The frigid hit parade – over 1200 new cold and snow records set in the last week in the USA, more in progress

I’m OK accepting that weather is not climate, if climate change activists will accept that human society changes, across generations.
Our children’s children may face climate change, but they will have already faced social and technical change.
As social change has been speeding up over the centuries and millennia, the social change experienced by those future generations will likely be much greater than anything climate change can throw at them.
There seems to be this image that our children’s children will be driving cars, commuting to work, consuming pizzas and buying large flat screen TVs.
We’re talking about 50 to 100 years (for climate) when society will be largely unrecognizable.
They say the future is already here, it just isn’t evenly distributed yet. Well in 100 years, maybe 10% per cent of teenagers may be reaching levels of cognition that are seen in only a tiny tiny percentage of people today. They will see themselves in different ways. They will have different desires and needs. Their motivations will be different. And this will change society and the economy. Combine that with new technological possibilities, and the world is, quite simply, entirely unpredictable.
But no, in 100 years we’ll be munching pizzas in our SUVs. Really.

Sorry if someone has posted this, but I guess we are all officially “wacko’s” now on Wiki:
Wacko alert?
Recently posted off in Wottsup [25]:
I would invite all readers to help improving the climategate article on wikipedia, which has been hijacked by alarmists that have a troop of sleepless zealots that work in conjunction with the aim to keep the page as useless as possible. Please bear in mind the use of reliable sources and read and add your views in the discussion page before changing the main article. We need more people to counter W. Connolley and his troop of alarmists:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_e-mail_hacking_incident
talk page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Climatic_Research_Unit_e-mail_hacking_incident
William M. Connolley (talk) 16:17, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
Probably worth mention at the Climate change probation page. Semi-protection is always an option. Guettarda (talk) 16:38, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
At the moment, SPAs don’t seem to be a huge problem. If it becomes one, I’m considering some sort of enhanced semi-protection (e.g. 100 edits, registered 3 months ago) I have no idea what the numbers would be at the moment. But right now there doesn’t seem to be a huge problem. Prodego talk 17:27, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
The person who posted that comment to Wottsup is obviously a regular contributor to this Wikipedia topic, so it might not be a good idea to refer to them as a “wacko”. This is a clear case of meat puppetry though, and that should probably be addressed in some manner. — Scjessey (talk) 17:57, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
I’ve tried to AGF and made a comment on William M. Connolley (talk • contribs) talk page, but what happens? I get attacked, ridiculed, and minimalized. My point was don’t use such words describing other people contributing to other web pages like wacko, Wottsup etc. Thanks! Nsaa (talk) 07:24, 6 January 2010 (UTC)
Sorry that you’re offended by a little levity about potential meatpuppets. As for Watts Up With That? (or wottsup? in common English as spoke in the sarf) this post from the Big Yin may inform you a bit more about the issue that was so sneakily hidden away here.
Please accept that going on about it is not a way of improving this particular article, and hence is inappropriate for this talk page which is governed by talk page guidelines. Hope that sets things to rest, do feel free to discuss it further on my talk page rather than cluttering up this article talk page. Thanks, dave souza, talk 08:02, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

And our governments are throwing billions at …….. global warming!
And our governments are making it a lot harder ……. to keep warm
Next hit will be food availability and prices

this cold event isn’t insignificant…
I was in ninth grade Catholic high school when it snowed, in Miami, at about 9:00am, 1977. It dissipated when it hit the ground, but it was still snow. Good times…

mkurbo:
Don’t spend your time and energy on wickedpedia; it is a failed experiment, and all people seriously involved in it are as out of touch with reality as videogamers competing for stats.
Mr. Vermeulen,
None of the data presented on the site you linked supports your statement.

This flow of “cold record” postings is now going on for a month of more. Also the whole of Europe is freezing cold since more than a month. And yet the global temperature is still 0,3°C higher than the average in the reference period. So what is the use of the contineous “cold record” news ? Trying to persuade people that global warming is not as bad as the “official warmist talk” try to make us believe ? Why is that bloody temperature then not dropping below the reference zero-anomaly ?

And the Daily Express , well is expresses doubts in AGW
http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/149966
Independant is still on message and will no doubt be winning the Mann award for BS
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/global-warming-is-happening-even-if-it-doesnt-feel-like-it-1858998.html
and
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/no-conflict-between-big-freeze-and-climate-change-1858530.html

Ireland, which normally has a very temperate climate (cold and damp in winter, warmer and slightly less damp in summer, but rarely snow or heatwaves), has been suffering from it’s longest cold spell in at least thirty years.
Investment tip. Long cereals and rice, short carbon futures.

OK, weather is not climate (WINC), but many a mickle makes a muckle (MAMMAM).
When will we see a tipping point in the state controlled media? Some might bet that reality will eventually penetrate to the alphabet networks, while others expect only the sound of silence.
Skeptics should try to recapture scientific societies such as the ACS or the APS. The Petition Project has collected more than 31K signatures, which means that there are troops waiting for a call to arms.

