Guest essay by Eric Worrall
h/t Twitchy – A large public event, a celebration of Cannabis culture, was cancelled in Denver on Sunday, because of heavy snowfall. According to Twitchy, the organisers apparently don’t want to refund the cash they’ve collected, but will honour event tickets at a new date to be announced, after the snow melts.
The Denver 420 Rally leadership team announced that today’s 420 Rally in Civic Center Park will be rescheduled due to weather and circumstances beyond its control. Civic Center Park will be closed to the public today. The new concert date and additional information will be released on www.420Rally.com in the near future.
Read more: http://420rally.com
I’m sure our hearts go out to Denver’s Cannabis community.
But this tragic cancellation leaves an important unanswered question – what is the most effective way to help melt all that snow?
Will smoking more cannabis help clear the snow? My guess is yes. If 1000 pot heads drop ash all over the pristine white snow blanketing Denver, not only will smoking all that weed release urgently needed CO2, which might cause slight localised warming. The ash will lower the albedo of the snow, which should help accelerate the melting process.
On the other hand, the vast smoke cloud released by all the dodgy rollups may trigger a cooling effect, if it reaches the stratosphere.
Let us all hope Denver’s pot heads muddle through this difficult paradox, and get to attend their music event.
The Doritos delivery trucks couldn’t get in.
Dang…I forgot what I was going to say…. 🙂
LOL!
+ several. I think.
Auto
Warms my heart. Chills my soul.
Sunshine will melt it. All the snow will be gone by Friday, except for that in the shade.
Damn pity it wasn’t a global warming rally wsith Al Gore as featured speaker:-)
Thank you for your great blog. I am a frequent visitor but seldom comment. I look to wattsupwiththat for information about climate science. This post completely misses the mark and as you know, the snow in Colorado right now is weather, not climate. I think this cheapens your brand.
Dave this site also does IRONY.
Don’t forget sarcasm.
Seems that Dave is the definition of irony today…
And cynicism 🙂
Sorry to disappoint, I thought the title was a hint… 🙂
You did not disappoint. It is a fun article and there is plenty of room at this site for some fun. I tweeted the article to my 2500 followers.
And it is 4-19-2016 as I read the story. Wow. 🙂
This site used to have a more reaching slogan under the WUWT title.
Now it is: The world’s most viewed site on global warming and climate change
The complaint about posts not being relevant to “climate science” [Dave W @ 9:17 and following] came up, even then. Things that the site owner thought were just interesting got posted.
I have that slogan saved somewhere (old computer in a back room) because I answered a question of the same sort about 5 years ago by pointing it out. I can’t do that today and so will just show the link to another funny post:
UCS member, Kenji Watts
Dave W, I support you.
This is Weather, not Climate.
Although I’m not familiar with the area.
Is snow in Denver a very rare event – unheard of in recorded history?
Temps are running around 26F below average for the last 4 days in Denver. Looking at their historic averages, they don’t typically receive much precipitation during the month of April…http://www.intellicast.com/Local/ObservationsSummary.aspx?location=USCO0105
There has been a pocket of cold weather which has been persistent for several weeks sitting in the mountains of the region….http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/overlay=temp/orthographic=-107.15,42.03,819
It is quite usual to have heavy, very heavy, April snowfalls in CO. I had to shovel 4 feet of climate change off my driveway in an April about 20 years ago; then I wised up and bought a CO2 spouting snow thrower, after which the weather (climate?) changed for the next few seasons and the CO2 spouter sat idle in my garage.
Parody Dave parody, oh and dont you like warm weather to scream about but snow, now that is just weather, but NASA having kittens over a warm March somewhere in the pacific and a cold US and Europe..
That’s “science”
Dave Dave Dave, an open mind has a sense of humour. Ever seen an Islamic comedian, I haven’t, totally closed minds along with cAGW acolytes.
Hi Sun Spot
Pardon me for injecting a serious note into what is obviously intended to be humorous, but you just have to google “muslim comedian” to find any number of entries.
