I am more than intrigued by this discussion regarding record temperatures either way, i.e warmest -coolest etc occurring in the U.S. and elsewhere. I live at
175 degrees E, 40 degrees S. The west coast of the lower North Island, New Zealand. Compared to lat 40 north there is very little land at 40 Sth. Despite this fact and the fact that we are an island in a vast oceanic environment, we also reflect the ongoing cooling trend of planet Earth.

In my 51 years of existence I have from an early age, possibly four years old, held a fascination as to why the weather, and therefore climate patterns, change over short term periods, and why there is such an inconsistency in the patterns over the short period. We all like a little consistency in our lives, even if it is just to make a decision about when to take a holiday to get the best weather prospects.

My interest in the weather & climate became heightened at the age of 16 when I decided to become active in amateur astronomy. I was equally intrigued soon after to find that astronomers, not climatologists, meteorologists and geographers ( the latter day scientists), held strong views and seemed to be leading the discussion on historical and current global climate trends, based mainly on the orbital elements of the earth ( long term effects) and solar activity, sunspots and associated phenomemna (short term effects.)

The hottest ever temperature recorded for anywhere in New Zealand full stop was in February 1973. This has never been surpassed! If we are to believe the AGW (with the emphasis on the G) proponents, New Zealand should not be an exception to the warming trend. Therefore the 1973 record should have been broken by now!

Some speak of retreating galciers, and we have many of those. New Zealand also has two significant advancing glaciers on the lower west coast of the South Island. Franz Josef & Fox glaciers are the largest westward advancing glaciers in the Southern Alps, and have been bucking the trend of shrinking since the mid 1980′s. Photographic evidence that I as a casual holiday maker have recorded, shows a dramatic advance of both of these glaciers. AGW spokes-people site this pair of galaciers as the exception that proves the rule. I agree – except that the rule I refer to is the rule that states that world wide galaciers have been retreating since the late 1800′s (circa 1880). Both Fox & FJ were doing this until the mid ’80′s!

Glaciers like Fox & FJ require heavy & steady rainfall to fall as snow to add weight to their Neves ( the top plateau of a glacier). This extra weight in turn provides the push that extends the length of the glacier down the valley & out into the plain below.

In the past five years the major weather events in New Zealand have all been in the form of major winter events. July 2003, snow falls on the Manawatu plains (where I live) for the first time since 1977. August 2004, The snow is so heavy in the Pohangina Valley (northern Manawatu) that limbs break off scores of trees that are several hundred years old! Modern farm buildings have their rooves collapse due to people sucumbing to the practice of flattening the roof pitch through complacency!

June 2006, The east coast of the South Island receives their heaviest snowfall since the early 1930′s. Individual farms are isolated for several weeks without power. To their credit, the “Mainlanders,” ( according to South Islanders, their Island is the “Main Land,” while us North Islanders live on “Pig Island!) handled the situation extremely well. Good pioneering stock which could prove handy over the coming decades!

November 2006, flotillas of ice bergs off the east coast of the South Island, as far north as Christchurch ( 43 degrees south). Some brave souls claimed that this was a sign of global warming, i.e. the melting of the Antarctic ice sheets. Commonsense sggested that this was a sign of the Antarctic expanding under colder conditions. Drop an ice cube in warm water and see how long it lasts compared with an ice cube in cool water. I rest my case.

2008! What an interesting year. The major La Nina event that started just over a year ago gave us a ‘green drought!’ Two weeks of fine weather, two days of rain, three weeks of dry weather, two days of rain. This sequence went on from November 2007, to this year’s winter solstice (June 22nd). Dry periods long enough to cause soil moisture deficit, but enough rain to stave off true drought. Then the day after the solstice the rain returned with a vengence. By the end of October we had exceeded the normal total rainfall for the year. Since the spring equinox one could have been forgiven for thinking that the hemispheres had swapped and it was we (the southern hemisphere) that were heading into winter, and not the other way round.