Invariant (01:17:30),
“Climate crisis is not cancelled. . . This coincides with the global temperature increase, and is completely natural.”
That’s right, the cooling is just masking global warming, and AGW will be back with a vengence, etc etc. Heard it all before.

The micro-social phenomenon of “cc activists” has nothing to do with the global-social movement of the poor towards technology and prosperity.
— from the “micro social” is not “global social” department.

Invariant: Isn’t it interesting how carelessly they claim that THIS is just natural variation, while the hot european summers of 2003 and 2006 were UNNATURAL?
Also, they do this while at the same time saying that they have no idea at all why the NAO changes! Well, what if they have no idea at all why Europe suddenly gets a scorching hot and dry summer either – be it in 1541, 1975 or 2003?

Patrick Davis (02:07:02):
Just outside Petersfield.

The Cape region of South Africa is currently experiencing a hot spell. Temperatures are climbing up to 45 deg C (113 F) in certain areas, nearly 20 degrees above normal.
Cape Town registered 36 deg C (97 F) yesterday, 10 degrees above average. The East coast is still experiencing rain and cooler temperatures though.

Richard Black over at the BBC is doing an admirable job of selecively picking data and playing down the natural climate patterns:
http://blackswhitewash.com/2010/01/06/richard-black-cherrypicking-data-surely-not/

Great ‘Mac’ cartoon from UK’s Daily Mail (global warming in context of current weather). See link, near bottom of page.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1240629/At-mercy-deep-freeze-Schools-shut-firms-hit–6-inches-snow.html

One thing I can’t quite wrap my brain around is how it there a high temp record in the middle of all the snowfall records in Idaho?

BBC News Channel this morning. Rob Varley? Director of the Met Office (one of several I presume) was on to explain more about the “science” of what the UK is experiencing right now. He did nothing of the sort, droned on about varying amounts of snow spread around the UK, said it was unreasonable for local authorities to maintain vast amounts of snow clearing equipment, mentioned the Jet Stream, but again offered no explanation as to why & what causes the JS had moved south (which I was hoping to find out), presumably because he & his colleagues don’t have a clue as to why. He also glibly pointed out that this was just weather & nothing to do with global warming, (well of course it isn’t you twit, cold doesn’t equal warm in my books!) So basically he was on for barely 5 mins & said very little about the science of why the northern hemisphere is freezing its do-daas off! Only consolation was that the presenter did say to him that questions will be asked about all this cold weather! Gives them plenty of time to run the excuses thro’ Deep Thought ready for the thaw!
Question, is climate just weather patterns over a prolonged time period or what? Answers on a post card please.

Patrick Davis (01:49:30) :
OT, but went for a short drive to the shops here, inner west, Sydney, Australia. For the first time this summer, it was cool enough not to use the air-con in the car.
But this cool is just weather. Yeah right!
Hi Pat !!!
BOM data indicates a top temp of 27.6C at 1.04pm. Temp at 9.45pm was 22.2C.
Temperature readings were Observatory Hill. The inner west is generally a bit warmer.
But it looks like you went for a drive at night. What did you expect 35C or something?

The AGW apologists explaining away the world wide chill reminds me of a story.
One day a woman discovered her husband in bed with another.
He says, “Are you going to believe me or your lying eyes?”

Man made global warming is caused by greedy people.
People are greedy, ergo global warming is true.

Sorry mean’t to say could be “warmism”. Any suggestions from posters. Please keep the comments as clean as driven snow:-]

Oakwood (02:50:47) :
Great ‘Mac’ cartoon from UK’s Daily Mail (global warming in context of current weather). See link, near bottom of page.
One of the best yet – it really sums up the current situation.

The current temperature here in the heart of the Florida Keys is 47 degrees F. That is PDC for the Keys!

The hypothesis that this is ‘natural variation’ over-shadowing underlying rises in temperature is statistically testable.
If we take say 40yr+ records broken in the last 5 years for both min and max temp then the max temps should always outweigh the mins whatever the variability.
Lubos M did something like this but didn’t, I think, limit it to records from before the claimed warming.
I’m sure a re-analysis with all this extra data would give us “confidence” in the hypothesis. 😀

Headlines for the Daily Express carry the UK snow chaos story. But the subheading reads: “And they call this global warming.”
Sounds like one MSM paper has thrown down the gauntlet, finally.

If ever you use the word checked or accuracy you cn be sure the typo demon is close at hand:-0

In Sweden the current much colder than normal winter is called “Ice age winter” in media, same media that a few weeks ago said the earth was going “burn”.
Forecasts have been given the last week that local temperatures could drop down to -44C in Sweden. All time low in Januar is -49C in sweden I think.