Ian M
Should be “Islamist comedian”. Real muslims are as open minded and fun loving as any other societal group
Dave, you missed the beautiful headline ‘Four feet of Global Warming’. Priceless.
But … but… my grandchildren won’t know what snow is … ;-0
Oh, wait a minute. We went skiing last week and snow is in the forecast in the mountains, rain on the foothills.
Well maybe my great great great grandchildren.
Meanwhile on the lee side of the mountains, my horses are raising a dust storm when we ride. The news says “unprecedented” dryness for this time of year. I must have been time traveling when I took the pictures of my pastures looking just like they look now 13 years ago at the same time of year. And now, like then, there are still deep patches of ice and snow in the trees, the ice on my fish pond is not completely melted.
The use of “unprecedented” by the media is unprecedented. 😉
Dave – if you have no time for humor, this is the wrong place for you. In fact, other than the Vulcan, I can’t think of any place that is appropriate for you.
Missed it by that much….
I thought this was a site about the climate, not the weather? But funny news item anyway!
How can you resist a little payback for all the “this heatwave shows how bad global warming has become!!!”
How can you resist a little payback for all the “this heatwave shows how bad global warming has become!!!”
+ 1
Thanks Benben
Yes, it’s nice to have a little light relief from time to time.
However, something a lot less funny seems to be going on with Paris accord.Someone has moved the goal posts.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/apr/18/us-and-china-lead-push-to-bring-paris-climate-deal-into-force-early
Someone has pulled a fast one on the Paris treaty.
If that’s the kind of bad faith that is being it, Time to Pull Out NOW.
Perhaps Anthony or Eric Worrel would like to shine some light on that.
The question is which countries DID notice and kept quiet and who was responcible for inserting the “unaccountable” change to a carefully negotiated treaty.
Eric Worrall, life is much easier if you appreciate the little ironies, no matter what side of the political fence you are 😉
Greg: you might be relieved to find that accelerating investments in renewables are due almost solely to the fact that they have become very cheap, often cheaper than fossil fuels (without subsidies!). The pace of innovation that we are capable of never ceases to amaze me.
http://www.climatechangenews.com/2016/04/18/solar-is-now-cheaper-than-coal-says-india-energy-minister/
Cheers
Ben
What’s the difference?
I was replying to this post:
benben
April 18, 2016 at 9:30 pm wrote:
“I thought this was a site about the climate, not the weather? But funny news item anyway!”
But my reply ended up here instead of nested under benben’s post.
Anyway, what is the difference between climate and weather on the shortterm?
haha oh come on. As I always tell my students, there are no dumb questions, but there are questions you can figure out yourself with google. Good luck TA!
So we can ignore all the times when you get shouty about a hot day in Texas, yes?
Well, at least it took 4 feet depth of snow – with warmists it would have been 2 inches!
“4ft of Global Warming Cancels Denver Cannabis Rally”
Source? 11.8 inches in Denver, they say.
40 inches in some spots…
Nick does not bother with inconvenient reports. 40″ is 3.3′, closer to 4′ than 11.8″.
In some spots … of Colorado. Front Range. But 11.8 inches in Denver.
The Front Range is everything east of the continental divide, including Denver. Lived there for 20 years, and another 25 west of the divide..
3 foot 4 inches
From your own link:
Reports of up to a whopping 40 inches of snow along the Front Range were received.
Quick search turns up several references to even higher accumulations in the area over a 36 hour period. You feeling OK? You seem off your game of late.
The Front Range is not Denver. I asked after the source for the headline.
Wiki: “The Front Range runs north-south between Casper, Wyoming and Pueblo, Colorado and rises nearly 10,000 feet above the Great Plains.”
By 4 in the afternoon today everything was melted off except the stuff in the shade. Why argue over snowfall totals.
It was a lovely spring snow…and now it’s gone.
The Front Range is not Denver.
