Many WUWT readers have heard about this:
UPDATE: Video report on the DC snow here h/t to Stefan P
Here is my IntelliWeather Monday and hour by hour forecast for Washington, DC.
WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 2 PM EST MONDAY
Includes the Counties: District Of Columbia, Arlington/Falls Church/Alexandria
Includes the cities: Washington, Alexandria, Falls Church
Tonight…Snow. Snow accumulation of 4 to 8 inches. Brisk with lows in the lower 20s. North winds 20 to 25 mph with gusts up to 35 mph. Chance of snow near 100 percent.
Monday…Cloudy. Snow likely in the morning…Then a chance of snow in the afternoon. Additional snow accumulation around an inch. Total snow accumulation 7 to 8 inches. Brisk with highs in the mid 20s. Northwest winds 20 to 25 mph with gusts up to 35 mph. Chance of snow 70 percent.
Hour by Hour, as of 4:30PM EST Sunday. Click for full sized image
By the time Partly Cloudy skies appear about 3PM Monday, there will be about 4-8″ of snow on the ground in DC.
Plus, in New York City, where Jim Hansen would likely depart from, they also have a Winter Storm Warning in effect to 6PM Monday with forecast of:
WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM EST MONDAY
Includes the Counties: Hudson, New York (Manhattan), Bronx, Richmond (Staten Island), Kings (Brooklyn), Queens Tonight…Snow developing this evening…Heavy at Times. Snow accumulation of 6 to 10 inches. Windy with lows in the mid 20s. North winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 35 mph. Chance of snow near 100 percent.
Monday…Snow in the morning…Then snow likely in the afternoon. Snow May be heavy at Times in the morning. Total snow accumulation of 8 to 12 inches. Windy. Near steady temperature in the mid 20s. North winds 20 to 30 mph. Chance of snow near 100 percent.
If Hansen hasn’t left NYC already, I’d say it is doubtful he’ll even make the protest given it is a Monday, and Monday’s are usually pretty bad commutes even without bad weather. Looks like it is going to be a…
More on the DC weather story form Justin Berk, Baltimore Weather Examiner
I interrupt the snowstorm updates to bring you this pressing issue. Monday, March 2nd 2009 is the date for a scheduled protest by Capitol Climate Action (CCA).
Heavy snow expected at the Nation’s Capitol on Monday
Their website labels it:
Mass civil disobedience at the coal fired power plant in Washington, DC
CCA claims this will be the largest mass civil disobedience for the climate in US history. There is actually a request to wear dress clothes. That seems odd. Is this a target to get young Americans in a vogue protest?
My forecast from this morning can be found here (I will have a new update by this evening). If you go just by the NWS forecast, then snow will range between 5-10 inches with wind gusts over 30 mph. The snowstorm forecast is ironic not only because it falls on the date of this protest, but also because it is a late season event. The normal high for the date in Washington, DC is 51F. What would be worse: Keep the protest on in the snowstorm, or cancel it because of the snowstorm?
The infamous Dr. James Hansen should be there leading the charge. My post last week about 2008 being the coldest year this decade included a reference to Hansen. I wrote, “This is the same man who turned off the air conditioning in the Capitol while speaking about Global Warming on a hot day in 1988.” I also mentioned his exposure of bad data for Russia just this past October. He used September data (a statistically warmer month) in place of cooler October data. This skewed the temperatures upward.
I don’t knock him for his extreme beliefs, but I do disagree with the questionable tactics he uses to get his message across. According to Fox News , he is in hot water since he works for NASA, yet is helping to organize a protest.
It seems like the Climate Crew has had some trouble getting their messages across. It’s almost as if mixed signals are coordinated by nature itself. Marc Marano, Communications Director for the GOP on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) sent out a list of events that seem to follow the Gore Effect. This was labeled by Politico.com as:
The so-called Gore Effect happens when a global warming-related event, or appearance by the former vice president and climate change crusader, Al Gore, is marked by exceedingly cold weather or unseasonably winter weather.
Check out this list courtesy of Marc Marano:
Note: The “Gore Effect” has a long and storied history. What follows is a sampling of how Mother Nature enjoys mocking global warming fear promoters.
