Two Stories for you, one about the snow itself, and the other about climate law being debated and passed in the middle of the unusual snow.- Anthony
London has first October snow in over 70 years
From the Guardian
Cold snap causes flight cancellations while a motorway accident kills one driver and causes severe disruption
Parts of south-east England had more than an inch of snow last night while London experienced its first October snowfall in more than 70 years as winter conditions arrived early.
Snow settled on the ground in parts of the capital last night as temperatures dipped below zero. A Met Office spokeswoman said it was London’s first October snow since 1934.
For greater south-east of England it was the first October snow since 1974. High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire had 3cm (1.2 inches). One of the coldest temperatures recorded was -4.1C in Benson, Oxfordshire.
“It is unusual to have snow this early,” the Met spokeswoman said. “In October 2003 sleet and snow was recorded in Northern Ireland, Wales, south-west, north-west and north-east England and the Midlands, but it was mainly over higher ground.”
read the entire story here
How Parliament passed the Climate Bill (in spite of the weather)
Posted in Government, 29th October 2008 12:35 GMT
Excerpt: Snow fell as the House of Commons debated Global Warming yesterday – the first October fall in the metropolis since 1922. The Mother of Parliaments was discussing the Mother of All Bills for the last time, in a marathon six hour session.
In order to combat a projected two degree centigrade rise in global temperature, the Climate Change Bill pledges the UK to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. The bill was receiving a third reading, which means both the last chance for both democratic scrutiny and consent.
The bill creates an enormous bureaucratic apparatus for monitoring and reporting, which was expanded at the last minute. Amendments by the Government threw emissions from shipping and aviation into the monitoring program, and also included a revision of the Companies Act (c. 46) “requiring the directors’ report of a company to contain such information as may be specified in the regulations about emissions of greenhouse gases from activities for which the company is responsible” by 2012.
Recently the American media has begun to notice the odd incongruity of saturation media coverage here which insists that global warming is both man-made and urgent, and a British public which increasingly doubts either to be true. 60 per cent of the British population now doubt the influence of humans on climate change, and more people than not think Global Warming won’t be as bad “as people say”.
Read the rest of the story at the Register, here
Peter Hearnden (01:22:24) : The weather is indeed cold atm, and may stay so for several days – I see no need to deny that reality. But, so far this year temperatures have averaged out above average,
OK Peter, how did those temps come out above average, with no warm weather for the entire summer?
“all these scientists are plain idiots and all the politicians are much more stupid than you are”
Where is the irony?
“so far this year temperatures have averaged out above average”
With the AMO positive, I should hope so.
How’s the knive buy-back proceeding? Any extant proposals for stones?
Just an Aussie absolutely besotted with MLB and the WS. If this AGW keeps going ahead, then any future WS game in the North will need the players to be dressed in snow suits, if the PHI games are an indication! How good would four games in Cleveland be, if this year is an example? Regards to all on the thread – stay civil.
Flanagan
They’re not idiots, Flanagan. They’re corrupt. They have sold out for money. But not all.
Climatologists like Prof. Richard Lindzen, head of M.I.T.’s Atmospheric Sciences department, eminent Prof. Freeman Dyson, and thousands of others in the hard sciences, don’t buy the hype that you buy into.
What was that again about ‘common minds’?
As long as they remain in office, the politicians are anything but idiots. They’re extremely successful at getting what they want – power and control. The only facts or truth that matter are the ones that support their tenure. They’re just as happy ruling the stupid as they are ruling the intelligent – just so long as they rule. There’s the key – remove enough of them from their positions and the behavior of the rest will change fast.
Sadly it will be left too late to do anything about this global cooling that is having results everywhere, the UK should have started building more coal power stations a decade ago (we have lots of coal still). Instead we are faced with a choice of energy blackouts or reliance on Russian gas. Nukes won’t be ready in time.
Anyway the UK’s great national interest is the weather (we don’t have climate, just weather – January days can be warmer than June days) and there are plenty of messageboards on UK weather sites that are very sceptical, the only people that seem to be posting on them supporting AGW are self-serving greens and politically-driven scientists.
Also, you will note the global aspects of the alleged climate change. It is not by accident that these are always brought up. It is also not by accident that the US is part of the OECD (another international redistributionist bureaucracy we – the American people, I mean – got suckered into joining, much like the UN), nor is it by accident that we are a part of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), waiting only upon the Senate’s consent to get it ratified. If Obama becomes president and the Democrats control the Congress, you can bet that will be passed rather quietly. But, among the “rights” it alleges to give ALL OF HUMANITY, being as it falls under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is the following: labor rights, social security, health care, education, an adequate standard of living, and more. Many of these are laudable aims, moral and ethical it might even be said. But do they rise to the height of being within the Rights of all Mankind? And whom do they figure can properly fulfill not only all these rights but also our alleged obligations to cool down planet Earth? A global government, of course, which will operate in the rarified air and in the shadows, still allowing us the practice of being an independent nation while ever more enslaving us with new “rights” passed through international treaties such as this. Soon enough we too will be just a province instead of a nation, just like our good cousins in Britain.