Weather may not be climate but climate is weather.
Climate is basically average weather in a larger area.
The weather predictions have always been of big importance and talking weather a popular subject. No we have made the weather shamans and their predictions semi gods and loaded tons of money on the weather shamans’ altar to pay our tribute and they do deliver almost daily gruesome predictions of the future.
Someone of the weather shamans in the imminent cold predicted up to 30 years of cold weather but then global warming will kick in again and explode.
The fight to lower the temperature is still on and common people will be subdued with tax and policies so they will find it harder and harder to heat their homes despite maybe 30 years to come of freaking cold climate. How long will people accept this nonsense from the weather shamans?

Do my eyes deceive me?
I’m reading 24°F…
in Tampa!
Frost over much of Florida!

twawki (00:54:44) :
“…Next hit will be food availability and prices”
Food availability has been on the agenda for years, even before CAGW. If you dig deep enough you keep tripping over the same players for control of energy and control of food. Players like the UN, World Bank, Club of Rome, Maurice Strong and David Rockefeller.
Here is the history in brief, note that David Rockefeller, who is a co-founder of the secretive Bildeburg group (1954) has his sticky fingers into everything from the World Bank to the Council on Foreign relations to WWF and Greenpeace.
“The “Green Revolution,” the worldwide transformation of agriculture that led to significant increases in agricultural production from 1940 through the 1960s… [was] funded by a consortium of donors led by the Ford and Rockefeller foundations. [goal: sale of Ag Equipment, Ag chemicals and bank loans]
The Green Revolution would later prove to have unwanted ecological impacts, … These unwanted environmental consequences now threaten to reverse many of the yield increases attributed to the Green Revolution in much of North America.” http://www.pewtrusts.org/uploadedFiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/Reports/Industrial_Agriculture/PCIFAP_FINAL.pdf
“This group, called the Committee for Economic Development, was officially established in 1942 as a sister organization to the Council on Foreign Relations…Composed of chief executive officers and chairmen from the federal reserve, the banking industry, private equity firms, insurance companies, railroads, information technology firms, publishing companies, pharmaceutical companies, the oil and automotive industries, meat packing companies, retailers and assisted by university economists “representatives from every sector of the economy with the key exception of farmers themselves ” CED determined that the problem with American agriculture was that there were too many farmers. But the CED had a “solution”: millions of farmers would just have to be eliminated. “
http://www.opednews.com/articles/History-HACCP-and-the-Foo-by-Nicole-Johnson-090906-229.html
Next on the scene is the World Bank and IMF with their SAPs
“Structural Adjustment Policies are economic policies which countries must follow in order to qualify for new World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans…. SAPs often result in deep cuts in programmes like education, health and social care, and the removal of subsidies designed to control the price of basics such as food and milk. So SAPs hurt the poor most, because they depend heavily on these services and subsidies.
SAPs encourage countries to focus on the production and export of primary commodities such as cocoa and coffee to earn foreign exchange. But these commodities have notoriously erratic prices…
In the dozens of countries where the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank have imposed structural adjustment programs (SAPs), the people who have seen deterioration in their standards of living, reduced access to public services, devastated environments, and plummeting employment prospects… “ http://www.whirledbank.org/development/sap.html
The final step is the World Trade Organization Agreement on Agriculture and other treaties such as NAFTA. Immediately apparent were the open border policies that allowed Transnational Corporations to bankrupt subsistence farmers in third world countries in various ways (see References) The second and more complete method used to get rid of independent farmer competition, is through the “harmonization” of national laws with the World Trade Organization/FAO/OIE “recommendations” such as the Guide to Good Farming Practices.
Farmers and gardeners will no longer be allowed the freedom to grow food without dealing with very burdensome regulations, paperwork and fines. Already in Portugal 60% of the farmers have left the land. In 2009 the US Congress introduced six different bills designed to implement “harmonization” with WTO’s burdensome regulations. Once these regulations are in place in first world countries, along with Cap and Trade and similar laws, the control of our energy and food supplies will be complete. Remember once an original bill is passed it is very easy to modify the bill until it does exactly what the transnationals want. The history of the 1913 Federal Reserve Act is a fine example of the method used.
References:
2001 Polish entry into the European Union: EU Chair states intent to remove 1 million Poles from their land The Battle to Save the Polish Countryside: http://www.i-sis.org.uk/savePolishCountryside.php
July 26, 2002: Flaws in WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture: the Agreement on Agriculture fails to account for agri-business’ monopoly over global agricultural trade. http://www.socialfunds.com/news/article.cgi/891.html
2002 – Effect of policies on farmers in USA and Mexico: In Mexico, the price farmers receive for corn has plummeted 45 percent At least 1.5 million farmers have left their land… between 1992 and 2002, the number of agricultural households fell an astounding 75% – from 2.3 million to 575, 000 http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/ftaa/topten.html
FAO is supporting harmonization of seed rules and regulations in Africa and Central Asia http://www.fao.org/ag/portal/archive/detail/en/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=5730&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=1886&cHash=7f04326e35
Farmer suicides in India: among the largest sustained waves of suicides in human history http://alternatives-international.net/article1394.html
http://www.counterpunch.org/sainath02122009.html
The House Banking and Currency Committee 1964 treatise: A Primer on Money http://familyguardian.tax-tactics.com/Subjects/MoneyBanking/Money/patman-primer-on-money.pdf
As has been said before we will have the choice of freezing or starving”

It’s simple really: it’s colder because it’s warmer; and all this cold will make it warmer which will make it colder because it’s warming. Even though it feels cold, it’s really not as cold as it feels because it’s warmer due to getting colder from the warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels. So stop driving your SUV and turn down the thermostat in your home – it’s making it colder.

