Cascade snowpack decline? Weather patterns – not global warming

27 08 2008

Man made global warming gets blamed for a lot of things, but often when you look beyond the rhetoric that surrounds such blame, you find simpler answers, such as changes in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation.


Mount Shuksan, in the Cascades photo by: Matt Leber

A new study from the University of Washington indicates that climate change may not be the reason snowpack is shrinking in the Cascade Mountains. The finding is in contrast with science and policy that have dominated the discussion of snowpack, flood, and water resources. KUOW’s Phyllis Fletcher has more.

THE NEW STUDY IS AUTHORED BY SEVERAL ATMOSPHERIC SCIENTISTS, INCLUDING KUOW REGULAR CLIFF MASS. MASS SAYS THE AMOUNT OF SNOWPACK HAS NOT CHANGED APPRECIABLY IN THE LAST 30 YEARS. HE AND HIS COLLEAGUES ARGUE THAT MUCH OF THE CHANGE IN THE LAST CENTURY COULD BE ATTRIBUTED TO A WEATHER PATTERN THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH GLOBAL WARMING CAUSED BY HUMAN ACTIVITY.

Read complete interview here on the radio station website.

You may also find this report from Nichols College, complete with graphs and tables, interesting.


Comments : 71 Comments »

Categories : climate_change

Help survey a weather station this Labor Day weekend

27 08 2008

As many of you know, I also operate www.surfacestations.org with the goal of completing the survey of all 1221 USHCN climate stations of record in the continental United States. Doing so, we’ve uncovered some very interesting siting and quality control anomalies such as the one below:

That photo above is the USHCN Station for Saint Johns, AZ. I kid you not. The electronic sensor is inside the Stevenson Screen, note the conduit.

So, if you are planning to drive someplace this weekend, you may want to think about surveying weather a station or two that may be along your route. There are still about 600 left to be surveyed in most states. California has been completed, and Florida needs only two to complete the state: Ocala and Key West. Ocala is at the water plant see the map here and is an MMTS electronic sensor, which looks like this:

MMTS unit

Another and newer type of thermometer is the Maximum Minimum Temperature System or MMTS. An MMTS is an electronic thermometer not too different from the type you buy at the local electronics store. The MMTS is a thermistor housed in a shelter which looks similar to a bee hive. This design is similar in functionality

If anyone is traveling near Ocala this weekend, please help me out and get a photos of the sensor placement if you can. Even if this public facility is closed. You may still be able to get photos from the street or through the fence. Or just go there during a weekday when its open and state your business.

How to find a USHCN station near you: Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : 23 Comments »

Categories : weather_stations

Global Warming Creates Crabgrass Menace

27 08 2008

This UC Irvine study with heat lamps on grass plots seems to be almost at a science fair level. Here’s the relevant quotes from the abstract and conclusion:

Our results suggest that an increase in temperature caused by climate change as well as the urban heat island effect may result in increases in N2O emissions from fertilized urban lawns. In addition, warming may exacerbate weed invasions, which may require more intensive management…

The increases in N2O fluxes with warming suggest that soil N2O fluxes could serve as a positive feedback to global warming in turfgrass.

In high school I cut lawns to make money during the summer, and as any lawnboy can tell you, crabgrass is far more hardy than fescue in the heat. We’d spend all summer keeping the crabgrass and other weeds at bay. So this is hardly news. What is news to me is that taxpayer funds would be wasted on such things. With “tipping points”, sea ice loss, ocean conveyor shutdowns, and a whole host of bigger things we’ve been told to worry about, I’m really surprised that anybody is wasting time worrying about our lawn quality in the apocalyptic future that has been portrayed by some. On the plus side, at least they recognize UHI, which I’m sure will upset Peterson and Parker, who tell us it doesn’t exist. – Anthony

From the Orange County Register:

Our lawns could go to the weeds as the planet warms

July 14th, 2008, 3:00 am ·Gary Robbins, Orange County Register

crabgrass-copy.jpgUC Irvine researchers who simulated global warming at the campus arboretum say they’ve made an unexpected discovery: The additional heat caused crabgrass to flourish.

The finding came when plant ecologist Diane Pataki and graduate student Neeta Bijoor heated portions of a research lawn with infrared lamps. Other portions of the lawn weren’t heated during the study, which focused on greenhouse gas emissions.

“There were significantly more crabgrass weeds in the high temperature plots,” says Pataki. “Some of the weeds, including crabgrass, are better adapted for higher temperatures than fescue, the most common lawn grass, because they use a different type of photosynthesis. Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : 37 Comments »

Categories : Uncategorized

Hanna Montana Gets In the Act

27 08 2008

From the Business & Media Institute

Disney’s New Hannah Montana Album Features ‘Global Warming Anthem’

Teen pop star sings ‘Wake Up America,’ warns the ‘earth is calling out,’ but admits she doesn’t know ‘what all this means.’

By Jeff Poor
8/26/2008 4:57:38 PM

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama’s two daughters, Malia, 9, and Sasha, 6, are big fans of Hannah Montana – and maybe there’s a reason why.

Teen star Miley Cyrus, known as Hannah Montana in the Disney Channel TV series television of the same name, is now crusading for global warming alarmism. But she admits she isn’t really sure what it means. Disney also owns ABC, a network that often hypes climate change alarmism.

On the 15-year-old singer’s recently released album “Breakout,” she sings that she wants America to wake up and deal with global warming. The song, “Wake Up America” is about taking care of the earth:

Oh, can you take care of her
Oh, maybe you can spare her

Several moments of your consideration
Leading up to the final destination

Oh, the earth is calling out,
I wanna learn what it’s all about,
But everything I read – global warming, going green
I don’t know what all this means, but it seems to be saying

Wake up, America, we’re all in this together
It’s our home so let’s take care of it
You know that you want to
You know that you got to wake up, America
Tomorrow becomes a new day and everything you do
Matters, yeah, everything you do matters in some way

Cyrus is one of the current jewels in the Disney crown. But she isn’t alone. Disney purchased ABC in 1995, but the network recently has acquired a taste for global warming coverage. Read the rest of this entry »


Comments : 43 Comments »

Categories : Uncategorized

The Flip Side of Cooler Weather

27 08 2008

While we’ve had a number of unusual and anecdotal cold snaps in late summer in the northern latitudes, there are also warm events too. It will be interesting to see how this event is reported by newspapers and other media in the Bay Area. Perhaps we’ll get a firsthand report from Mosher. To watch the temperatures where I live, you can visit my webcam/weather station at www.bidwellranchcam.com – Anthony

URGENT – WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA
328 AM PDT WED AUG 27 2008

…NEAR RECORD HEAT EXPECTED THURSDAY ACROSS THE EAST AND SOUTH BAY..

STRONG HIGH PRESSURE AND LIGHT OFFSHORE WINDS WILL BRING
SIGNIFICANT WARMING TO THE GREATER SAN FRANCISCO BAY REGION TODAY
INTO THURSDAY. TEMPERATURES WILL WARM TO SEVERAL DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL
TODAY WITH 80S NEAR THE COAST AND READINGS WELL INTO THE 90S
INLAND. BY THURSDAY RECORD OR NEAR RECORD HEAT WILL BE POSSIBLE
ACROSS MOST OF THE REGION. IN PARTICULAR THE POPULATED AREAS OF
THE EAST AND SOUTH BAY WILL EXPERIENCE SOME OF THE HOTTEST
TEMPERATURES ON THURSDAY AFTERNOON.

h/t to Fred in comments


Comments : 29 Comments »

Categories : Uncategorized