As the snow piles up over the Northeast, it is clear that global warming or climate change has caused this storm. Please take the opportunity to write up a prospective/perspective article as comments and I will combine them into the most coherent narrative for the folks at the New York Times or Washington Post to use in their newspapers. Note, you may use anonymous sources or experts in the field to come up with testimony. You may/should probably include anecdotes from storm-weary travelers who have never experienced anything like this before. Also, bonus points will be awarded to those that incorporate climate model predictions, which are almost always spot on when it comes to “forecasting” these “extreme events”. We will compare our efforts to what the elites ensconced in Washington, New York City, Boston, and London come up with.
Note to the blog police: this exercise is meant to be illustrative of the contortions that the media on both sides of the Atlantic have undergone to rationalize “winter weather”.
So far, Wade has set the standard for best journalism.
Update December 29, 2010: Time Magazine does not disappoint: blizzard is a sign of global warming!
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We aren’t even halfway through winter yet, and I fear it’s the West’s turn….
Global warming is so two days ago. It is now ‘climate disruption’.
Record snow falls prove Elvis is alive. The science is irrefutable!
This is the third consecutive year of the “warmest decade” that weather has killed my tropical plants. This is the earliest date in these three years of the “warmest decade” that the weather has killed my tropical plants. If this global warming keeps up I am going to have to move farther south to escape the killing frosts of said warming.
I’m in central Vermont and haven’t seen a flake. 10:45PM When do we get ours?
[snip]
I had just read the NYT piece and was about to come here to post it. I have rarely ever read so much nonsense in my life. The implication of the article seems to be that the warm melting waters of the Arctic are in the atmosphere, bouncing off the Himalayas and smothering Siberia, Europe, China, and North America with snow. Factually this is so bizarre as to amount to nothing but the rankest propaganda. It implies that the tropics are boiling. That the Arctic has lost 100s of thousands of cubic miles of water. The article actually says that Antarctica has lost mass. Well I guess it must say that. To account for the mass of water that has recently been deposited all over world land masses in the form of snow and relentless rain. All while the seas have failed to rise at all. Careful distribution there.
The simple fact that it requires huge areas of cold to condense water vapor over huge areas of land and sea seems to escape these meteorologists. That these areas of atmospheric chill mean that the atmosphere is…….cold. It has been a warm month in the Central Pacific. A bit abnormally so. And the warm winds have driven a lot of moisture into the atmosphere. And this mass of water has hit an area of chill that goes from Hawaii to the Arctic. Around the globe. That is a bit more than a problem with vapor flow around the Himalayas. And it has nothing to do with AGW. It has everything to do with hemispheric upper-atmospheric cooling.
The NAO graph tells the story. The NAO has been deeply negative over a prolonged period, but previously over the last 30 years the dominance has been largely positive. The positive trend of the NAO which provides warming we have been told is compliments of rising CO2 levels, but it is more likely controlled by high solar activity.
Recent reduced solar output has meant much lower levels of EUV have been with us which has resulted in a much smaller outer atmosphere. This correlates with a more negative AO and NAO which produces blocking highs that bend the jet stream, allowing cold arctic air to flow south. Coupled with a very large La Nina that is forced on by a very positive AAO along with the PDO in a cool phase and we see that nearly all the cards are stacked. We just need the AMO to go a bit more negative and it will all be happening.
This is a result of natural ocean oscillations and low solar output, and nothing to do with CO2. Any warmth which drives the precipitation in the arctic region is from the large stationary high over Greenland which is part of the negative oscillations, along with the left over warm waters from the now dead El Nino.
We have past the point of no return. We are now Hell, and thanks to global warming, Hell has frozen over. The “snow” you see around you is rotton, much like the rotton ice of Greenland. As our models have predicted, and as we’ve published in the peer reviewed scientific literature, we are on the icy path to damnation.
Of course … When you are a total moron, the peer reviewed scientific literature might well be a comic book! 🙂
The blizzard is proof-positive of anthropogenic global warming (AGW). The concept is simple, modelled by experts from NASA, the Untied Nations, and numerous publically-funded NGOs from around the world. The consensus of accredited climate scientists and philosophers is that the result of mankind’s fossil fuel consumption is crystal clear:
1. Global warming causes evaporation of water molecules into the atmosphere;
2. Evaporated water molecules, when they get cool enough, come back down to earth as precipitation;
3. Lots of evaporation = lots of precipitation;
4. Lots of precipitation in winter = snow and sleet; and
5. Lots of snow and sleet = blizzard.
I simply cannot believe how the Deniers are incapable of linking the simple, proven scientific LAWS to Global Warming, and how they deny the blizzards, snow-storms, early seasons, ocean acidification, teenage pregnancies, declining Polar Bear populations, and extinction of thousands of species that are the clear and cogent results of fossil fuel use.