“What is more noteworthy about the current cold snap is the duration of the event. Typical south Florida cold snaps last about 2-3 days before winds switch to an easterly direction and blow warmer Atlantic air across the region.”
——-
Shouldn’t that be “blow warmer Gulf Air across the region”?

A few answers:
Alexander Feht: “au contraire”, this site supports exactly what I’m saying. On channel 5 (the one used for tropospheric temps by UAH) anomaly of the day is 0.82 F higher than last year. Except for 2007, it is the highest value displayed here. Moreover, december was the 5th or 6th hottest.
Tenuc: are you not wondering why Spencer suddenly switched from a 13-month running anomaly to a 25 one just before making this statement? I do not agree that I’m doing cherry-picking when stating that the actual global temps are close to the records – that is simply a fact. Cherry picking would be to choose to compare actual temperatures with those seen during the strongest el nino ever recorded in more than a century. That was, let me think, 11 years ago?
Gael Combs: wikipedia is not the devil. Moreover, Roy Spencer who’s taking care of UAH is a good scientist, and he’s even some sort of a “skeptic hero” in a way… i can’t see why we could not trust his data…

Here in Preston County, WV there is three feet of snow on the ground and it’s still coming down. Forecast for snow pretty much every day through next week. I don’t remember anything like this since 1993. Global warming indeed.

I do feel sorry for florida. But I’m in Missouri and If you look Missouri and Iowa have more than their share of Record lows. I feel so lucky.
Cattle-Fax reported last week that cattle in feedlots that received the heavy snows 10-14 day ago are gaining weight much slower. Cattle in areas like Nebraska and Kansas will be fed longer or slaughtered at lighter weights. This means the guy feeding cattle makes less money and pays less for cattle to be fed the next round so cow-calf producers like me the guy who raised calves to be sold to the fedlots makes less.
OH well I’m out the door in my thermal linned Carrharts and glad I’m not I North Dakota.

Since even the GW scientists like to drag out – more warm records than cold –
maybe this will level the field.

Rob Vermeulen (05:49:37) :
Here’s a graphic of the current globally warm temperature I posted earlier on another thread:
http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/6276/4jan10uahlt.png

I know that there have been records set but I know that some of them are erroneous. I live in Indiana and some of the snow fall records (Lafayette, IN 1.2″ 12/31/2009 previous 0″ 2008) are off (we had a pretty big snow fall in 2007 of 17″). Maybe some of these are new stations that haven’t had previous years of data to compare to. Look at Grand Haven WWTP in Michigan, 0.5″ Jan 03 2010, 0″ 2009. Can someone take a look at why some of these are records when we know that Michigan, especially Grand Haven gets lake effect snow quite often?
http://lotsofbarkandbiteinyourforecast.blogspot.com/2007/12/indianas-jackpot-snow-total-hits-163.html

“Rob Vermeulen (05:49:37) :
[…]
Moreover, december was the 5th or 6th hottest.”
If that is what science says, they must all be deluded.
I won’t go into any details here. Fudge up past records any way you like, but if you prefer to believe that, dear Rob, you’re deluded as well. Just ignoring reality doesn’t make it go away.

Dusty (05:46:11) : replying to: “What is more noteworthy about the current cold snap is the duration of the event. Typical south Florida cold snaps last about 2-3 days before winds switch to an easterly direction and blow warmer Atlantic air across the region.”
says:
Shouldn’t that be “blow warmer Gulf Air across the region”?
Dusty, it works both ways and depends totally on the wind direction. Normally in winter the icy arctic blasts come out of the midwest from a NW direction allowing the warmer Gulf to keep the temperature along the west coast reasonable. Winds coming out of the E and SE pass over warmer waters and warm up the whole state because they are not arctic in nature. But when arctic air comes in directly from the N or NE, as it is now, it does not pass over warmer waters and stays cold.

Check out this article on MSN’s main page this morning.
U.K. shivers through worst cold snap in decades
Army rescues motorists after 16 inches of snow is dumped on some areas..
And the idiots are still saying we are in global warming.. I think they need psychiatric evaluations.. All of them..

