The Pacific Ocean is warmer and so we get snow and mudslides

[Nancy Waterman]

More water is evaporating from the warmer Pacific, and North America gets deluged with rain and snow. Maybe you all knew this, but I only just figured it out today and wanted to share it here (in case you didn't know it). I knew climate change caused extremes of weather, but this fact about the Pacific has been totally missing in any attempts I have heard that try to refute the shallow GOP "its snowing so there is no global warming" crap. This just made it really clear for me.

[HuckleB]

1. Here in the Northwest, we're getting normal rain and way below normal snow because of that...

[Nancy Waterman]

2. Rachel had Bill Nye on to discuss the issue

He mentioned the Pacific warming only very quickly, almost in passing. I don't think he made the issue very clear.
But that one point put it together for me. The ignoramuses really need to be refuted or there will be no change in policy. Already much of the political will is gone.

[Mojambo]

4. And after last winter I'm so glad for that. n/t

[HuckleB]

5. Come the summer time, it's not going to be very good, for our water and energy situation.

Further, last winter's snowpack wasn't much more than normal in the mountains. The freak two weekend snowfall in the Valleys don't mean much when we're talking about average weather, and snowpack needs for the population.

[rufus dog]

3. it is a bit amazing

we all see the weather maps daily with the lows coming up from Mexico and the highs coming down from Alaska, and then a jet stream going across the northern US. So now it has moved down a bit and rather than taking a turn at Seattle, it takes a turn at the CA/Oregon border.

[nilram]

6. global warming: more energy in the system

The atmosphere is warmer, so it holds more moisture--and it dumps more moisture. Bigger, wetter storms of whatever type.

[Sultana]

7. El Nino?

[Nancy Waterman]

8. Finally, it is clearly explained in the media

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/02/no_the_snow_does_not_disprove.html

There are two requirements for a record snow storm:

1) A near-record amount of moisture in the air (or a very slow moving storm).

2) Temperatures cold enough for snow.

It’s not hard at all to get temperatures cold enough for snow in a world experiencing global warming. According to the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, the globe warmed 0.74°C (1.3°F) over the past 100 years. There will still be colder than average winters in a world that is experiencing warming, with plenty of opportunities for snow.

The more difficult ingredient for producing a record snowstorm is the requirement of near-record levels of moisture. Global warming theory predicts that global precipitation will increase, and that heavy precipitation events–the ones most likely to cause flash flooding–will also increase. This occurs because as the climate warms, evaporation of moisture from the oceans increases, resulting in more water vapor in the air.

According to the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, water vapor in the global atmosphere has increased by about 5% over the 20th century, and 4% since 1970. This extra moisture in the air will tend to produce heavier snowstorms, assuming it is cold enough to snow. Groisman et al. (2004) found a 14% increase in heavy (top 5%) and 20% increase in very heavy (top 1%) precipitation events in the U.S. over the past 100 years, though mainly in spring and summer. However, the authors did find a significant increase in winter heavy precipitation events have occurred in the Northeast U.S.

[old mark]

9. As usual, the republicans are against this because they think Democrats

support it. I have a hard time understanding people who have such little connection with reality, but evidently they are everywhere.....



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