Earlier I wrote about the Arctic Oscillation Index going strongly negative in December and what new cold to expect in January. From NASA’s Earth observatory, we have a high resolution temperature anomaly map that provides visualization of the effects. This image was taken while the Copenhagen Climate Conference was in progress.
A wave of frigid air spilled down over Europe and Russia from the Arctic in mid-December, creating a deadly cold snap. According to BBC.com, at least 90 people had died in Europe, including 79 people, mostly homeless, in Poland. In places, the bitter cold was accompanied by heavy snow, which halted rail and air traffic for several days during the week of Christmas.
This image shows the impact of the cold snap on land surface temperatures across the region from December 11–18, 2009, compared to the 2000–2008 average. The measurements were made by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite. Places where temperatures were up to 20 degrees Celsius below average are blue, locations where temperatures were average are cream-colored, and places where temperatures were above average are red. Light gray patches show where clouds were so persistent during the week that MODIS could not make measurements of the land surface temperature. The biggest anomalies were in northern Russia, but a swath of below-average temperatures stretched across the countries around the Baltic Sea as well.
See also:
- Daily, 8-day, and monthly land surface temperature anomaly maps
- Animation of monthly global land surface temperature anomalies
h/t to WUWT reader “JT”
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Don’t worry, smoothing(smearing) will take out some of that cold. There are warmer areas in the midst.
During the The Little Ice Age in Europe, greater cold caused major reductions in food production with consequent major famines. This was associated with 400% to 700% increases in food prices.
Today
One Could Say the Cupboard is Bare, But Actually There is No Cupboard
Apr. 09, 2008
Xiong, W., Lin, E., Ju, H. and Xu, Y. 2007. Climate change and critical thresholds in China’s food security. Climatic Change 81: 205-221.
We need to INCREASE CO2 to increase food production to feed the world’s growing population.
Sorry to go off topic, Anthony, but I thought you’d appreciate this. Through my numerous quest posts here at WUWT, I am now in the pocket of Big Oil:
http://bobtisdale.blogspot.com/2009/12/memo-to-big-oil.html
Unfortunately, no one bothered to tell Big Oil, or they’ve been sending the checks to the wrong Bob Tisdale. Just my luck.
Now in Europe the heat is on again.
Temps in the Mediterranean are back to +15ºC … so…
In Italy and Greece, with 21ºC, people WENT TO THE BEACH.. ON CHRISTMAS!
Even in Continental Europe, Temps are ABOVE FREEZING, so all the snow that fell should have melted away.
See the NOAA links:
1) Temperatures of last 7 days:
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/map/images/rnl/sfctmpmer_07.rnl.html
2) Temperature ANOMALIES of last 7 days:
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/map/images/rnl/sfctmpmer_07a.rnl.html
There is a BIG WARM ANOMALY ( between +3ºC and +9ºC) IN THE ARCTIC …
… despite the NEGATIVE Artic Oscillation values.
Also warm anomalies in Europe. The only notable cool ones are in Siberia-Scandinavia. This air masses will move away as the day pass, but …
I BET THE ARCTIC WILL STAY VERY WARM ALMOST ALL WEEKS UNTIL NEXT SUMMER.
Anyone wants to defy the bet?
And how much of those $billions discussed in Copenhagen is going to help out in areas being slammed by these storms and temperatures?
Gotta add in all those hot spots around Hopenhagendaze due to the chartered jets landing, taking off, landing again, and then waiting at the auxiliary airfields in Sweden, Germany, France ….
On threshold of a probable 70-year “dead sun” Maunder Minimum, thanks to decades of Luddite sociopaths’ sabotage of coal, oil, and nuclear energy economies, the benighted U.S. population will finally face the consequences of supine acquiescence to death-eating Climate Cultists and their homicidal greenie-weenie friends.
Last time around, 1645 – 1715 defined the depths of a 500-year Little Ice Age when wolves froze to death in Rhineland forests and wine iced over in Louis XIV’s goblet at the Palace of Versailles. No-one born after c. 1980 has ever experienced winters of sustained deep cold, but Gaia and Sol are working to correct that oversight. Next time you meet Al Gore or any of his criminally malfeasant ilk, best knock ’em to pieces lest they freeze, impoverish, and finally starve you first.
Being that this daytime land surface temps, and not air temps, it’s kind of apples and oranges. Baseline is also 2000-2008. Here’s the description of what your looking at.