The headline doesn’t say there is. It says 4 feet of snow cancels events in Denver, which is different from saying Denver got 4 feet of snow.
If you’d have griped about sensationalism, I would have agreed with you. Making a big deal out of this weather event is just that. But since you instead opted for calling it untrue based on a technicality, then it is worth noting that on a technicality it is true.
” It says 4 feet of snow cancels events in Denver, which is different from saying Denver got 4 feet of snow.”
OK. I guess it cancelled Pearl Jam in NC too.
Yeah well, the headline is wrong. A mere 10 inches canceled my son’s basketball games this weekend. The fact it snowed four feet 20 miles west of here didn’t really impact that decision either.
OK. I guess it cancelled Pearl Jam in NC too.
Now you’re just being deliberately obtuse. Were you won of those planning to intend not inhale? Can you say hello to Billy form me?
Nick Stokes – Obdurate poster …
Nick really gets his panties in a wad when us peons dare to point out how wrong he is.
The title says 4 feet of global warming, not 4 feet of snow.
Very good point.
Global warming today is a very strange beast, as everyone knows the global change/climate warming does some very strange things.
It is very reasonable say that 4 feet of global warming is equal to 12″ of snow
… when 6 degrees of global warming is equal to 1.5 degrees of heat.
… when 10X millimeters of global warming is equal to x millimeters of seal level rise.
… when $4X global warming renewables “investment” is equal to $X return.
It does seem that, at a minimum, the initial warming related exaggeration factor is four. (call it the standard PR safety factor for the overall project).
Accuweather shows 46″ not far from Denver…http://www.accuweather.com/en/features/trend/colorado_snow_storm_denver_airport_travel_delays_april/56765576
Conifer, Colorado is at 8265 feet altitude.
Is that what they call a Rocky Mountain high?
Yes, “Denver” got about a foot. Other parts of the metro area, like me in the SW part of town, got 28 inches.
Aurora: 16.8 inches
Broomfield: 14.5 inches
Lakewood: 13.8 inches
Littleton: 17.8 inches
Boulder: 16.9 inches
Highlands Ranch: 20 inches
Rollinsville: 48.9 inches
Nederland: 42.3 inches
Pinecliff: 51.3 inches
With upslope storms the snow fall can be quite varied as seen above. I got 28 inches while Lakewood, which is only 5 miles away, got less than half that.
But that’s not really the point of the original post. It has more to do with the constant droning on by climate scientist and their followers that, “The children just want know what snow is” nonsense.
Commenter Andrew got it exactly right: Warmistas are first in line (including their idiotic pressman/cheerleader Seth Borenstein) to claim “extreme” weather IS globul warming happening. Heck yeah: It’s fits the narrative, right?
If Warmista pinheads can’t see the fun-poking in this piece, then we know they are truly over-the-edge sorts…with no understanding of rational argument….or rationality…..whatsoever.
Jack In the Box stock tumbles. Lol.
There’s probably a close correlation between cannabis use and global temperature. Which just goes to prove that smoking drugs causes global warming (or at least you’ve got to be on drugs to believe CO2 is a “pollutant”).
@ Scottish, 10:10 pm, Yes there is a close correlation ( well at least as far as I remember since the last time in 1974), it seemed to give you a warm feeling all over. ( testosterone?) I got it !!! That is what is causing global warming, male hormones! But maybe the increase of the cooking of Pizza’s that was a side effect as well, all those ovens firing up on Friday and Saturday nights!
Yeah but nobody who smokes cares.
I haven’t seen marijuana since like….1978. They still smoke that stuff?
They even make mini-RVs out,of the fiber, now….
There was a time when law enforment burnt the stuff. You could see the afficionados downwind sniffing the fumes.
Yep, and it’s about 10 times stronger.
Skunk weed is tough stuff
Richard: Go look in the ditches around Oak, Nebraska. They call it ditch weed out there. Apparently it doesn’t have a lot of kick but it certainly can get the tourists excited when they see it.
