Study: Harsh Winter A Sign Of Climate Change
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Every time it snows, Drudge, Hannity and the rest of the know-nothing crew take it as an opportunity to deny climate change and to make fat jokes about Al Gore. Once again, the science is not their friend.
‘It’s very hard for any of us to grasp how this larger warming trend is happening when we’re still having wintry weather,’ said National Wildlife Federation climate scientist Amanda Staudt, the new report’s lead writer.
The study charts how climate change is linked to more heavy precipitation, including intense snowstorms like the one that blanketed the D.C. area last month. The Great Lakes region is also experiencing more snow, the report says, because during warmer winters, ‘the lakes are less likely to freeze over or are freezing later [and] surface water evaporation is recharging the atmosphere with moisture.’
The crazies at the National Wildlife Federation describe their mission as “Inspiring Americans to protect wildlife for our children’s future.” That’s like reading the work of Chairman Mao, from where I’m standing.
WaPo: Harsh winter a sign of disruptive climate change, report says
19 Responses to “Study: Harsh Winter A Sign Of Climate Change”
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© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
“The global warming hoax is a Eugenics control grid!”-Alex Jones
Hmm, you have been keeping up with the IPCC scandal, right?
Stormshadow? I’d have gone with Snowjob, myself.
Nice one, Oliver – good to see the occasional sanity-based blog post on this subject in amongst the sea of crazy.
While the Deniers are all squawking about conspiracies and local snow storms, 2009 was the second warmest year on record and 2010 is hot favorite to be the warmest ever.
So, then what would you consider evidence AGAINST
global warming climate change?It seems that, in hindsight, EVERYTHING that happens is cited as proof of climate change. Cold winters. Mild winters. Heavy hurricane seasons. Light hurricane seasons. Average hurricane seasons.
Hmm, you have been keeping up with the IPCC scandal, right?
You mean the latest edition of conservatives making stuff up? Sure.
I don’t think anyone is getting their climate info from those guys anyway. Most of their readers probably don’t believe in climate change anyway.
Speaking for myself, firstly, its important that we accurately define the terms. The climate, as a natural function of its own existence, changes cyclically. The issue is not whether it is changing, but to what degree human activity (primarily industrial and agricultural) is affecting it relative to that cycle.
Now in a literal sense we would be measuring current temperatures against temperatures in a hypothetical world in which man did not exist, which is inherently tricky, so we’re ultimately measuring against trending, which can be open to interpretation. Legitimate scientists can honestly disagree about the extent to which it is happening or if it is at all, and our understanding is as ever enriched by the give and take of such study.
Evidence against Anthropogenic Global Warming, then, would require no less than a vast preponderence of the scientific community revising their present conclusions, presenting new evidence, publically refuting outmoded theories of the past, etc. There is no single anecdote that would ever do that job.
Like Oliver notes, there’s a large attempt to delegitimize Anthropogenic Climate Change through absurdly isolated incidences, effectively saying something akin to “Well if it’s supposed to be summer right now, how come I have ice cream? Ha-HA! Got you diagonally!” This kind of intentional misunderstanding, I hope you’ll agree, does nothing to contribute to the dialog. Thus, what a study like this helps to clarify is that, while colder winters in isolated areas might suggest global temperatures are falling, properly understood, they fit in easily with the model of temperatures rising globally over time, and moreso than they might otherwise.
To address your question then, there’s basically no single winter, however cold, nor summer however mild, nor hurricane however calm or severe, that could possibly do the job of disproving the central thesis of Manmade Global Warming. Firstly because science simply does not work like that, and secondly because for every single anecdote that would seemingly go against the theory, there exists a reasonable explanation for how it would fit in easily.
Now who’s in denial? Even American media is starting to cover the story.
Rael: What would it take to make you admit to human-caused climate change?
Average temp here in Seattle has been 55 degrees this month. I’m liking this whole climate change thing.
Except that Al Gore specifically blamed global warming for causing Katrina.
Works both ways, my friend.
Didn’t realize Der Speigel was American.
Then Al Gore was wrong to say that. We done here, kreskin?
Now wait a second. Global warming contributes to extreme weather, including storms.
Look at the quite cited above: less frozen water means more water evaporation which means more snow.
More snow, then, is not indication that global waing is a hoax, conservatives morons constantly suggest. It is, in fact, a good indication of the opposite.
What Gore says in the trailer (I haven’t seen the film) is that global warming causes more extreme storms. This is absolutely true, validated by the science.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070830105911.htm
http://www.pewclimate.org/hurricanes.cfm#freq
Once again, Farris posts a link that doesn’t say what he claims it says.
Eh? That’s a link to ABC News. Regardless, your deflections speak volumes.