The Deniers are so scientifically illiterate that they seem to think that these inconvenient blizzards are a steady-state view of the future, whereas every accredited climate model predicts that the snow will melt, and the atmosphere will heat up significantly as soon as July or August next year.
The most significant prediction of the models is the 2012 dedication of the James E. Hansen SuperMax facility for Deniers and recalcitrant fossil-fuel executives.
Judah Cohen explains it all for us. I wasn’t sure aat first but I actually think he is serious.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/opinion/26cohen.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
Global warming clearly caused the northeast blizzard of Dec 26-27, 2010. It was also caused by George W. Bush and Sarah Palin and big Pharma and low capital gains taxes and also by weak gun control laws and Walmart, yeah definitely Walmart, oh yeah and also GM when they were run by Republicans and also the military industrial complex and FoxNews, oh yeah, also the Jews.
This can clearly be seen by the computer simulation I’m going to do someday as soon as I get that grant for $10M from Goddard which I expect Obama will be authorizing any day.
I believe they’ve already beaten you to it:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/opinion/26cohen.html?_r=2&ref=opinion
It’s all about all that extra moisture available due to the missing arctic ice, dontcha know…
Snowmageddon 2.0. Blizzard Causes Travel Chaos!
Less than a year after record snows buried the nation’s capital, another major winter storm is wreaking havoc across the Northeast. The storm ruined travel plans in the busy post-Christmas travel period by closing airports, delaying trains, and snarling traffic.
Forecasters are calling for as much as 20 inches of snow across the mid-Atlantic to southern New England by Monday afternoon. Snow could pile up at rates of 2-4 inches per hour at the heart of it. Hundreds of flights were canceled from Boston to Washington as the storm pummeled the most densely populated area of the U.S.
This storm came as a bit of a surprise to many as the storm unexpectedly tracked closer to the coast and put the eastern seaboard in the worst of the storm.
For Joan Fredrickson, of Atlanta, this is the worst snow storm she has ever seen. “It’s unbelievable just how fast this snow is piling up!” Fredrickson, in New York for the Christmas holiday, was caught by surprise. Her flight has been canceled and she may not get out of New York until Wednesday, 3 days later than planned. “It’s awful, but this is a once in a lifetime event. I’m trying to make the best of it.”
Gavin Schmidt, climate expert at NASA’s climate unit, was a little skeptical of Ms. Fredrickson’s claim of a “once in a lifetime event.” Citing robust computer model forecasts, snow storms such as the one currently pummeling the East Coast are likely to become much more common in the future as a result of greenhouse warming. “People need to realize that even in a warmer world, snow will still fall. In fact, that snow could come in heavier doses in many areas thanks to the air’s ability to hold more moisture. A warmer climate will mean warmer and wetter, but also snowier conditions for many locales. Storms such as those last winter and this winter are consistent with what the models have predicted as a result of human emissions of greenhouse gases.”
For those that would attribute the storm to a good, old fashioned winter, Dr. Schmidt reminds us that “2010 is likely to be the warmest year ever recorded on the globe. While it’s easy to forget global warming when it looks so wintry outside, we mustn’t forget the devastating heatwave and fires in Russia this past summer or the flooding in Pakistan. Such events will be ever harder to forget as they become the new ‘norm’ in a greenhouse warmed world.”
For Ms. Fredrickson, such predictions leave her un-phased. “I don’t mind the snow. I’m a southern girl. I’m going to relish this while I still can.”
[ryan: okay, this is really good]
Visiting family in Seaford, VA. WE had snow on Christmas day. This is the first time this has happened since 1948. We now have a two day total (Christmas & Sunday) of over 15 inches of snow.
Well that’s easy Ryan.
We need to keep 2 things in mind.
1-) A warm planet means more moisture in the atmosphere, not even the deniers deny that.
2-) Warm air rises.
This has been the warmest year of the warmest decade of the warmest century. And as most people know, the warmer the air, the quicker it rises. So what’s happened in the northern hemisphere is this quickly rising warm air leaves a vacuum behind, which is quickly filled by cold air sucked down from the arctic regions. Coupled with the moist air, this causes all the snow we’ve experienced.
