope that tragedy
never goes your way cause you obviously wouldn’t have the inner strength to be
able to deal with it like this salt-of-the-earth people do.

I never wished anything on anyone pea brain. The trailers don't hold up, guess reading comprehension is not a strong point.

You are a new Fool and only twist and berate others. It will be fun to watch you get an A whipping on a real story, LOL.

Again, how can you belittle the suffering of your fellow human beings?
You don’t think that this is a “Real story”, why were not enough people’s lives
ruined to catch your interest? I guess that that means that murders and
house-fires aren’t real sotries to you either then, i bet you’re just dying for
the next genocide to happen so you’ll have a reason to watch the news again then you idiot.

blah blah blah, same drool, LOL

Goodbye Troll.

We’re not looking for travel-directions, jones, we’re talking about
these devestating storms, take that pointdexxter crap somewhere else because
there are real issues on the line here.

I live in NW Alabama so I'm WELL AWARE of devastating storms thank you very much. Destruction from the 4/27/11 tornadoes is still evident in my area. I was simply pointing out the correction for future updates by NBC staff.

The nbc staff was probably worried about portraying this in a
respectable light more than what highway connects to what jones, and i doubt
they’ll have the time to take your word for it since you can’t prove that you
live in alabama either way.

LitterHater,

Tranquillo dude. Chill out. On this forum we usually do some poking at each other in fun. Don't be taking it all so damned serious. And a point to ponder. Never, ever claim any moral high ground. You'll be more than ridiculed. We all get up in the morning and take our craps. Those that don't are usually full of schitt.

Rick really how ignorant can you be, nowhere in the story does it say
that these devestated people are even asking for help although they should you are the biggest scumbag to come in here
and say that crap. and the affected area isn't even tornado-alley idiot

TO: LitterHater who wrote:

"...nowhere in the story does it say that these devestated people are even asking for help although they should ..."

But see, that's the hypocrisy of it all. The Southern States are the "welfare" states and yet they scream the loudest against FEMA and Obamacare and they just can't stand the thought of helping their neighbor, or having national "rapid response" teams in place to help people who become devastated by weather events or catastrophic illness and just plain devastation to the American People such as Hurricane Sandy, or Hurricane Katrina.

Just about every American agrees that we need to have emergency response teams in place at all times EXCEPT the Southern States that even shouted out to let one of their neighbors "die" rather than have affordable healthcare for all Americans during the Republican National Debates.

It's just impossible to get any compassion out of some of those folks who love to call themselves "rednecks" UNTIL it's THEM.

Well they havea heritage of being
self-sufficient so it can’t be all that surprising that they beleive they can
deal with disaster relief on their own and therefore take some of the burden
off of the taxpayers which is always a good thing. And i doubt that they really
want their neighbors to die rather than have to recieve obamacare, i’m sure
that they just don’t belioeve that the government telling you what doctors you
can and should not be able to see and all of taht along with the increased
premiums and all those type of thigns that come along with. Lots of people
around the nation hold similiar opinions though, americangirl, it’s not just
people from the southern states.

TO: LitterHater who wrote:

"Well they have a heritage of being self-sufficient..."

But they're not "self-sufficient", they're "welfare states" which means they don't pull their own weight and states like the one I live in often have to make up for their short fall.

It seems like you have a whole host of ideas and opinions that Southerners rarely, if ever, actually live up to, and that may just be their personal lifestyle.

I remember seeing Haley Barbour on TV almost daily after Hurricane Katrina trying to get more and more FEMA aid into Mississippi, so I tend to believe that there's more "faking independence" going on than there is actual "independence" and that the southern states have their hands stretched out for "free" taxpayer money more than the other states, and more often.

Guitarma,

Yeah, sometimes the nuts come rolling out of the woodwork. We have many readers here only for the entertainment.

Terry,

There be a mite of truth in what you posted.

I don't know any better since I live in the North East, and have no knowledge of past tornados in the south in December. So I have to believe what is reported in the news. But it brings up a good point: Just who determined these tornados to be rare? A scientist with actual data, or the news team looking at past reports and couldn't find any other stories?