I did not hide beneath any consensus, where did I say this? I simply said that I’m amazed some blog-reading nobodys are convinced they are smarter than anyone else, smarter than a whole bunch of PhDs working for years on climate modelling. I try to remain modest, and do not qualify as “stupid” people who do not think like me – I just say some of them here are obviously so self-satisfied they do not admit others could be right.
Personally, I simply look at facts. GE is supposed to augment worlwide temps, and they are increasing. Excess CO2 is supposed to acidify oceans, and it’s happening. The antarctic is supposed to melt rapidly, and surprise, it is doing so. There’s supposed to be a hot spot in the atmosphere, and there’s one. Relative humidity should be constant, and it is. So what?
And Northern Ireland had the lowest temperatures in over 70 years:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7696286.stm
October 30, 2008 – 9:00 AM Record snow storm triggers delays
Snow flurries throughout the night and early morning caused numerous delays for travellers using Switzerland’s rail system on Thursday.
A heavy, wet snow snapped trees, which fell across tracks. The most affected regions included Zurich, Schaffhausen in the north and the areas around the Gotthard pass in central Switzerland.
Passengers moving between Spiez and Interlaken south of Bern were forced to take buses when rail service there was interrupted around 7am. Broken branches and trees blocked roads.
Farmers in the Bernese Oberland also awoke to snow-related problems. Damaged fences allowed their cows to wander freely.
According to MeteoNews, the Swiss lowlands received the most snow for any October since records began. Zurich received 20cm, beating a record of 14cm set in 1939.
Trains were largely running on time again by 9am.
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/news/travel/Record_snow_storm_triggers_delays.html?siteSect=414&sid=9908046&cKey=1225359314000&ty=nd
Which the envirowhackos will try to block or sabotage, to aid in the slide towards de-industrialization, as is their desire:
“Isn’t the only hope for the planet that the industrialised civilizations collapse? Isn’t it our responsibility to bring that about?” — Maurice Strong, head of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and Executive Officer for Reform in the Office of the Secretary General of the United Nations.
Flanagan
Is that sarcasm or not?
Flanagan, The only “proof” for AGW comes from modeling. There is no hot spot. The Anarctic has gained ice. There is No “objective” proof the very recent warming is from AGW. The recent trend over the last 7-10yrs is now one of cooling
Flanigan: I did not hide beneath any consensus, where did I say this? You said: ” Well, you all must be right: all these scientists are plain idiots and all the politicians are much more stupid than you are.”
So, who, or what are “all these scientists” if not your much-vaunted “consensus”?
I simply said that I’m amazed some blog-reading nobodys are convinced they are smarter than anyone else, smarter than a whole bunch of PhDs working for years on climate modelling.
No, you didn’t. But now, you are trying two different, common AGW tactics, the ad-hominem (“blog-reading nobodys”), and the appeal to authority (“whole bunch of PHD’s”). Two swings, and two misses. Got anything else?
PeteS
You say “As a Brit, a retired physicist and an AWG sceptic I despair of our government and its official opposition passing this dangerous piece of legislation, What really surprises me is that our political leaders are so incredibly stupid not to, at least, leave themselves room for manoeuvre. Surely they know that mean global temperatures are stable now or even falling. Surely they have been advised of the serious scientific work that has produced clear evidence of solar and oceanic effects on climate. I cannot be the only one who has taken the trouble to write to his MP and the Energy and Climate Secretary Ed Miliband. I cannot believe that at least one scientific adviser has not drawn at least one senior politician’s attention to the possibility that the earth is entering a decadal period of cooling.”
As a fellow Brit, a retired physicist and an AWG sceptic, I too have written to my MP, the PM, leader of the opposition etc and all to no avail. However what you appear to have missed is that the scientific advisers are all part of the same clique, i.e. they work for the Met Office or NGOs and are government funded so that their careeers, future funding and future honours (they get their OBEs knighthoods etc) depend on giving the AGW advice that the politicians want to hear. There’s no honour or honesty in the country anymore.
Some intelligent responses on this comment board. I always appreciate thoughtful commentary. Thanks all. I have hope for the human race yet!
I think these dolts need to start holding their summits in locations around the equator. It would easily avoid these embarrassing developments. We can then see pictures of them sweating in October!