In Grass Valley, CA back in 1975, they had the plants scattered amongst the pine trees instead of the ditches. They were growing at about 1000m elevation and 3-4 meters in height with long poles supporting the weight of the buds. The forest had an extra strong piney fragrance to it.
From the article: ” The ash will lower the albedo of the snow, which should help accelerate the melting process.”.
I have cleared snow from parking lots etc, In all my years the piles of snow with soot covers seem always be the last ones to melt. ( but then they were also the most dense from being compacted so I need at least 1.4 million dollars for the research to verify that).
Maybe depends on how much sunlight the snow receives during the day?
I believe that when the soot gets thick enough, it starts to act as an insulator as well.
* firn *
After the soot covered snow melts during the day it refreezes at night into ice.
Most snow totals from our recent Colorado Front Range WEATHER are around 1′-2′. But here are a couple of relatively close locales with 4′.
Rollinsville 48.9inches – 30.0 miles from the Denver Capitol steps (crow flight)
Golden Gate Canyon State Park 49.0 inches – 23.5 miles from the Denver Capitol steps (crow flight)
I had 19 inches in my back yard in Boulder – 25.5 miles from the Denver Capitol steps (crow flight). I was relieved. About a decade ago, I was told I’d never see snow anymore, especially in mid-April. (/sarc)
For those of you arguing that this is a weather event, I agree. Can you now pledge to tell your warmista friends, when a hurricane, or a few tornadoes, or a few consecutive days of hot temperatures happen to hit a major metropolitan area somewhere in the world, that they are stupid when they call that climate change?
Thanks in advance.
We are having “record breaking temperatures” where we are. The last record is going to eclipsed from 23.4 C to an astounding 23.6 C (according to my Stev Screen it only made it up to 22.5 btw)
” be eclipsed” sorry.
The science is in, and it’s in the Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/apr/15/cannabis-scientists-call-for-action-amid-mental-health-concerns
Baaahahahahah.
More scientists screaming.
The Guardian is anathema to science
The issue is the individual, the make up, and the amount they use and how often.
Horses for courses.
Alcohol, some can be out and out alcoholics and some can be functioning alcoholics and the majority just casual drinkers within a range.
Weed is the same, the ones who just smoke all day, the ones who work and smoke all day and the rest who partake recreationally.
You’ll note it breaks down the same way, the individual, the use, the outcome.
Cannabis doesn’t just = bad outcome.
Chocolate is toxic btw, so is tea after several cups. So dont drink tea ALL day or eat 800lbs of chocolate!
Baaahahahaha
But – but – isn’t smoking (anything!) per se (intrinsically) BAD for the lungs?
What kind of ‘medical problems’ are we going to see as this crop of pot smokers age?
Having come of age in the 60s, I can tell you that doing lots of pot makes one lazy and stupid. Why would we want to make more liberal/Democrat voters?
Jon,
… is lazy/stupid the cause of becoming … , or an effect of becoming …?
mebbe a little bit of both.
It is quite possible to be pro Marijuana and a Global Warming Skeptic!
The people who would prohibit you to consume a ‘plant’ are exactly the same people who would try and convince you that 1/25th part of ONE PERCENT of the earth’s atmosphere is causing Catastrophic changes to the climate.
This may quickly turn into another ‘cat’ thread with that take; some ppl have this ‘blind’ area when it comes to seeing any downside at all to MaryJane usage.
And there are others who go out of their way to highlight any possible negative impact, even if they have to invent those negative impacts.
The impact of the truth can be stinging at times; where are you seeing what you purport to be the case? If this reaction is a knee-jerk response to adverse studies, research, personal accounts by some or their views then, perhaps, this topic addresses issues and subjects that have become way too personal …
Reefer Madness would be a good example from the past. I couldn’t speak to anything in the present as I don’t follow it.