I notice no one was quoted in the article.

Who cares whetheror not they’re rare? Rapes aren’t all that rare but
when it happens to someone close to me you can be damned sure that it’s going
to be devestating to everyone around me. Stop arguing about the semantics
behind the article and have some respect for the devestated individuals
involved.

Holly is right, they are not all that rare that far south, doesn't matter what month it is. Rare is headline put on it by Newvine.

Do you have scars due to a rape during a rare tornado Littlehater?

This stuff is really easy to look up, people.

Florida averages 2 tornadoes in the month of December - the least amount for any month of the year. Yesterday there were at least 4.

From NOAA:

Monthly Tornado Occurrence Maps

[January| February| March| April| May| June| July| August| September| October| November| December

Watch out Holly. According to LitterHater you can't prove you live in Florida so your comment is therefore null & void. Sheesh.

A moron. There are mobile homes in every state.

OK, Litterhater, you won the bleeding heart of the year award. Go put it on your mantle with all the rest of the "look at me I'm a good guy" trophies and stroke yourself some more. You obviously don't spend much time on the vine.

I fear he probably strokes himself a little too much. We shouldn't encourage it; he could go blind.

Someotherguy,

Actually I used to jokingly wonder if it wasn't all that aluminum attracting them. I grew up in Texas and it seemed that trailer parks always always got hit. But that is a far stretch to really even consider. I did notice that in our particular area, one that was very tornado prone, the storms seemed to follow the rivers and streams a lot. But let's face it, tornadoes are one of the least understood of weather phenomena.

No. very few people get his humor. I do, and I added him as a friend.

http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/are-we-living-ice-age

Global warming has been a cycle for millions of years. This isn't the first one nor will it be the last. Get over it tree-hugger alarmist.

TO: politicians are greasy criminals who wrote:

"... To you global warming freaks, we are currently in an an ice age..."

By "ice age" do you mean the age in which our polar ice caps are melting, because that's what's happening right now, as we speak.

I don't recall ever learning or reading anything about portions of New York and New Jersey being destroyed by a hurricane, except in the movies that predicted severe climate events brought on by global warming.

American Girl -

I don't recall ever learning or reading anything about portions of New York and New Jersey being destroyed by a hurricane,

You might want to research 1869, 1938 and 1944. Just because you hadn't heard of it,doesn't mean it didn't happen. The upper mid-Atlantic coast has been pretty quiet for several decades.

For your reading pleasure.

http://gowanuslounge.blogspot.com/2007/06/in-honor-of-hurricane-season-hog-island.html

Read your own link, Brian:

Factor such as changes in the Earth's axis and orbit; tectonic plate shifting; volcanic matter explosions or meteoric impacts; and an increase in carbon dioxide emission from industrial pollution all contribute to changes in the Earth's climate.

I highly recommend that you watch the video at that link, too.

As for hurricane Sandy, hurricanes have hit NY and NJ before. You're right.

But meteorologists have never seen a late-season hurricane actually gain strength as it hit record-warm waters off the coast of Delmarva and NJ, nor have they seen such a huge blocking high pressure system off Greenland (caused by record-low Arctic ice levels this summer) force a hard left turn at such a high latitude so late in the season.

This one was completely due to AGW. If you were paying attention to the science behind this, it's as clear as the nose on your face.

I looked at it, but I was merely responding with facts to American Girl's obviously unresearched statement. Tell you what P-R, Once the global temperatures breaks in one direction or another from the current pause, I'll let you know if I think anthropogenic CO2 is a catastrophic contributor to global warming.

Once the global temperatures breaks in one direction or another from the current pause, I'll let you know if I think anthropogenic CO2 is a catastrophic contributor to global warming.

The escalator.

What pause be ye speaking of? Something that was reported in Fox News? There is a myth being perpetuated, obviously by those with a vested interest in denying GW, that claims the earth has not warmed since 1998. The following link tries to show how the misunderstanding came about.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14527-climate-myths-global-warming-stopped-in-1998.html

Plotinus - I used the NOAA global climate analysis and ran a month-by-month five-year moving average of temperature anomaly starting in 2000, intentionally avoiding the 1997 El Nino extreme. Combined global temperature anomaly has not increased since 2005.