1) First October snow since 1922 blankets London as global warming bill debated – October 2008
3) HOUSE HEARING ON ‘WARMING OF THE PLANET’ CANCELED AFTER SNOW/ICE STORM – February 2007
4) NOT AGAIN! DC ‘Snow Advisory’ Issued on Day of Congressional Global Warming Hearing – March 2007
5) Gore decries ‘global warming’ in bitterly cold NYC – December 2006
9) Global warming protest in Maryland frosted with snow – January 2008
10) Global warming rally in the snow – April 2007
11) Snow won’t dampen global-warming rallies – April 2007
13) Global Warming Awareness Walk Braves Snow Storm – March 2007
14) The Gore Effect, Cont. – Gore speaks in Italy during ‘rare’ cold and snow
15) Tracking ‘The Gore Effect’ – Politico November 26,6, 2008
16) Climate protest cancelled ‘due to rain and cold’ – Nov. 23, 2008
@Aron (12:00:46) :
“I don’t think these fools realize this coal plant was being decommissioned anyway. It only supplies some basic energy to a few blocks now.”
Really? Hmmm, maybe that’s why they picked it? You see, when it closes, they can claim a victory. It makes for good propaganda. “Join us because we are successful in achieving our goals.” Everything about them is fake, so why shouldn’t their recruiting tools be, as well?
The usual barrage of lies now about desertification, tribes abandoning their lands, disappearing coastlines and spread of vector borne diseases.
Aron (12:04:11) :
The ‘old woman’ is a politician, Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C. [the first “D” is redundant]. Apparently she didn’t get the memo: click
Somewhat OT, but others here have questioned the funding for this event. Steven “junkScience” Milloy has an article posted on Fox
http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/03/01/milloy_soros_coal/
which inspired me to to do a little digging. Dr. Hansen does seem to have benefitted from the efforts of Soros money as excerpts from the Soros Foundations Network Report 2006 indicate:
Scientist Protests NASA’s Censorship Attempts
James E. Hansen, the director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies at NASA, protested attempts to silence him after officials at NASA ordered him to refer press inquiries to the public affairs office and required the presence of a public affairs representative at any interview. The Government Accountability Project, a whistleblower protection organization and OSI grantee, came to Hansen’s defense by providing legal and media advice. The campaign on Hansen’s behalf resulted in a decision by NASA to revisit its media policy.
– pg. 123
We have fostered a network of youth media practitioners whose voices have improved the way society looks at young urban people of color, contributed new perspectives to public policy debates, and sowed the seeds for the next generation of journalists.
Pg 125
U.S. Programs
U.S. Justice Fund 17,029,000
Strategic Opportunities Fund 12,824,000
Special Chairman’s Fund 29,646,000
OSI-Washington, D.C. 2,492,000
OSI-Baltimore 4,479,000
Other U.S. Initiatives 7,622,000
Total U.S. Programs $74,092,000
note: The Strategic Opportunities Fund includes grants related to Hurricane Katrina ($1,652,841); media policy ($1,060,000); and politicization of science ($720,000). The Special Chairman’s Fund includes grants related to progressive legal infrastructure ($7,305,000); multi-issue policy infrastructure ($6,685,000); youth activism and leadership development ($3,561,000); civic engagement ($2,750,000); judicial nominations ($2,458,000); political reform ($500,000); and global warming ($455,000). Other U.S. Initiatives include: drug policy reform ($4,000,000); Youth Initiatives ($940,000); Medicine as a Profession ($500,000); After-School Program ($376,870); and other U.S. Programs. OSI-Baltimore expenditures include $1,127,330 in third party funds raised from outside donors.
Pg. 143
I can’t state that the entire $720,000 grant concerning the politicization of science went to support Dr. Hansen’s cause, but there seemed to be a pretty fair amount of effort exerted in that cause (e.g. Mark Bowen’s Censoring Science which appeared in 2008). A detailed accounting would be interesting.
For those of you who would like their very own copy of the Soros report:
http://www.soros.org/resources/articles_publications/publications/annual_20070731/a_complete.pdf
I think an examination of the 2007 and 2008 reports may also prove enlightening.
What’s frightening about this whole demonstration is that it looks a lot like the efforts of Hitler’s brown shirts to force the government to do what it really wanted to.
Man, that protest poetry is the closest to Vogon poetry that I’ve ever encountered. Scary.
If they get any worse, I fear that my large intestine will shoot up through my body and throttle my brain to save me from the unimaginable horror.
They’re hugging each other now. I hope it finishes soon, I don’t now if I can stand listening any more.
They’re now talking about how evil the Industrial Revolution was. I hope none of them took a car, plane or train to get there, that would be hypocritical.
Oh, Soros…maybe you should have a look how he likes to meddle in the affairs of the central and eastern Europe. For e.g., his is the initiative to introduce constructivist type of education. Unfortunately, he was succesful. It is now the progressive thingy ordered by our Ministry of Education to all schools.