JohnH 01:24:11
That Daily Express front page was first for review on Sky news last night. The reviewers were a particularly childish political commentator from the left and a vacuous Tory MP. Between them they rubbished the headline on the basis that ” it’s not AGW it’s Climate Change. CC means just that – it gets hot and it gets cold, stupid! We can expect more severe winters from time to time! ”
It was quite obvious from their in depth and meaningful analysis of the subject that their comprehension of the subject came from small talk on the dinner party circuit of their respective intimates rather than the slightest part of any research that they might have conducted for themselves.
The problem we have in the UK is that in a few months we have to vote for one or other of the parties that these idiots represent.
Meanwhile, in the real world, as the snow lies deeper by the day over more and more of the UK, Gloucestershire County Council have called on all private 4×4 owners to come forward and volunteer their services to reach and assist the elderly and social services clients that are threatened by the worsening conditions. What price the green electric town car now then? And will we get back the extra road tax inposed on suvs?
So little salt was stockpiled that it is already running out despite the fact that only the main routes have been salted since day one over two weeks ago. We have main roads running but desperate or undriveable conditions on the routes that feed them!
Pavements are unsalted and broken bones are a growth industry in our hospitals!
Windmills blight our landscape, yet in the coldest of conditions produce no power. This year we will pay a hidden levy on our domestic power bills of 10% to subsidise these anachronistic excrescences, which unlike their predecessors, will not become quaint bijoux properties when no longer required!
Greens have no brains and they ARE dangerous!! Fact.

Bryan Sweeney (05:04:35) :
I have read through the Gerlich paper now. It took a long time, but was indeed worth it. How can a person have so much in his head? Very impressive.
And it reviwed much of my knowledge from younger days. Yes, indeed, the greenhouse effect exists only in a .. …..greenhouse !
And the athmosphere is no greenhouse . Very informative paper.

Zap! Gore’s Frozen.
…-
“‘Frozen Gore’ sculpture returns in Fairbanks to fuel climate change debate
Fairbanks Daily Miner ^ | January 5, 2010 | Jeff Richardson
FAIRBANKS – In what might become an annual tradition, an ice sculpture of former Vice President Al Gore has taken its place in front of Thrifty Liquor along Airport Way.
The two-ton “Frozen Gore” sculpture isn’t exactly a tribute. It’s a tongue-in-cheek critique of Gore’s vocal belief in man-made climate change, complete with hot air pouring out of his mouth.
Local businessmen Craig Compeau and Rudy Gavora contracted the piece from award-winning sculptor Steve Dean and say they’ll keep erecting one each winter until Gore accepts an invitation to discuss the global warming issue in Fairbanks.
“We do want to invite debate,” Compeau said. “We don’t agree with his theories — we’re suspicious of the financial motivation behind them.”
This year’s version includes special effects, thanks to a system that pipes the exhaust from a Ford F-350 out of Gore’s open mouth. Compeau will fire up the truck periodically this winter to create the “hot air” effect.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsminer.com …
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2422189/posts
(Pic included)

Weather is not climate
Freezer burns not caused by a hot oven
Snowless winters coming
..wrong also.
Actually summers have remained snowless.

I purchased a new Ford Fusion in the spring of 2009. I wanted to help out a little by reducing my fuel consumption and the failing economy.
The Ford design engineers must have consulted the MET office for future climate conditions and decided to factory install engine block heaters on them. I’m really glad they did because I live in Missouri and currently there is 10 inches of global warming on the ground, 6 more on the way and an overnight heat wave of -13F with windblown heat around -30F.
Nothing new here with this current weather cycle. I’ve skated on a pond in March and mowed the lawn in December. I guess I just dated myself
Seriously a folks, what the governments are doing is taking control of world energy supplies’ KNOWING that years of cold weather are in the future. It’s all about the tax $$$$$$$’s and that one world order thing.
Tim

But my question is: How many of these temperatures are eliminated as outliers in the formulas used to change temperature into something meaningful?

Rob Vermeulen (05:49:37) :
“A few answers:…
Gael Combs: wikipedia is not the devil. Moreover, Roy Spencer who’s taking care of UAH is a good scientist, and he’s even some sort of a “skeptic hero” in a way… i can’t see why we could not trust his data…”
Wikipedia is known for its “edit wars” on any subject touching climate therefore it is a VERY poor choice as a reference since Dr. Spencer can not be assured the information he referenced has not been changed to something else.
As far as the Satellite temperature data is concerned I am neutral.
However in my location, comparing 1994 (satellite minus 0.1 C) to this year (satellite +.28 C) I had a cool spring, mild summer, rainy cool fall and frigid winter. The high temperatures were at least 4F degrees cooler than the normal 98F seen frequently in May, June, July and August – that is the top temp this year was 94F for the spring and summer months. On top of that we have the CRU e-mail complaining there has been no warming and graphs here showing either no warming or cooling for the decade.
At this point I do not believe any of it. I do not think we can actually measure what we think we are measuring to the precision we think we are measuring it. A typical problem in science. Was it cooler in the seventies? yes has it warmed since then? yes Will it continue to warm? I very much doubt it and I think despite what the satellite temperature data is showing this year we are starting into a cooling trend.
My biggest problem is the precision. I do not think minus 0.1 C is actually different than +0.28 C

Corinth Vermont- New record of 0.5 inches, old record of 0.0 in 2009????

