Snow and Arctic sea ice extent plummet suddenly as globe bakes

[phantom power]

NOAA and NASA both ranked June 2013 among the top five warmest (NOAA fifth warmest, NASA second warmest) Junes on record globally (dating back to the late 1800s). But, more remarkable, was the incredible snow melt that preceded the toasty month and the sudden loss of Arctic sea ice that followed.

The amazing decline in Northern Hemisphere snow cover during May is a story few have told, but is certainly worth noting. In April, hefty Northern Hemisphere snow cover ranked 9th highest on record (dating back to 1967), but then turned scant, plummeting to third lowest on record during May. Half of the existing snow melted away.

“This is likely one of the most rapid shifts in near opposite extremes on record, if not the largest from April to May,” said climatologist David Robinson, who runs Rutgers University Global Snow Lab.

The snow extent shrunk from 12.4 million square miles to 6.2 million square miles in a month’s time. By June, just 2.3 million square miles of snow remained in the Northern Hemisphere (a decline of 63 percent from May), third lowest on record.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/07/18/snow-and-arctic-ice-extent-plummet-suddenly-as-globe-bakes/

[Laelth]

1. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth

[Gregorian]

2. Gratuitous carbon emissions ahoy!

I like the Tour de France, but can you imagine the carbon footprint? The vip helicopters alone. The 200,000 cars that drove up to the climbs to watch. The reconnaissance trips pre-tour to check out the routes.

That's just one small event on the planet.

People don't have a fucking clue. And the frivolous activity is increasing. I was getting groceries when I overheard tourists in the store asking someone where they should go next. I'm probably one of the few people on the planet who can overhear what seems normal to everyone, and come home unhappy because I can see clearly what is happening.

[FirstLight]

5. ...*SO* flipin true!

I am starting to hate humans and their sleepwalking more and moe each day. I, too, live in a tourist town and see all kinds of waste and gluttony and lack of concern for nature abound. We just had the "Celebrity Golf Tournament at Edgewood" there were private jets flying in & out for several days...not to mention the cars people drive to get here and the boats they put on the lake... ack!

I personally wouldn't mind if the tourism dried up and we had a quite little mtn town with hardly any traffic, lots of bikers, etc. But it would only happen of the rest of civilization fell.

[pscot]

3. K&R

[Hydra]

4. Add that to how Antarctic ice is melting from the bottom

Which was not in the initial calculations(neither was the ice shifting to darker color as it melts), and we're further along on this than most of us thought.

[FirstLight]

6. I've been sayin it all along...

all those models they keep referring to, say that this isn't supposed to happen for what, 100 yrs? ya, more like exponentially it is happening within the decade...

and it is a runaway train at this point. All we can do is watch as the pot we are in boils over...

[Hydra]

7. Yep, I remember last summer

And I knew we were screwn at that point. We're past the tipping point, into a feedback loop...and the ride is about to get more bumpy.

Whether we had a chance to stop this or it's just cyclical, it's too late now.

[hatrack]

8. At this rate (famous three last words) we'll be looking at crossover below 12 records early Sep.

Then again, "at this rate" . . .