Rephelan:”What’s frightening about this whole demonstration is that it looks a lot like the efforts of Hitler’s brown shirts to force the government to do what it really wanted to.” and remember also that in those years the german currency rate exchange was at 62 million Marks per dollar. A financial crisis…
So far thiis is a NON-NEWS event. As of 4:29PM on Monday March 2nd, this does not appear as a headline on the “Google News” webpage. One must search for it to find mention of it.
If Orwell could have seen the future:
2009 is a classic dystopian novel published in 1949, it is set in the eponymous year and focuses on a repressive, totalitarian regime. The story follows the life of one seemingly insignificant man, James Hansen, a civil servant assigned the task of falsifying records and politicizing science, thus effectively perpetuating propaganda, who grows disillusioned with his meagre existence and so begins a rebellion against the system.
Interesting links, rephelan. George Soros owns hundreds of millions of dollars of coal producers, and he also funds James Hansen [and I read in an earlier thread that George Soros funds RealClimate, too].
I suppose cognitive dissonance explains why the alarmist contingent has no problem with being bought an paid for by someone they would otherwise label a filthy polluter. But with Soros it’s all for the cause, so it’s A-OK, right?
Yes, David, the Greenpeace ladyman spokesman thing that came onstage credited James Watt with the Industrial Revolution and blamed him for starting climate change!!!
There was no climate change before James Watt!!! hahahahaha
rephelan (13:17:41) :
“What’s frightening about this whole demonstration is that it looks a lot like the efforts of Hitler’s brown shirts to force the government to do what it really wanted to”.
rephelan,
Someone has to understand what’s really going on.
O.K. So now they are finally about to leave. They have finished the hymns, then the sermon, then the parrish news about upcoming events. Next they were asked to hug their neighbor in a show of fellowship, and now they are moving onto the processional. After, they have all been invited for refreshments and a local hall.
Yep, thats building something new and fresh.
This is all poetic justice… we think we know everything but every once in a while nature throws a curve ball… I think Hansen just swung an missed… LOL
Seriously, I’m more concerned about the other tipping point… global cooling leading to another ice age. We’ve had several of them in the past 500K years and civilization as we know it for the northern hemisphere will be seriously affected.
National Review mocked this protest back in December saying it would probably snow…
http://planetgore.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OTMwZjQ1YzkyZWZmMzU3NGEzMDEzYjhkNDFiMTk0YjI=
“But we haven’t done anything that is civil disobedience yet!” This is good stuff.
There was an interesting conversation right in front of the camera when the protesters left. If I understood it correctly, some of the green helmet protesters questioned the organizers directly (more or less) as follows
“Why are we saying we have shut down the plant when we haven’t?” and
“The point of civil disobedience is to enforce the issue, and we are just leaving!?!”
That is what I thought I heard anyway.
Come to think of it, about a year ago a lot more people protested against Sciencetology, and year later they still do and in greater numbers.
I see a lot of similarities between the AGW and the teachings of Ron L. Hubbard, both peddle junkscience, are religious zealots, promoting pyramid schemes, blackmailing opponents or at least trying to discredit them by all means possible, have distorted view of reality and are being loved by Hollywood celebs.
And somehow AGW has the same problem as the Church of Ron, not enough people to protest in favour of them.
@Carsten Arnholm, Norway (14:02:45) :
SEE COMMENT BY Aron (12:00:46) — in which he says that plant is going to be shut down anyway, so it looks like they are going to take credit for it, perhaps to use as recruitment propaganda.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
New from “Junk Science” a blog about hell…
http://greenhellblog.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/rfk-jr-eternity-in-jail-for-coal-ceo/
“Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said at today’s Capitol Climate Action rally that Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship ‘should be in jail… for all of eternity’.”
Kennedy also said that coal companies Massey Energy, Peabody Energy and Arch Coal are ‘criminal enterprises’.”
Hmmm…. Soros expenditures for 2007 read in part:
U.S. Programs
U.S. Justice Fund 28,296,000
Strategic Opportunities Fund 11,760,000
Special Chairman’s Fund 23,522,000
OSI-Washington, D.C. 2,623,000
OSI-Baltimore 4,282,000
Other U.S. Initiatives 7,432,000
Total U.S. Programs $77,915,000
Note: The Strategic Opportunities Fund included grants related to media policy and investigative journalism ($3,450,000); politicization of science-based policymaking ($640,000); and the subprime mortgage crisis ($414,000). The Special Chairman’s Fund included grants related to judicial independence and nominations ($5,587,000); civic engagement ($4,860,000); economic and social policy ($3,975,000); progressive legal infrastructure ($2,950,000); youth activism and leadership development ($2,865,000); and global warming ($1,110,000). Other U.S. Initiatives included grants related to drug policy reform ($4,000,000) and cooperative global engagement ($1,000,000); and other programs. OSI-Baltimore expenditures include $1,795,000 in third-party funds raised from outside donors.