Has anyone seen the UK MET Office “cold snap” explanation at http://metoffice.gov.uk/corporate/pressoffice/2010/pr20100106b.html
The money paragraph:
However, it is not cold everywhere in the world. North-east America, Canada, North Africa, the Mediterranean, and south-west Asia have all seen temperatures above normal – in many places by more than 5 °C, and in parts of northern Canada, by more than 10 °C
[Please provide a legit email address. ~dbs, mod.]

For the two fellows belly-aching about China and Wal-Mart, I have a question!
Why do you spell Wal-Mart with two l’s (as in WallMart)? It is Wal-Mart (as in Sam ‘Wal’ton)…get it?

Florida may get some “Lake effect” snow given how deep the cold air will be this weekend.
The latent heat is a good question. Hudson Bay took a long time to freeze over while Whistler was getting dumped on. Coincidence?

DirkH (10:01:12) :
I did not know that fact! Thx
Tim

slowjoe … thanks for the UK Met quote: However, it is not cold everywhere in the world. North-east America, Canada, North Africa, the Mediterranean, and south-west Asia have all seen temperatures above normal – in many places by more than 5 °C, and in parts of northern Canada, by more than 10 °C. It is laughable.
As you know, this is utter nonsense when taken at face value. For Canada, a strict interpretation is Canada [has] seen temperatures above normal – in many places by more than 5 °C, and in parts of northern Canada, by more than 10 °C. Naturally, in a country that is a large as Canada it would be unusual for portions to NOT be above normal … that is just they way weather is over a large area. But, as you know, to imply that Canada has been warm is nonsense.
Where I live in southern Alberta, the month of December was 8C° below the long term average for December…not just a day or two, but the average for the month. “Cold” news reports have been the norm for a lot of the country over the past few weeks.

Hey buddies!, why don’t you get Al Baby, undress it and make him walk a few 10 miles naked, asking him all the time if he still believes the world is warming?
In order to not being so sadic you can afterwards cover him up with a beautiful tar and feathers garment.☺

JaneHM (12:37:00) :
“What historical temperature datasets are these new ‘records’ records compared to?”
Clicking on the map for “source data” you may find “The Record Events map depicts the official National Weather Service records recorded for the defined date(s) or time period, which includes record high and low temperatures, record high minimum temperatures, record low maximum temperatures, record daily rainfall and record daily snowfall.”
Assuming the site is trustworthy, the datasets could probably be found here
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/gis/
or
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/climate/local_data.php?wfo=pbz

Even if many may have been in good faith, quite a few must have spoken against better knowledge, and some (the core) have deliberately manipulated, changed, left out or simply eliminated data. Time, room and need for legal consequences.

Alexander: what else can I do, except telling you to look again? Check Tom P’s post for a snapshot of the temperatures (thanks, btw).
Dirk H: well, that’s what measurements say. It’s just facts, not my fault!
Gail: this will be easy to check. Models predicted 2009 would be a top-10 hot year, but not a record one. I remember a lot of people on this site welcoming this claim with a lot of sarcasm, especially after the relatively moderate 2008. 2009 revealed to be the 5th hottest or so, finally…
Same models predict 2010 to be 1st or 2nd hottest with a high probability. So let’s wait for a few months.

It was 29 degrees in Orlando, whats up with that

no mames buey ..estan congelando mis huevitos en acapulco cabron tengo que dormir con sarape por la primera vez en 16 years
[ Si no, los niños pueden estar leyendo! -mod ]

If this is not climate and the climate really is warming instead then where is the warming?

Logan (01:34:30) :
OK, weather is not climate (WINC), but many a mickle makes a muckle (MAMMAM).
When will we see a tipping point in the state controlled media?
It’s cold. But hell hasn’t frozen over yet.

Bill Tuttle (02:32:47) :
You’re right: funny.

Mr. Alex (02:21:32) :
Cape Town registered 36 deg C (97 F) yesterday, 10 degrees above average.
10 degress difference is garden variety normal variability.

Midwest Mark (05:31:35) :
There you have it. More evidence that global warming is so disruptive that it is even responsible for global cooling.
So if global warming keeps happening hell will eventually freeze over and I’ll get that date with Jessica Alba?

Today I drove several times from home to school and back again, and noticed the campus was 6F at all times, but home (in the country) was 1-2F. There was no “sky view effect” here as the sky was solid gray ith light snow. No, this difference is due to the heated buildings all over campus. There are people who seem to think UHI is all about the sky view at night, but it really seems more complex than that.

Okay, I have a silly question. The setup: The earth is hit by an almost constant energy flux from the sun. So for decades I believed (with anecdotal evidence, with perhaps some bias built-in) that in winter the weight of cold air at the pole would just spill out and flow down somewhere in the world. When that happened warm air would flow up someplace else. But this year it appears that the cold is flowing down across the entire NH. So my question is: where did the heat go? Is it warmer in the tropics or SH?