If we take away all of the revisionist adjustments to cool temp that we had no data to justify the changes, which Hansen did not, neither does Schmidt. How much global warming is there.
What does data without revisionism tell us?
If things get cold enough GISS will have to include the sunny side of the moon in their analysis to keep the temps up.
Farm out and right arm
I have seen with my own eyes and can confirm yes, that is a photograph of the dastardly marriage-a-wanna.
60s: heyday, leaves spotted on bumpers
70s: sign of counterculture, except yuppies who never inhale
80s: repressed during yuppie ascension, only seen on network news re: criminal acts
90s: yuppie dominance complete, their kids almost as repressed as they were
00s: yuppie kids finally grown up
10s: heyday, leaves spotted on the bumper of the new millennium: wattsupwiththat.com
Not only climate and cicadas follow natural cycles.
We just smiled and waved, sittin’ on that sack of seeds.
Y’all come back now, ya hear?
News Flash: Late Spring weather in Denver is not climate change and cannabis is not the wonder drug the advocacy groups preached.
Nobody claimed it was
Nobody claimed that either.
PS: In your opinion, anything that isn’t a wonder drug should be outlawed?
re: Truth in Advertising and cannabis advocacy groups; tell the truth and don’t lie to me …
Yes they did–see NPR program that packed in every benefit short of immortality. If not outlawed then have the honesty to indemnify it so the rest of us don’t have to pay the mental health tab. PS Memory care in assisted living is an outrageous expense.
I would have to disagree with you on Ganja not being a wonder drug. I broke my heel, my ankle bone and damaged the ankle joint. Seven years later I was still in pain every minute of every day and the doctor’s only answer was to give me a handicapped placard. Someone convinced me to try MJ to see if it would help. My expectation was that it wouldn’t kill the pain but rather make me so I didn’t care for a while. Shortly after I tried it a realization hit me that my pain was at zero. I can’t even begin to describe how good it felt to have a break from pain after seven years. Then I was kind of down realizing that I couldn’t stay in that state forever. Much to my surprise when I woke up the next day my pain was greatly reduced and the usual swelling along with it. Turns out there is an anti-inflammatory property that lasts for two to three days. The fun didn’t stop there though. As the swelling and pain was greatly reduced I was able to work my bad foot more and it became stronger. Over time I reduced the MJ usage and now I rarely need it but have very little pain left. I have even been able to go back to the gym and start the process of getting back into shape. My point of all this is that standard medicine failed me and that MJ shouldn’t be written off as an excuse to get high. There are properties that do wonderful things for the body and they should be investigated scientifically. Just my 2 cents.
At eighteen, and eleven years of asthma, I tried MJ and never had another attack. For pain, check out Apothecanna, a Denver company that produces a non-intoxicating pain creme that is wonderful. I grew my own CBD-bearing plants, and made pills that stopped Parkinson’s patients from shaking, and a pain creme. I tried it for asthma after seeing an old ad from the 30’s where the ‘vapors’ of the burning herb were advised to stop asthma attacks. The human endocannabinol system was discovered in the 90’s, It has two receptors, one for CBD one for THC, and they have a synergistic affect, where the CBD blunts the intoxication of the THC. Overall causing a reduction in inflammation. There are also some 150 terpenes in cannabis, that have interactive effects with the THC and CBD. Not a simple plant nor single compound. Seems a bit miraculous that a single plant would align chemically with multi-chemical system in our bodies.
William,
May I suggest walking bare foot in deep soft sand. It works the muscles, tendons and ligaments without any impact but provides resistance that varies with pressure. I have done that while rehabbing my ankle injuries and after a knee operation. It really helps and reduces the time to full recovery and regaining of strength.
My oldest son had asthma bad enough that he quit sports at age 11. But by age 14 he stopped having attacks and we didn’t need to buy him inhalers. The doctor had said that when they reach their teen years they can grow out of it and they weren’t certain why.