Soros Foundations Network
Soros Foundations 128,179,000
Network Programs 129,814,000
International Initiatives 58,277,000
U.S. Programs 77,915,000
All Other Organization, Programs, and Costs 76,411,000
Interorganization Elimination (29,718,000)
Total Soros Foundations Network Expenditures $440,878,000
Politicization of science is down somewhat, global warming is up more than 100%
The full report is available at
http://www.soros.org/resources/articles_publications/publications/annual_20080728/a_complete.pdf
Keep in mind that Soros spent close to a half billion in charitable contributions world wide in 2007 and is NOT the only source of funds for these projects. As for his taxable financial investments…. to take control of a publicly traded company you may need to own as little as 5%…. hell, with one share and a pocket full of proxies you can put in your own management team.
As I understand it, the protestors want to shut down the coal fired power plant that provides heating and cooling to Congressional buildings, the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court. Well shutting off the heat for the government morons who want to shut off our heat and electricity seems like a good idea to me. Let them have a taste of their own medicine.
If Robert Kennedy Jr. says coal company CEO’s should go to jail for all eternity, where should oil company executives go, purgetory perhaps? And what about his brother Joe Kennedy distributing low cost oil throughout New England with the help of the largess of Hugo Chavez? Is this more like a misdemeanor? Wouldn’t it be more environmentally sound to help insulate rather than just heat?
I did a CTL-F for our good buddy Joel [snip] Shore, and shockingly he has not weighed-in on this topic. But I know you’re out there, [snip] Joel.
I will reiterate my request of Joel (and of ANY AGW advocate, for that matter); exactly WHAT physical evidence WOULD convince you that Anthropogenic Global Warming based on atmospheric CO2 is an invalid theory?
For my part, I would have STARTED to be concerned that AGW was a valid theory IF (a) there had been a concerted effort by AGW folks to clean-up temperature data sources over the last 10 years, AND (b) temperatures from those sources had actually gone UP in that time frame AND (c) AGW folks had had the courage of their convictions to actually mounted a serious proactive campaign to “fix” atmospheric carbon [by, say, actually PLANTING TREES; heck, there’s already a pre-existing “holiday” for it called Arbor Day. Still baffles me why AGW hasn’t adopted that old orphan]. That’s what would have convinced me that AGW might be a serious issue.
My grandfather was president of the Mass Forestry Association, the “father of town forests” and on Teddy Roosevelt’s committe that created Yellowstone. I would have gladly lend a hand with a little “reforestation” in his honor.
But I am still waiting for a response from ANY AGW [snip] on what would constitute “disproof” of the AGW theory. It’s as if they can’t even CONTEMPLATE the notion that the theory might be incorrect, much as [snip] have no room in their minds for doubt of any kind.
Meanwhile, down here it’s March, but up in the sky, still no spots.
Is it just me, or, as we would say in Texas, is The Almighty fixin’ to go all Old Testament on our ass?
Reply: Please don’t make me do all that work again because the delete button is also a lot less work. ~ charles the moderator
Idle musings … Gosh … I looked at the pictures posted on the CCA site and also read this on their site, “More amazing images from the largest mass civil disobedience for the climate in U.S. history where thousands of activists shut down the Capitol Power Plant.”
There were a few dozen protesters in some pictures. Even if there were 10X as many off camera, it sure as heck did not look like “thousands of activists.” ( A few hundred ill-informed eco-weenies I could buy. ☺)
The eco spin that will come out of this will be incredible in the old sense of the word, “not credible; hard to believe; unbelievable”
Thanks for the reference to JFK Jr. He comes to Canada every couple of years with some Hollywood types to raise awareness of his self importance and tell us how we should manage our environment.
Just saw a brief interview on fox about it, the green peace spokesmen was adamant that this year was warmer than any other…. the presenter did say his sources said the states was over 1F colder, but the green peace dude was not to be swayed, and was sure he was just picking a convenient data set… so there yah have it all you lot freezing in the NH, its actually warmer 🙂