“Deke Arndt of the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., noted that 2009 will rank among the 10 warmest years for Earth since 1880.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34735022/ns/weather/
Not, it appears, for Deke’s home state of Oklahoma:
“The first half of the year was warm and dry, the 29th warmest and 49th driest, based on records since 1895. The second half was cool and wet, the fourth coolest and 15th wettest.”
http://newsok.com/oklahoma-displays-extreme-weather/article/3428915#ixzz0btBwdiMK

The hourly Dulles obs….even more suspicious. Must be a Boeing 777 no doubt.
Yet THIS tripe registered in the temperature records…..and is posted as maximum for VA for the day.
No wonder there is a warm bias in global temps with this BS going on.
Hourly Observations
Time (EST): Temp.: Dew Point: Humidity: Sea Level Pressure: Visibility: Wind Dir: Wind Speed: Gust Speed: Precip: Events: Conditions:
12:52 AM 28.0 °F 12.0 °F 51% 29.89 in 10.0 miles NW 16.1 mph – N/A Overcast
1:52 AM 28.0 °F 12.9 °F 53% 29.89 in 10.0 miles WNW 15.0 mph – N/A Overcast
2:52 AM 28.0 °F 12.9 °F 53% 29.89 in 10.0 miles NW 17.3 mph 24.2 mph N/A Overcast
3:52 AM 28.0 °F 12.9 °F 53% 29.88 in 10.0 miles NW 17.3 mph 28.8 mph N/A Mostly Cloudy
4:52 AM 28.0 °F 12.9 °F 53% 29.88 in 10.0 miles WNW 18.4 mph 24.2 mph N/A Mostly Cloudy
5:52 AM 28.9 °F 14.0 °F 54% 29.88 in 10.0 miles WNW 20.7 mph 26.5 mph N/A Overcast
6:52 AM 28.9 °F 16.0 °F 58% 29.89 in 10.0 miles WNW 18.4 mph 23.0 mph N/A Overcast
7:27 AM 28.4 °F 17.6 °F 64% 29.89 in 7.0 miles WNW 15.0 mph 27.6 mph 0.00 in Snow Light Snow
7:52 AM 28.9 °F 18.0 °F 64% 29.91 in 7.0 miles WNW 17.3 mph 23.0 mph 0.00 in Snow Light Snow
7:54 AM 28.4 °F 17.6 °F 64% 29.90 in 7.0 miles WNW 15.0 mph 23.0 mph 0.00 in Snow Light Snow
8:07 AM 28.4 °F 17.6 °F 64% 29.90 in 9.0 miles WNW 13.8 mph 23.0 mph 0.00 in Snow Light Snow
8:52 AM 30.0 °F 17.1 °F 59% 29.91 in 10.0 miles WNW 20.7 mph 29.9 mph 0.00 in Mostly Cloudy
9:52 AM 32.0 °F 16.0 °F 52% 29.93 in 10.0 miles WNW 19.6 mph 26.5 mph N/A Mostly Cloudy
10:52 AM 51.8 °F 16.0 °F 24% 29.94 in 10.0 miles NW 16.1 mph 29.9 mph N/A Mostly Cloudy
11:52 AM 35.1 °F 17.1 °F 48% 29.92 in 10.0 miles NW 24.2 mph 32.2 mph N/A Mostly Cloudy
12:52 PM 35.1 °F 17.1 °F 48% 29.91 in 10.0 miles WNW 19.6 mph 25.3 mph N/A Mostly Cloudy
1:52 PM 35.1 °F 17.1 °F 48% 29.91 in 10.0 miles WNW 17.3 mph 28.8 mph N/A Mostly Cloudy
2:52 PM 36.0 °F 18.0 °F 48% 29.91 in 10.0 miles WNW 23.0 mph 33.4 mph N/A Mostly Cloudy
3:52 PM 35.1 °F 17.1 °F 48% 29.94 in 10.0 miles WNW 24.2 mph 34.5 mph N/A Mostly Cloudy
4:52 PM 32.0 °F 17.1 °F 54% 29.94 in 10.0 miles WNW 23.0 mph 32.2 mph N/A Mostly Cloudy
5:52 PM 30.9 °F 16.0 °F 54% 29.96 in 10.0 miles WNW 17.3 mph 25.3 mph N/A Scattered Clouds
6:52 PM 30.9 °F 15.1 °F 52% 29.98 in 10.0 miles WNW 25.3 mph 31.1 mph N/A Scattered Clouds
7:52 PM 30.9 °F 15.1 °F 52% 29.99 in 10.0 miles WNW 16.1 mph 23.0 mph N/A Mostly Cloudy
8:52 PM 30.0 °F 16.0 °F 56% 29.99 in 10.0 miles WNW 17.3 mph 23.0 mph N/A Mostly Cloudy
9:52 PM 30.0 °F 16.0 °F 56% 30.01 in 10.0 miles WNW 11.5 mph – N/A Mostly Cloudy

I am now convinced there is NO global warming!