August 2008, in the Tararua Ranges, a dividing range to the south of me (5,000 ft/1500m) avalanches occurred ther for the first time since 1929. Areas where snow drifts are normally 1m thick at worst, have been consistently 3m thick and lead to avalanches.

In Doubtful Sound, a part of Fjiordland in the SW corner of the South Island, people are recording surface ice where none has been known for over 25 years.

In the first week of November 2008, Invercargill, at 47 degrees south – one of the most southerly cities in the world, experinced a November snowfall for the first time since 1978.

All of this is anecdotal eveidence for sure, but my point is what is happening in parts of the U.S. is not happening in isolation. I have visited the U.S. in 1991. Then as now the rest of the world doesn’t exist according to your media. Your country is so large it is easy to see where that comes from, even if you don’t agree with it.

There is a groundswell of lay scepticism rising against the AGW protagonasts, but the groundswell needs direction. The so called ‘ordinary Joe’ knows the difference between hot & cold, and won’t be held in contempt by the arrogant scientist for too much longerwithout reacting. Many of those ‘scientists’need to remember where the money really comes from.

So do politicians. It is our turn to vote for a new government today. The outcome of our election may not be as earth-shattering as the U.S. one earlier this week, But like Fox & FJ it could be indicative.

Rap up & keep warm!

http://ecoworld.com/features/2008/10/30/climate-science-is-it-currently-designed-to-answer-questions/

Excerpt:

What historians will definitely wonder about in future centuries is how deeply flawed logic, obscured by shrewd and unrelenting propaganda, actually enabled a coalition of powerful special interests to convince nearly everyone in the world that CO2 from human industry was a dangerous, planet-destroying toxin. It will be remembered as the greatest mass delusion in the history of the world – that CO2, the life of plants, was considered for a time to be a deadly poison. – Richard S. Lindzen

I’ve given up trying, so I just sent him this final note:

“Time to leave the good ship AGW Titanic?”

Seriously, I don’t think there will be forgiveness for those who promulgated this AGW fraud, especially if future cooling is severe.

The poor are already going hungry due to a doubling of corn prices, driven by the absurd use of corn ethanol for motor fuel.

Wind power is ineffective, because it requires almost 100% conventional back-up, and causes serious upsets in the power grid.

Enough of this AGW nonsense – times are tough enough without Obama further damaging the ailing US economy by declaring CO2 a dangerous pollutant. How dumb can you get? And McCain is not much better.

My poor, dear America! What is to become of you?

But the U.S. has always reflected “global” warming, at least in the records we have. U.S. temperature trends closely follow global temperature trends, for the most part. After all, the U.S. is a very large country with many, many weather stations. Most of the warmest/coolest U.S. years are also among the warmest/coolest years globally. Therefore, the fact that 2008 has been so remarkably cooler than recent years in the U.S. should not be dismissed as insignificant.

Well, it would bring up the subject of homeostasis. But that is not a discussion that favors the AGW side of the argument. Best avoid.

And how about an explanation of how a hurricane, Ike, managed to make landfall in Texas, smash Galveston, then continue on thru Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvannia and hit New York with enough power to knock out power to over 100,000 New Yorkers.

Well, that might bring up the embarrassing fact that Accumulated Cyclone Energy (as well as frequency and severity of storms) has been on the downtrend for the last thirty years. Better skip a bit, Brother.

Anymore WINTER tornados expected to hit the Midwest again, this coming January, like January 2008?

Well, that was due to record cold air resulting from the PDO reversal. So, Ix-nay on the Ornados-tay.

Kit ‘n’ Mike (and the Rev) are showing how the 20th Century temperature rise (esp. from 1980 – 2002) has been exaggerated by a factor of two.

All this comes in after IPCC AR4, which is giving the phrase “SO last year” new life.

So I think we need to do a wee bit more study before we rush in and starve a few million poor . . .

In any event, none of this addresses the much more straightforward problem of ocean acidification. Increase atmospheric CO2->increase ocean CO2->decrease ocean pH->change calcite saturation state->alter dynamics of ocean ecosystem, beginning with the primary producers (i.e. plankton).