Someone cast Wolven Winter on New Orleans!

[MaxWilson]

It's probably caused by global warming.

-Max

(Just making fun of the people who link every heat wave and ablating glacier to "global warming." Sometimes trends are *local*, not global.)

[lch]

Originally Posted by MaxWilson

(Just making fun of the people who link every heat wave and ablating glacier to "global warming." Sometimes trends are *local*, not global.)

The joke being that it probably is linked to global warming.

[MaxWilson]

Originally Posted by lch

The joke being that it probably is linked to global warming.

Riiight, and so is the snow melting on Mount Kilimanjaro.

-Max

[Tifone]

Originally Posted by MaxWilson

Riiight, and so is the snow melting on Mount Kilimanjaro.

Ehm... yes it is? (82% of snow loss on the top of it in the last century... dunno why but I don't think it's due to Abysia having cast Second Sun )...

[MaxWilson]

Originally Posted by Tifone

Ehm... yes it is? (82% of snow loss on the top of it in the last century... dunno why but I don't think it's due to Abysia having cast Second Sun )...

So you know that it's been shrinking for more than a century. Do you concede that it's been shrinking since 1870, and that the temperature has averaged 12 degrees (F) below freezing all the time we've been measuring it and has never exceeded 3 degrees below freezing? (That is, the snow is *ablating*, not melting. Reference http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/..._viscou_1.html.) If unusual weather is evidence of a global warming trend regardless of what kind of weather it is, and shrinking snowpack/glaciers are evidence of a global warming trend regardless of the cause of the shrinkage, is there anything which does *not* constitute evidence for a global trend?

That's terrible science, irrespective of whether Seattle will be hotter or cooler 20 years from now (it's hard to tell). There's no way to know why New Orleans has snow but it's not evidence of anything relating to global temperatures, yet. Although I have it on good authority that the Louisiana snowstorm was caused by a Monarch butterfly in Oklahoma flapping his wings last June.

-Max

[chrispedersen]

Originally Posted by lch

The joke being that it probably is linked to global warming.

According to the people that take such statistics.. this average global temperature this year is shaping up to be the coldest year in 10 years.

[sum1lost]

Speaking as someone who does know a bit about it, whether or not you believe it is warming, the environment is taking a hell of a beating from something.

BTW, due to various issues, even a small change in climate is pretty devastating, and for a number of species, we are literally on the tipping point.

[JimMorrison]

You can twist and spin all you want, what does it prove?

Yes, one year may be colder or warmer than the last. One decade may or may not show as strong a trend as that before it. We are talking about a simply -massive- system, that apparently is too large for most people to grasp in its entirety.

You can nitpick about my use of the term "consistent", but debating semantics will similarly not dispel the reality of the situation. I use consistent in terms of a geological timescale, not an Americanized ADHD perspective.

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories...archstats.html

Originally Posted by NOAA

The average global land temperature last month was the warmest on record and ocean surface temperatures were the 13th warmest. Combining the land and the ocean temperatures, the overall global temperature ranked the second warmest for the month of March. Global temperature averages have been recorded since 1880.

If you'd like, we can discuss what makes a trend, and what does not. But since we have started measuring nearly 150 years ago, the temperature has been rising, and as was pointed out, the rate of overall increase dramatically escalated in the last 30 years.


(EDIT - adding a couple more quotes from this report, for those who don't want to take the time to read it.)

Originally Posted by NOAA

The global land surface temperature was the warmest on record for March, 3.3°F above the 20th century mean of 40.8°F. Temperatures more than 8°F above average covered much of the Asian continent. Two months after the greatest January snow cover extent on record on the Eurasian continent, the unusually warm temperatures led to rapid snow melt, and March snow cover extent on the Eurasian continent was the lowest on record.

Despite above average snowpack levels in the U.S., the total Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent was the fourth lowest on record for March, remaining consistent with boreal spring conditions of the past two decades, in which warming temperatures have contributed to anomalously low snow cover extent.

[MaxWilson]

Originally Posted by JimMorrison

You can nitpick about my use of the term "consistent", but debating semantics will similarly not dispel the reality of the situation. I use consistent in terms of a geological timescale, not an Americanized ADHD perspective.

No, you're not thinking in geologic timescales. Geologically speaking, we're at a warm spot (but not exceptionally warm, less so than the Medieval Warm Period) in between ice ages. Cold kills crops and causes famine. If you were thinking in geological timescales you'd be worried about the fact that the heat might go away again.

And you're still cherry-picking. "The rate of increase went up dramatically in the last 30 years," you say, but it went to zero in the last ten years. It looks like a worrisome (open-ended) trend only if you cherry-pick your timescale to make it so.

I've said enough for now.

-Max