I found out later that he had started smoking pot occasionally when he started high school and that’s when the asthma stopped. His asthma was an inflammation in the lungs that caused swelling and constricted his airways. It’s possible that smoking pot can reduce inflammation and swelling that standard drugs cannot. I haven’t looked to see if any research was done on this.
From the humor category – The Wildwood Weed song –
Here’s the AlGoreWarming we got at 2500m by Pikes Peak :
http://cosy.com/images/y16/SnowBirds1024.jpg
Good thing the bird feeder was stocked. It looks they would have had trouble locating seeds and insects on the ground.
Anybody want another brownie?
Trying again….
Here in Colorado it’s not unusual to have a heavy spring snow. March and April are snow months – which is why we dress in layers. Run the furnace to warm up in the morning, run the air conditioner to cool down in the afternoon. Yes it’s climate change – happens most years. For information the “Hog Back” is about 10 miles west of Denver’s city center. It is the start of the “Front Range”. In the micro climates here, it’s possible to go from plains to alpine in about 10 miles….
Mike
Mike. Are they still skiing there?
A-Basin will probably be open well into June. Memorial Day is a great day for skiing in CO. My routine is to ski in the morning and fly fish in the afternoon…
Well some of you are getting a little more “climate change’ than usual. Denver is already over it’s average total for the month of April and there is another system coming.
I noticed that while 4′ of global warming cancelled a rally for a weed that a foot of rain in eastern TX with more to come and the rains of the last couple of years has changed what the likes of Hayhoe, Dressler, Seager, Schafersman, and Romm once predicted to a permanent drought into periodic semi-permanent floods.
One would think that the State of Texas would at least demand that Hayhoe and Dressler be called to account for their obvious incompetence.
Dudes!
Some people gotta chill. Way too uptight.
Still, I’m bummed. That show was going to be way cool, I mean groovy.
But once they get it together, it will be so hip, i mean the cat’s pajamas,
We are talking The Bee’s Knees.
On the subject of ridiculousness:
The people of Britain have recently voted in an on-line poll to name a research vessel – Boaty McBoatface.
However the science minister has dismissed the public choice:
“You won’t be surprised to know that we want something that fits the mission and captures the spirit of scientific endeavor,” U.K. science minister Jo Johnson told the Telegraph.
Well, fine. But surely “Rent-Seeker McBoondoggleface” is too long.
http://fortune.com/2016/04/18/boaty-mcboatface-win/
Which is worse, I wonder; carbon pollution or cannabis pollution?
Back in my younger days I remember pulling up to stop sign and waiting for it to turn green.
“Cannabis pollution” does not improves ones perception and interpretation of reality…but it can pollute the “data” that one takes in as one conclude what is reality.
We already have the answer.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/20/health/life-expectancy-decline-mortality.html
I didn’t see anything in that link that addressed cannabis or carbon.
Some nice freshie and some 420 herb go hand in hand. Should not have canceled!
This is what happens when you have more people living here than native Coloradans.
In the Denver Metro area, most of the snow melted as it fell, as it tends to do in April. By Sunday afternoon, the streets and sidewalks were DRY and the 2 ft of snow that fell was down to about 6 inches on the grassy areas. Which admittedly includes parks like Civic Center. As of this morning, most of that has melted too.
The media hyped this storm up so much that there were runs on grocery stores, also proving that far too many people from the Left Coasts live here.
As for the historical records on snow in April, my Facebook memory for Saturday was also a photo of snow. Same day, different year. It can snow here as late as June and it’s not unheard of to snow in July in the mountains.
That’s why you don’t plant flowers until the Sunday after Mother’s Day.
Seattle-The Day They Legalized Pot
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fZNzsPwCQW4/UO9Rxy6bJcI/AAAAAAAAQ_k/Yb1nDyYcbwY/s1600/Seattle.jpg
Life expectancy falling
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/20/health/life-expectancy-decline-mortality.html
Take your pick: negative effects on learning or behavior
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160414214826.htm