In the southers hemisphere, exactly the same thing has happened, but it being summer down there, they’ve gotten lots and lots of rain.
See? totally consistent with our models which showed warmer atmosphere will have more moisture. 🙂
[ryanm: like that “refrigerator door” being left open, as Jeff Masters explained the Arctic see-saw paradox, or something]
“It’s all a snow job by nature. The reality is, we’re freezing not in spite of climate change but because of it. “
http://tinyurl.com/2ucwhqx
After reading the New York Times article, I feel like a fool.
Now the U.K. MET office winter predictions make sense.
You just have to read them upside down and backwards.
I’m really embarrassed.
http://tinyurl.com/yhy3885
Thank you New York Times!
If it gets cold, blame on global warming. If it gets hot, blame it on global warming.
Climate science is like quantum physics: the cat is both dead and alive at the time.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/opinion/26cohen.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general
Mr Cohen, of course, is heavily invested in Global Warming which doesn’t have any effect upon his op-ed piece in the slightest. See his little bio at the bottom of the piece. I nearly fell out of my chair laughing and now my stomach hurts….
I, for one, hope he cannot find his buried car until February 27th, at the earliest….(c;]
Well it should be obvious, the Law of Assymetrical Reversal always applies in cases like this.
Hey Ryan,
Don’t know this person’s level of expertise, but she’s trying to rationalize the extreme hemispheric weather as a result of less ice in the arctic.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/opinion/26cohen.html?src=twrhp
[ryan: her expertise is not in question at all. this is her research and theory, and she is pushing it — and seeming to make it fit where it perhaps shouldn’t]
Winter climate disruption causing unprecedented widespread chaos.
As climate models have been predicting for years, extreme winter weather now strikes the heart of the northeast.
Furious flatulent waves of wicked white hell have created thousands more climate victims overnight.
IPCC has mandated an immediate stop to all greenhouse gas emissions before this CO2 supercharged winter throws us into the next ice age.
IPCC is working with the Obama administration to create a national state of emergency. Under this state of emergency, all coal and natural gas fired power plants will be shut down immediately. All residential gas supplies will be turned off. All highways and roads closed. Power is to be shut off nationally within 12 hours.
[“Furious flatulent waves of wicked white hell“] definitely top-notch, scientific verbage
The warmest summer ever continued to wreak havoc on the Eastern seaboard today by dropping the moisture -which the intolerable summer heat squirreled away months ago- on weary travelers like John Hootlydoe. ” I’m so tired and cold from all this anthropogenically cooled global warming residue” the single father of 3 said as his wife shivered nearby, homeless and nonunionized. The couple waited in 12 foot drifts of snow for a plane to land in the parking lot of the local Hooters.
There’s my paragraph.
The sad thing, the greeners have everyone so revved up over global warming.
Global cooling is far more dangerous. Global warming would be a good thing.
For two of the world’s most acclaimed climate scientists and their extended family, this was not the way they envisioned their holiday weekend playing out. They should have been half-way over the Atlantic to visit ailing colleague Dr. Phil J. and the CRU-gang, but unseasonable cold and snow delayed their flight. “It’s worse than our models have forecast”, said Kevin to his charming companion, Susan. “It’s a travesty!” Their unfortunate child, Caspar (whose singular achievement was only delivered after more than two years hard labor and several unprecedented interventions), said to the family puppy Mr. Wigley, “If we’d only adjust the 1930’s downward, today would be warmer and we could fly!”
“That’s what we’ve been advocating for decades” said Dr. Jimbo “Jim-bo” Hansen of NASA’s Goddard Institute of Specious Science from his office located just above the celebrated restaurant featured in numerous Emmy-Award winning episodes of “Seinfeld”. “The only way to solve the climate catastrophes of the present is to adjust the temperatures of the past”, he said.
As if to confirm those words, Jim-bo’s pitbull, Gavin, and lap-dog Mikey M., dug a deep hole in the nearby park, buried a log of Yamal timber, and marked their territory in customary style.
To his frustrated and beleaguered traveling family, Kevin could only say “We can’t even begin to account for the LACK of warming in the last decade. It’s a travesty!!!” It seems that all the teraflop-computer models of Kevin and Susan’s National Center for Anomalous Research will not get them to jolly old East Anglia any sooner. They’ll just have to wait for the thaw, and Caspar will have to walk Mr. Wigley around the terminal again.
[ryanm: you got it all in there…]