Land surface temperature is how hot the “surface” of the Earth would feel to the touch in a particular location. From a satellite’s point of view, the “surface” is whatever it sees when it looks through the atmosphere to the ground. It could be snow and ice, the grass on a lawn, the roof of a building, or the treetops in a forest. Thus, land surface temperature is not the same as the air temperature that is included in the daily weather report.
An anomaly is when the conditions depart from average conditions for a particular place at a given time of year. The maps show daytime land surface temperature anomalies for a given month compared to the average conditions during that period between 2000-2008. Places that were warmer than average are red, places that were near normal are white, and places that were cooler than average are blue. The observations were collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite.
Some land surface temperature anomalies are simply random weather phenomena, not part of a specific pattern or trend. Others anomalies are more meaningful. Widespread cold anomalies may be an indication of a harsh winter with lots of snow on the ground. Small, patchy warm anomalies that appear in forests or other natural ecosystems may indicate deforestation or insect damage. Many urban areas also show up as hot spots in these maps because developed areas are often hotter in the daytime than surrounding natural ecosystems or farmland. Warm anomalies that persist over large parts of the globe for many years can be signs of global warming.
i am excited to see if bastardini (wait…something is wrong with that spelling but you know who i mean) is right about the cold blast coming around jan 6th….
The problem with AGW politics is they are believers. This costs human life. No planning for reality only planning for fantasy based on falsehoods, thanks Skyrocket Energy Obama.
The link is: One Could Say the Cupboard is Bare, But Actually There is No Cupboard
We have a far greater challenge to deal with greater cold than increased warming:
Chapter 2, The Great Famine, The Little Ice Age: how climate made history, 1300-1850 By Brian M. Fagan
By contrast:
Chapter 7 – Biological Effects of Carbon Dioxide Enhancement
Gee I guess the 100s of climate refugees will be headed south instead of north?
Ckeck that, 100s of millions.
Even in Continental Europe, Temps are ABOVE FREEZING, so all the snow that fell should have melted away.
Why the all caps? Temperatures at this time of year are usually above freezing. Winter hasn’t really started yet.
I BET THE ARCTIC WILL STAY VERY WARM ALMOST ALL WEEKS UNTIL NEXT SUMMER.
My definition of “warm” is above 20°C, so I’m happy to take your bet. Let us say $1,000,000 ?
🙂
Brian D
Help me out here, as I am not familiar with MODIS. The NOAA website at
http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/about/specifications.php
does not seem to show land temperature, only various atmospheric measurements. Do you refer to “land/cloud/aerosol boundaries” and “land/cloud/aerosol properties”?
John
commonsense (18:04:01) :
This
http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/meant80n.uk.php
says that the anomaly is all wrong.
NOAA has failed to call the last few years. They join the MET office and others who tied thier predictions to warming models instead of looking out the window at reality.
Falling down on the job failed.
I am nothing short of appalled at the waste of taxpayer dollars.
Move over, rover, and let Bastardi and Corbyn take over.
In fact, I would go so far as to propose that Bastardi be given the head job at NOAA and Corbyn can clean house at the MET.
Stop the %#$ decline! We’re still hiding the last batch and now here comes some more! It’s a travesty!
Shouldn’t there be a big red spot where Copehagen is located?
Yes lack of COMMONSENSE, I will “defy” your stupid bet.
It’s WEATHER when less than 30 years, REMEMBER?!?!?!?!?!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/meant80n.uk.php
already below average. WEATHER changes by the minute , unlike your AGW which is unphysical!!!! Different wind patterns moving warmer air over the arctic and cooler air from the arctic over lower latitudes will result in the warmer air over the arctic losing more heat to space than it would if still over the lower latitudes. Net result, cooler AVERAGE temps!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
But … but … Iceland is bright red! … we’re all going to fry … in Iceland!
Worse than we thought … Mariss Freimanis (18:51:28) :
In other news, an interesting story about “carousel” frauds in Europe, taking advantage of…… carbon trading.
Brian D (17:48:48) :
“Don’t worry, smoothing(smearing) will take out some of that cold. There are warmer areas in the midst.”
Drat! You beat me to it. I guess it was pretty obvious, though.
Mariss Freimanis (18:51:28) :
Getting mighty hard to hide any sort of decline what with that Tallbloke patented Heat Transfer Pump to the Arctic Energy Leak Zone.
The warmists were jumping up & down when the ice blew out of the Arctic in 07, but the reality of what was happening is just now sinking in.
Air makes a great insulator, but not when the barn door is left wide open.
juanslayton, the links are under the post. See also 1 and 2 are the links.