Here in Arkansas (Southern U.S.A. for those who may not know) it has been one of the mildest Summers I can remember. There was plenty of sunshine and rain – but very few sweltering days. My lawn is still green, the trees still holding their leaves. Usually August heat blasts the grass making it go dormant well before the fall. Also, the oak trees often begin “going brown” due to the extreme heat and lack of rainfall. Today, for the record, the oak trees are still quite lush. They certainly did not get baked. But the frost is already making appearances, the leaves are beginning their normal turn and fall. My fireplace has seen its first few fires. We’re all knuckling down for some harsh winter temps.
Oh, and for all you other rural folks out there, we cannot find a persimmon whos pit doesn’t have a spoon. Get out your shovels, y’all!
Flanagan:
Do you just make things up? You state as fact:
Wrong: click
You think you are “smarter than a whole bunch of PhDs working for years on climate modelling.”
-Flanagan
You mean those models that they have to run 47 of them and then try to get some sort of average? Those models that have been repeatedly falsified? Those models that we have to wait thirty years to find out if they are ok? The models that that are continuously tweaked?
Here is a test of model predictions by a very smart lady that is also a “warmer”:
http://rankexploits.com/musings/2008/result-of-hypothesis-tests-very-low-confidence-2ccentury-correct/
OK… you are right. Those models are the cat’s meow.
If you put tomfoolery into a computer, nothing comes out of it but tomfoolery. But this tomfoolery, having passed through a very expensive machine, is somehow ennobled and no-one dares criticize it.
Pierre Gallois
Thanks,
Blog-reading nobody, Mike Bryant
You think you are “smarter than a whole bunch of PhDs working for years on climate modelling.”
-Flanagan
Yes. D-uh!
Brian Johnson (04:38:00) :
We have absolute idiots in our Houses of Parliament. […]
We are being led by morons.
And who are the morons that voted the other morons into office?
A people have the government they deserve…
Flanagan are you wilfully ignorant? There are a lot of scientists writing on this blog.
Ocean/sea water PH is alkaline. Some would say extremely so. No (readily available to humanity) amount of (whatever is meant by “excess”) CO2 dissolving into it will make it “acidify”, maybe just slightly less alkaline.
The Antarctic is a 2 kilometer thick layer of compacted ice. Continent wide nuclear bomb detonations wouldn’t put much of a dent in the thermal inertia tied up down there – and the trend is toward colder not warmer.
Emerging out of an ice age should produce a much sharper upward trend in temperatures than is happening. Some would add, has happened and will happen. Some would call the current trend flat, or falling.
As for a hot spot – there is one under my collar as I read your missive which is obviously designed as a wind-up. I was dumb enough to bite.
Blog-reading nobody, Terry Ward.
But, so far this year temperatures have averaged out above average, and we’ve seen several of the warmest years on record in the past ten – that’s another reality I don’t deny.
That’s an accurate but interesting way of saying, “SHEESH! Is it bally COLDER than last year or WHAT?”
Well, I meant Arctic, my mistake. And there IS a hotspot, please read the IPCC reports and if you like, Real Climate.
Models are not “falsified” as you say. Of course if you start from the idea that all models are bull***** and all measures are bull******, then any discussion becomes difficult. There is no way something else than computer models can predict what the climate looks like. Unless someone is personally able to solve thousands of coupled differential equations by hand…
Bruce: an ad hominem attack refers to someone specific. Like when you accuse me of changing tactics or whatever. I was just expressing my opinion on some behavior that I find inappropriate for a constructuve discussion. If you ever felt attacked, please accept my excuses. And please also stop generalizing people: what you said is akin to saying all black people are stupid or all jewish people are liars, or any racist or one-sided opinion. Which I personnally cannot stand.
When groupthink and mob mentality take over, individuals become incapable of rational thought and just go with the crowd. They convince themselves that there is sense in what they are doing.
This is no different. This is mass brainwashing at its finest. There is no otehr explanation for over 99% agreement on this issue, when every trend line shows that, at the very least, there may be something in there worth discussing.
One actually wonders how so many people have become devoid of individual analysis and appropriate skepticism. This subtle a prolonged brainwashing effort has been much more successful than any of the more famous tactics of holding one in a cell with the lights on 24/7 and incessant repeating of the mantra “the earth is warming and it’s all our fault.”
No, instead the mantra is now simply repeated in the heads of those making policy. “The earth is warming and it’s all our fault.” “But it’s cold and snowing outside.” “The earth is warming and it’s all our fault.” “But all the trend lines in recent years are negative while CO2 continues to rise.” “The earth is warming and it’s all our fault.” “But there are many issues with temperature measurement.” “The earth is warming and it’s all our fault.” “But the earth has warmed before back when no SUVs existed.” “The earth is warming and it’s all our fault.”
Yes… you are right… “The earth is warming and it’s all our fault.”