Weather and other extremes 2010-2011 Big time global warming!!!

[center rising]

Dr. Jeff Masters has a great, but truly scary summary of just how extreme some of the events that happened during the past year were. For everyone who says that global warming does not exist, I have a feeling this might change your mind. Scary stuff indeed.


http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/article.html

[Springer9]

1. 2010 - 2011: Earth's most extreme weather since 1816?

Why did he have to put the 1816 part in? Just leave well enough alone, someone could drive a truck through that opening.

[kestrel91316]

2. 1816 doesn't do anything to harm the fundamental science behind

global warming/climate change, nor disprove it in any way.

[Zoeisright]

4. Hardly. Measurements have improved greatly in the last 10 years, let alone

the last 200 years.

[Springer9]

6. Then he should have left out the whole 1816 comparison

it's not relevant, why bring it up?

[Angry Dragon]

3. There is no global warming

it is climate change ............ when you use global warming and you get 2 feet of snow they just say, 'See there is no warming, how do you explain that'

[center rising]

5. 2 foot snowstorms are part of global warming

A warmer atmosphere holds more water, thus it maybe 25 degrees outside, but because we have a warmer planet overall, we get bigger and bigger snow events. All part of the bigger picture.

[Angry Dragon]

7. You may be able to understand that but any

republican you run across does not understand, so it is far better to just use the term climate change and hope they see it, but they even have trouble understanding the climate is changing and it will lead to many big changes.

They have a great deal of trouble holding any facts in their feeble brains, so the simpler the better

[center rising]

8. Your typical Republican understands very little

But if you want, climate change it is.

[no_hypocrisy]

9. When a substantial amount of farmland is under water or parched for more than two years,

republicans (and insurance companies) may stop calling this phenomenon "aberations" and/or "Acts of God" and doggedly start using the proper description: global warming.

[Motown_Johnny]

10. .

The proper description is climate change. because parts of the globe are cooling.


If/when the Gulf Stream shuts down then Europe's climate will change, but it will not warm.

[Hugabear]

11. Rethugs also believe that tax cuts for the rich create jobs

And many of them believe the earth is only 6000 years old.

In other words, who gives a fuck what they think. They will not listen to reason. You can call it "global warming" or "climate change", either way they'll still argue with you.

[malaise]

12. K & R n/t

[Motown_Johnny]

13. Most extreme winter Arctic atmospheric circulation on record

This is the kind of stuff that is causing real change.


^snip^

The atmospheric circulation in the Arctic took on its most extreme configuration in 145 years of record keeping during the winter of 2009 - 2010. The Arctic is normally dominated by low pressure in winter, and a "Polar Vortex" of counter-clockwise circulating winds develops surrounding the North Pole. However, during the winter of 2009 - 2010, high pressure replaced low pressure over the Arctic, and the Polar Vortex weakened and even reversed at times, with a clockwise flow of air replacing the usual counter-clockwise flow of air. This unusual flow pattern allowed cold air to spill southwards and be replaced by warm air moving poleward. Like leaving the refrigerator door ajar, the Arctic "refrigerator" warmed, and cold Arctic air spilled out into "living room" where people live. A natural climate pattern called the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and its close cousin, the Arctic Oscillation (AO) were responsible. Both of these patterns experienced their strongest-on-record negative phase, when measured as the pressure difference between the Icelandic Low and Azores High.


The extreme Arctic circulation caused a bizarre upside-down winter over North America--Canada had its warmest and driest winter on record, forcing snow to be trucked in for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, but the U.S. had its coldest winter in 25 years. A series of remarkable snow storms pounded the Eastern U.S., with the "Snowmageddon" blizzard dumping more than two feet of snow on Baltimore and Philadelphia. Western Europe also experienced unusually cold and snowy conditions, with the UK recording its 8th coldest January. A highly extreme negative phase of the NAO and AO returned again during November 2010, and lasted into January 2011. Exceptionally cold and snowy conditions hit much of Western Europe and the Eastern U.S. again in the winter of 2010 - 2011. During these two extreme winters, New York City recorded three of its top-ten snowstorms since 1869, and Philadelphia recorded four of its top-ten snowstorms since 1884. During December 2010, the extreme Arctic circulation over Greenland created the strongest ridge of high pressure ever recorded at middle levels of the atmosphere, anywhere on the globe (since accurate records began in 1948.) New research suggests that major losses of Arctic sea ice could cause the Arctic circulation to behave so strangely, but this work is still speculative.