April 11, 2007
IF THE GLOBE "WARMS" ANYMORE, OPENING DAY WILL BE AFTER MEMORIAL DAY:
Why So Gloomy? (Richard S. Lindzen, 4/16/07, Newsweek)
Judging from the media in recent months, the debate over global warming is now over. There has been a net warming of the earth over the last century and a half, and our greenhouse gas emissions are contributing at some level. Both of these statements are almost certainly true. What of it? Recently many people have said that the earth is facing a crisis requiring urgent action. This statement has nothing to do with science. There is no compelling evidence that the warming trend we've seen will amount to anything close to catastrophe. What most commentators—and many scientists—seem to miss is that the only thing we can say with certainly about climate is that it changes. The earth is always warming or cooling by as much as a few tenths of a degree a year; periods of constant average temperatures are rare. Looking back on the earth's climate history, it's apparent that there's no such thing as an optimal temperature—a climate at which everything is just right. The current alarm rests on the false assumption not only that we live in a perfect world, temperaturewise, but also that our warming forecasts for the year 2040 are somehow more reliable than the weatherman's forecast for next week.A warmer climate could prove to be more beneficial than the one we have now. Much of the alarm over climate change is based on ignorance of what is normal for weather and climate. There is no evidence, for instance, that extreme weather events are increasing in any systematic way, according to scientists at the U.S. National Hurricane Center, the World Meteorological Organization and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (which released the second part of this year's report earlier this month). Indeed, meteorological theory holds that, outside the tropics, weather in a warming world should be less variable, which might be a good thing.
We're supposed to get 8-10" of snow tomorrow. Even the birkenstocked burghers of Hanover are ready to tar and feather Al Gore. Posted by Orrin Judd at April 11, 2007 12:42 PM
I'm just happy to see that the Rockies are in the middle of a 9-game West Coast stand, and will be away when the Denver area gets up to 12 inches on Friday.
But then again, in 1997, the Rockies had their home opener in a 6-degree windchill against...the Montreal Expos.
Posted by: Brad S at April 11, 2007 2:02 PMWhen we lived in Chicago in the early 70's, I well recall a couple of winters where the temperature was -10 to -20 degrees F for a couple of weeks at a time.
In winter 1977 I had to disconnect the car battery everynight for 2-3 weeks and bring it in the house to stay warm--otherwise the car wouldn't start.
In circa 1983 we hit -10 regularly for days at a time.
But in the last few years, it rarely got down to zero, and *never* got down to -10.
I say, "Global warming--bring it on!"
Posted by: ray at April 11, 2007 2:04 PMThey've changed the way they calculate wind chill.
Put a blanket over the battery, just make sure you take it off before you start the car.
Posted by: Sandy P at April 11, 2007 2:49 PMIt boggles me how enthusiastically some folks I know have fallen for the more hysterical pronouncements of the global warming doompundits. A little scary, too.
Posted by: Twn at April 11, 2007 2:50 PMWe're freezing our gazingies off. We had busted out humps getting our boat dewinterized and launched and it's too cold to go out and the marina is all screwed up because it has been too cold for them to get ready for April boating.
We would like to feed Algore to the polar bears.
Posted by: Lou Gots at April 11, 2007 4:17 PMWe're freezing our gazingies off. We had busted out humps getting our boat dewinterized and launched and it's too cold to go out and the marina is all screwed up because it has been too cold for them to get ready for April boating.
We would like to feed Algore to the polar bears.
Posted by: Lou Gots at April 11, 2007 4:18 PMYou think you've got snow. My brother just sent me some unbelievable pictures from his neck of the woods in Upper Michigan.
http://www.miningjournal.net/stories/articles.asp?articleID=13479
I don't think the Gorebot has been up there recently though, although there have been unconfirmed sightings of ManBearPig.
Snow, freezing rain, snow, icy cold wind, snow & freezing rain...that's what we have and will have for the next few days here in western Michigan! Ah, these "global warming" daze of spring.
Posted by: Dave W at April 11, 2007 6:42 PMGloBull Warming is here. Brrrrrrr!!!!
Posted by: obc at April 11, 2007 7:55 PMSandy, I'm talking about REAL temperature--what the mercury reads. Not the phony "wind chill" which exists mainly so that the TV talking heads can excitedly announce bad news.
Posted by: ray at April 11, 2007 8:46 PMGlobal warming will return to the continental US next week.
Posted by: Phil at April 11, 2007 10:22 PMIt's cold here in Wisconsin, too. When I got up this morning and went to put on my loincloth, I put it on with the fur on the inside.
Posted by: AllenS at April 12, 2007 8:09 AMIt's cold here in Wisconsin, too. When I got up this morning and went to put on my loincloth, I put it on with the fur on the inside.
Posted by: AllenS at April 12, 2007 8:12 AM