Record-Shattering East Coast Warming Offers Handy Preview Of Future Destabilization

[hatrack]

There are records—like Wednesday being the earliest 80-degree day in Washington, D.C., history—and then there are the eye-popping effects of those records, like seeing people wearing T-shirts on the streets of Portland, Maine, in February. However you measure it, Feb. 20-21, 2018, were days for the books—days when the records fell as quickly as the thermometer rose, days that gave a glimpse into the wacky weather that the new era of climate change brings.

"What we have is a large-scale pattern that wouldn't be too uncommon in the spring," said meteorologist Patrick Burke of the National Weather Service. "But it's a little bit unusual to see it set up this way in February—and set up with such persistence."

Central Park hit 76°F. Boston had back-to-back 70°F days. Towns in Virginia and Vermont were pushing 80°F, with some Vermont towns warning residents that rapid snowmelt from the heat could cause a new round of flooding. In Pittsburgh, a high of 78°F beat a record set in 1891 by a whopping 10 degrees.

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EDIT

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21022018/february-record-high-temperature-east-coast-arctic-climate-change-nws

[TreasonousBastard]

1. What, me worry? There seems to be a huge debate going on...

about just what this ice melt means, and what glacial melts will mean. At first glance, it seems it could cause the Gulf Stream to stop, or even reverse, putting everything touching the North Atlantic in a deep freeze. (Thereby solving warming problems, albeit not in the nicest way.)

However, a lot more research into ocean temperatures, air currents, and other stuff is being done, and this might not be the case at all.

Bottom line-- the planet must reflect or dissipate an amount of energy/heat that it receives from the sun or instability results and we will get hotter or cooler. Right now, we are absorbing more heat than we are losing and the ultimate result will not be comfortable.