Snow dusted the sands of Malibu and several communities surrounding Los Angeles Wednesday as a bitterly cold Arctic storm spread across the state.
Try as I might, I cannot find anyone talking about global warming right now. It seems they've all gone on vacation until the next warming trend. The interviews with activists have all ceased. The media has been preoccupied with the 50 plus deaths due to the cold weather. The print pieces have all dried up.
Al Gore's calendar is open. The street corner sign carriers are in where its warm. Everyone is taking a break and getting some well earned rest. Many are spending time with their families and generally taking it easy.
I guess the "Global Warming" industry is seasonal.
7 comments:
If they say anything it'll be about "climate change", LA. But you must be amazed at this Socal cold snap. I lived in SoCal in the 70s and remember taking a trip up the grapevine to see the snow up there, so it's not completely uncommon. But snow at LAX sure is!
Just because of a few cold days, it doesn't take away from the fact that this has been the 6th warmest year on record. The last 4 warmest years have come since 1998. In fact, according to the World Meteorological Organization the earth is now warmer than it has been in tens of thousands of years.
Since 1978, winter temperatures in the North East has increased by 4.3 degrees.
I can attest to the fact that while living in the Chicago area for my entire life, the amount of snow that we get has decreased tremendously. Back in the 70's and 80's we would have a pretty steady flow of snow throughout the months of November through February. In fact, we used to go dog sledding every weekend. You could never do that now. Many of our friends who still bring their dogs out sledding said they have to travel so far north in order to find snow that it isn't worth the trouble anymore.
I also have read that the amounts of snow in Colorado and the storms in Missouri and other parts of the country that normally don't get snow are due to the changing weather patterns because of the warming of the oceans.
I certainly take this very seriously. But for those who don't, South Park had a really funny show about Hybrid cars and a deadly "snob cloud" that takes over Colorado and San Francisco. I don't know why, but that show just cracks me up.
M-E: I saw that South Park episode last night. Hilarious as usual.
Here in Boston, we had the warmest December since....1872. I wonder if they were freaking out about global warming back then.
The uncomfortable truth for some people is that global warming has nothing to do with a spike in temps from one year to the next. It's about a small global change over a couple decades that impacts the polar ice caps.
What's happening this year is natural and common: el nino.
Greg
One of the funniest parts of that South Park episode was when everyone was talking "smug", they would close their eyes. Now, every time I see a smug remark on a blog, I'm going to picture someone typing with their eyes closed.
Regarding your view of el nino. I think the difference, IMO, is the "trend" in the warming. Since the four warmest years seem to have happened since 1998, I would say that is something to look at. It isn't just a fluke anymore, it's becoming the norm. With a steady increase, it sounds to me that we can't pin it on el nino.
Of course, I'm not being smug...if I was, you would see more typos! :-D
There's definitely a warming trend, M-E. No doubt about it. But weather trends over a period like 4 years are meaningless in the big picture. There's good evidence of a warming trend that has been going on for hundreds of years, with an apparent spike quite recently. Some theorize that this is what happens before every ice age. In a hundred years we may be able to say what the recent spike is all about.
Greg
Well, I'm not a meteorologist and I don't play one on the blogs. I do know that we have to be more careful with how we are treating this world and this may not affect us, but I do care and I am concerned about what life will be like for my kids and grandkids. I tend to believe the scientists who say they are concerned. They have nothing to gain by lying and I think they are more qualified than Bush to warn us of what is to come.
I have the feeling that many of those who are laughing at this research will be changing their tune very soon. Very much like those who insisted there was WMD in Iraq because Bush said so....the decider.
Well, in all seriousness, I would not argue that we are not in a warming trend. That's a given.
But if you notice, I am not saying that in the post. I am only saying that the global warming people have taken a break for awhile, and except for Nancy Pelosi, they pretty much have. I have been hanging around Super Frenchie's site for a while and some of his provocativeness has worn off.
The argument from me is whether or not it is caused by humans. There the difficulty of making the case, rises. And even if it were to be true, what the heck can anyone do about it?
Cut down emissions here and in Europe, so what. Russia and China (and even India) must agree to do it, and you know they won't. Their greenhouse emissions are ever increasing. For them to cut back, it would mean cutting back production of just about everything they now produce. Which means lees growth and less competitiveness in the open market.
They won't go for it, why should we?
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