April E. Coggins (20:36:09) :
“I learned something new today. The Idaho hot spot of Pierce doesn’t have a weather station.”
Interesting. There are old records from a ranger station apparently no longer operating. Caution though, there may be a temp reporter, like a snow spotter. But it appears to be a “point forecast” location for Missoula NWS
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?map.x=62&map.y=192&minlon=-117&maxlon=-110&minlat=44.2&maxlat=49.05&mapwidth=354&site=mso&zmx=1&zmy=1
“Today, after the analysis, the NWS forecaster essentially “draws” the forecast and a computer takes his/her input to create the local forecast you currently see on the web. Since the information is drawn over an area, the computer can interpolate between values. For example, if the forecaster draws a temperature line of 60°F at the north end and a 70°F line at the south end of his/her area of responsibility, the computer will interpolate the remaining values (61-69°F) over the region between the two lines.”
http://www.srh.weather.gov/srh/jetstream/webweather/pinpoint_max.htm

Ron Dean: how do you explain then that a moderate el nino, together with the weakest sun in a century, leads to records of global temperature? My take is that 2010 will be the hottest, or very close to the hottest year. Time will tell.

Basil (06:31:56) : &
Tom in losing my coconut palms Florida (07:39:10) :
Thanks for the comments. Sorry I didn’t respond before now. Anyway, I guess I should have taken the “typically” to mean on the average over a broader period of time and that my observations of the GOES-East satellite views over the last year and a half don’t reflect the typical or alternatively, I misunderstand what the views are showing.
GOES-East has been showing a pretty consistent pattern of an air stream originating(?) in the Pacific and flowing east across Central America through the Gulf finally following +/_ the pattern of the Gulf Stream. That pattern, and it’s run since at least the first part of last year, of staying much to the south and interrupting the countervailing westerly stream that comes out of the west coast of Africa, is what caused my questioning of the comment in the report that “Typical south Florida cold snaps last about 2-3 days before winds switch to an easterly direction and blow warmer Atlantic air across the region.”
Right now the NW’erly is again forcing this stream south and nearly off the southern tip of FL. In addition, I don’t see the possibility of this pattern as changing in any significant manner such that Atlantic air will break the cold snap, but I do see the ‘Gulf Air Stream’ (for lack of the knowing the correct term) either forcing the NW’erly back north or the “strong Low pressure system” in the story, moving on with everything else allowed to shift.
Either/or, though, it seems to me the relief from the cold snap will be the result of warmer air of that Gulf pattern, and not the warm Atlantic air.
Again, what I see on GOES-East maybe be different than what the story talks about. So, I’d ask, is that GOES-East pattern a higher level atmospheric pattern which is different from a lower level pattern flowing from a different direction?
Here’s the GOES-East radar:
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/east/nwatl/flash-wv.html

Moderator–Wordpress sent my posting to detention again. Would you look for it, please?

Bill Parsons (21:09:08) :
Have others noticed any trend in local forecasts for the weather events to be progressing a bit slower than anticipated and lasting longer than expected with cooler temps than originally forecast?
Larry
I’ve noticed it too – they often seem to be a day late and a degree or two short of the lows.
Another diversion for a fevered imagination on a cold winter’s night is to ponder Mike Gillespie and his cohort of Colorado snowpack measurers. What do you make of this from Wednesday’s Denver Pest?
Colorado snowpack at only 86 percent of average
By Michael Booth
http://www.denverpost.com/news/frontpage/ci_14130069
How’s this for a theory (?): It’s a seasonal thing… summers are for global warming; winters are for predictions of the next summer drought. This way, they can keep the drumbeat going without skipping a beat.
Stay warm.

When I worked for Colorado Office of Emergency Management I learned that those snow survey results need to be viewed with considerable caution due to their variability. They can read out as 86% of normal (for the date!), and tomorrow they could be 150% of normal for the date.
In short this early in the snow year they don’t mean much since the vast majority of Colorado’s snow pack arrives in the spring months, unless we have an unusually wet fall. January is typically one of our driest months for total precipitation. It very much depends on where the moisture is coming from. If the moisture is coming from the west (salt lake area) then the west face of the northern mountains get dumped on. If it is coming out of the south west (4 corners area and south) then Wolf creek, Silverton and Ouray get buried. If it is coming from the south east (upslope from the gulf then the front range gets hammered. If the low circulation sets up in the Oklahoma panhandle or slightly south the snow falls south of the palmer divide. If the low circulation sets up just a little north of Springfield and south of Lamar, then the Denver basin and the Platte river basin gets dumped on.
I would not worry much about the water/snow levels until late Feb and into March. Those late season heavy wet snows can totally turn the forecast numbers around in a single day/storm.
Larry

I can’t remember seeing the word “bleak” in forecast by the NWS:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/images/fxc/tbw/graphicast/image_full1.gif