Combined global temperature anomaly has not increased since 2005.

When temperatures are corrected for natural fluctuations, global warming has continued unabated.

Researchers Grant Foster of Tempo Analytics and Stefan Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research examined five widely used time series of global temperatures at the surface and in the lower atmosphere during the period 1979 to 2010. Their statistical analysis builds upon previous studies and estimates the impacts of the three top sources of natural climate variability - The El Nino-Southern Oscillation or ENSO; aerosol particles from volcanic eruptions; and fluctuations in the energy output of the sun.

After estimating the influence of these natural factors on global temperatures, Foster and Rahmstorf remove them from the temperature chart, leaving an adjusted time series of global temperatures from 1979 through 2010 that shows what they call “the true global warming signal” - which shows unabated warming through 2010.

The study presents yet more evidence contradicting the climate meme that global warming stopped in 1998, although as with most memes, this one will likely persist regardless of what the actual evidence shows.

Graphs and analysis at the link. The ENSO cycle plays a major role in annual temperatures, Brian.

After estimating the influence of these natural factors on global temperatures...

It's obvious that natural influences are significantly dominant

Didn't even bother to read it, did you?

The study presents yet more evidence contradicting the climate meme that global warming stopped in 1998, although as with most memes, this one will likely persist regardless of what the actual evidence shows.

I read it. Intellectual incest provided by one of the IPCC Fourth Assessment lead authors and his statistician sidekick.

Here's the complete study, Brian. I look forward to reading your analysis of the 'errors' in Rahmstorf's methods.

We characterize the ENSO by the multivariate el Ni˜no index, or MEI (Wolter and Timlin 1993, 1998).8 For volcanic influence we use the aerosol optical thickness data from Sato et al (1993), or AOD.9 To characterize the solar influence on temperature we use the total solar irradiance (TSI) data from Fr¨ohlich(2006).

To test whether the results might be sensitive to these choices, we also did experiments characterizing el Ni˜no by the southern oscillation index (SOI) rather than MEI,characterizing volcanic aerosols by the volcanic forcing estimate of Ammann et al (2003) rather than the AOD data from Sato et al, and using monthly sunspot numbers as a proxy for solar activity rather than TSI.

None of these substitutions affected the results in a significant way, establishing that this analysis is robust to the choice of data to represent exogenousfactors.

Much more at the link. Personal attacks aside, where is the science wrong?

Let's go right to the conclusion:

The adjusted data....(most likely these are exclusively anthropogenic) has been remarkably steady during the 32 years...

If the CO2 forced models are correct and this 32 year trend was due anthropgenic CO2 the base temperature trend should match the 1-3% annual increase in global CO2 emissions rather than be "remarkably steady".

You seem to enjoy changing the subject quite a lot, Brian. Rather than address the actual question, one can simply move the goal post.

That's okay, though, because I've been studying climate change for a very long time now - and the issue you raise is a simple one. Climate forcing due to CO2 should look like the annual rise in atmospheric CO2 levels - not the increase in emissions (can you tell me why they're different?).

Here's Mauna Loa's 50 year record on atmospheric CO2 levels. 'Remarkably steady', isn't it?

I'll wait for your analysis of Rahmstorf's methods, and just where he went wrong. I'll also wait for your explanation on why atmospheric CO2 levels do not rise at the same rate as annual emissions. If you understand climate science, that should be very easy to do indeed.

From the chart, the increase in atm CO2 is 10 ppmv for the decade of the 60/70's and 20 ppmv for the decade of the 90/00's. Not remarkably steady, not close to linear. A faulty conclusion is a faulty conclusion regardless of manipulation of the data and perhaps a better conclusion from the data might have been the models appear to over estimate the impact of anthropogenic CO2.

Look at the data during the 32 years covered by the paper we're discussing. That's a bit more relevant, wouldn't you agree? Rahmstrof says nothing about the 1960s, or the rate of global warming during that period.