Coldest winter in 20 years in the US so much for global warming

[ocean_314]

Global warming ya right, its snowing like crazy its cold. Coldest winter in 20 years more snow then most people can remember. Will it ever end??? Will we have a spring this year?

[Erik]

I frigging hope so >8^(

[Lockedin]

Bought my first surf suit with an integral hood his year.

[Whopperhead]

This is a record year for us too. We normally see about 36" of snow each Winter. So far this winter we are up to 92 Inches!!!!! The First Pic is looking out towards my pool. Yes, there is a pool out there somewhere. The Second is lookin out in the fields. I'm done with the snow!!!

[Stuart]

This is a common misconception. The phenomenon is better expressed as "climate change" and the evidence that this is happening and is attributable to humans is irrefutable. The last decade in the UK alone has seen the wettest, driest, hottest, coldest etc months since records began. Overall this will lead to a rise in global average temperatures, but obviously there will be variations - more at the poles and less at the tropics for example. Ecosystems do not behave in a linear fashion and so prediction becomes all the more difficult because of it. What is predictable is that we will see more extreme weather events as the earth lurches from one state to another in a desperate attempt to find equilibrium. Hence the fact that you are experiencing the coldest winter in the last 20 years.

If we all stopped emitting greenhouse gases tomorrow the lag in the system means that this phenomenon will still continue for the next 100 or so years, and yet all the trends suggest that we are headed fast in the wrong direction.

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) current conservative understanding of the situation (3000+ scientists) suggests that we have 5 to 10 years at best in which to place humanity on a significantly transformational pathway for our patterns of production and consumption - our behaviour and our economies - so that we can live within global ecological limits. If we do not then we will enter a state that is now being called "dangerous climate change" with the likelihood of entering "runaway climate change". The loss of millions of lives in these scenarios is inevitable and we will experience severe resource wars for key ecosystem services such as water. Ecosystems will collapse and species will die and become extinct, as they become unable to adapt to the rapid changes.

We all have a part to play in this transformation and it is my belief that if you at all agree that humanity matters then that alone is enough to warrant doing something about it.

[Bill]

All due respect and a few questions from someone who is confused.
Is the same kind of change apparent on other planets or is that just a story?
Was this recent, sharp cooling cycle due to reduced output from the sun?
How will the coming change in north and south poles affect your forecast?

[Stuart]

Bill,

It is true that the earth has gone through some long cycles of ice age / warm spells. In fact looking at the records we are overdue another ice age by about 12, 000 years. Also warming / cooling effects can be affected by sunspot activity, however the mounting evidence indicates that human activity is causing climate change. Secondly climate change is a symptom of our over-consumption, rather than a cause itself. Finding ways to live inside the earth’s carrying capacity is important. As I said "humanity matters".


Polar shift (geomagnetic reversal) is a phenomenon that has happened before and will likely happen again - I'm sure the effects of that would blow civilization away. It may as you seem to suggest happen quite soon. I am not very knowledgeable in this field, but perhaps you are? Certainly the Earth’s magnetic field is getting weaker and this could be linked. I do not know if these changes are happening on other planets – do you?

Aside from the above, working to prevent “dangerous climate change” is as much about shrinking the negative impact of our consumption patterns in the global North as it is about sharing the benefits in the global South. And that in itself is no bad thing.

Stuart

[Erik]

Man, it had to be 850C on Venus today! Turn up the AC.

[Bill]

'I do not know if these changes are happening on other planets – do you?'

Only one mention (not referenced) of a receding polar ice cap on Mars blamed on over sixty years of increasing sun spot activity. The present cycle appears to be falling behind schedule and is of great interest to ham radio operators.
Thanks for the reply. Just too many things going on for an old man to follow.

[Lockedin]

Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says

Mars Global Surveyor: Mars For Press

Thawing Mars

Is the Mars rover considered an SUV?

Perhaps instead of temperature, we should concern ourselves with toxicity. The days when Ocean water healed cuts has gone, and been replaced with warnings about fecal bacteria, pesticides, and plastics in the surf and sand. Though I am not a scientist (and would not really consider myself the brightest bulb in the box), it seems logical to me that one will follow the other. Unfortunately politics, money, and shrill circular arguments appear to be the true concern of most.

[Stuart]

1 scientist vs 3000+. No contest! And that lone scientist doesn't even recognise the greenhouse effect - "without the greenhouse effect there would be very little, if any, life on Earth, since our planet would pretty much be a big ball of ice."

[Lockedin]

Stuart,

I'm not trying to nit-pick, but, I believe that NASA, JPL, and National Geographic have more than one scientist on staff...

[Stuart]

Neither am I - I just read the article and quoted it back to you!

[Lockedin]

Ahhh, you must've read whilst I was feverishly editing...apologies. The other two links may not have been placed yet.

[Lockedin]

As much as I respect the opinions of the men and women who are doing the best they can to save our planet, even the best and the brightest can not predict the weather one or two weeks out. I find it hard to believe:

A - The world as we know it is doomed around 2020 (unless we all bow before Gore)
B - We aren't affecting anything by producing and dumping our filth whenever, wherever, however we like.

Those are the opposite extremes (maybe that's why they have to screech so loudly), IMHO. As in most politically charged debates, the truth is most likely somewhere in the middle, and the politicians, and businesses that stand to gain / lose will do their best to hide or skew the truth to their advantage, while we argue amongst ourselves.

What I do not question:

We need to change our practices, or we will go extinct, and the planet will continue without us.

Originally Posted by Stuart

1 scientist vs 3000+. No contest!

- Copernicus was one scientist...


BTW this subject has been discussed quite often here on DB, as a quick use of the search function will show.