Guest post by Steven Goddard
Weather is not climate, but 49 out of 50 states agree – spring is getting off to a cold start.
How will these blue states vote on “cap and trade?” Someone needs to take responsibility for this runaway global warming, which is purported by a top scientist from the University of Colorado to be killing off the ski industry .
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
DENVER – A study of two Rocky Mountain ski resorts says climate change will mean shorter seasons and less snow
Winter 2007-2008 was the snowiest ski season on record in Colorado.
Eight Colorado ski resorts see record snow
Silverton Mountain, which stopped running lifts Sunday, reported the greatest record-breaking snowfall, with 550 inches. Steamboat came in second, with 489 inches.
January, 2008 was the snowiest month on record in the Northern Hemisphere, with nine out of the last eleven January’s above normal.
Source: http://climate.rutgers.edu/snowcover/png/monthlyanom/nhland01.png
So how is the current ski season looking? Wolf Creek ski area in southwestern Colorado has received a paltry 10 metres of snow so far this winter.
Summit Base Depth : 110 inches
Last 24 Hours : 1 inch
Last 48 Hours : 2 inches
Last 72 Hours : 2 inches
Midway Base Depth : 105 inches
Last 7 Days : 20 inches
Latest Storm : 2 inches
Year to Date : 398 inches
with lots more snow on the way.
Accuweather snow forecast for this weekend
But remember – weather is not climate. and computer models should always supersede observation.
MSM finally notices the sleepy sun, but it GHG are still 13 times more to blame.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,512428,00.html
David Hathaway even gets a quote.
Mark T
High canyons might well be full of snow. Last year above 10000′ there was still old snow in unusual places in October. Maybe come out to the newly reserved Domiquez and Escalante Canyons Congress set aside forever this week, as if anyone but a few locals ever go there, only 4500′. Endless impenetrable wilderness here already, no people.
The western slope is headed for a deep depression again, with the slump in oil and gas, and the new rules accepted by the prissy Colo legislature. Sad. But the Western Slope has always been in a depression compared to the rest of the state, after the oil shale bust of 83. Here we go again. Took 20 years to recover. At least we’re used to it. Great survivalist country. People here can’t afford solar panels.
It’s raining red mud in Western Colorado, now that’s a NEW ONE! I suppose we will get some red snow tonight, wind, ssw, must have blown in from AZ. Terrible thick dust but little wind. Dropped 20 degrees in a few minutes. Snow any minute.
Another coal train just rumbled by out of Somerset. All day, all night, the lifeblood of the area. They average 110 cars and take 6 minutes to cross Highway 50. We do depression well.
Yep….. here in the Southern Hemisphere. Tropical North Queensland, Australia to be exact.
The nights are cool, while the stars hang like crystal jewels in the black velvet of the heavens. The lazy days are warm and sunny, beneath the great blue bowl of the sky that streches overhead, from horizon to horizon….. A typical harsh Queensland tropical winter approches.
It’s tuff. But somebody has gotta live here 🙂
I have to admire that way you guys, and especially Steven Goddard, keep putting new lipstick on the “Look, cold weather! How could Global Warming possibly be true?” pig.
It’s quite correct to disparage “alarmist” reports of warm weather as proof of global warming. Plenty of those comments here. But there is a curious, and disappointing, silence on the same illogic when presented in support of the “skeptical” position.
“What is good for the goose, surely is good for the gander?” is exactly wrong. Hold yourselves to a higher standard if you want respect.
crosspatch,
click on this link to see my proposed energy source.
http://energyguysmusings.blogspot.com/2009/02/wind-water-farms-and-power-generation.html
Nuclear power is not the way to go for many reasons.
Ron de Haan, re acting quickly to prevent Global Warming.
Apparently we already acted quickly enough. Seas have stopped rising, air temperatures are falling, ice caps are growing, so whatever Obama did just by getting elected must have done the trick.
Maybe it was California’s passing AB 32, perhaps that scared the climate into cooling itself off. “You be good or else, else we will grow CORN and make ETHANOL and tax COAL!”
Here in Wisconsin I have recently found that even my personal friends who are global warming proponents are having a hard time arguing that AGW is real. There is nothing like the harsh reality of six months of colder than normal temperatures and above average snow fall to wake people up to the questionable tenants of AGW. Even the hot air of Al Gore is not going to be able to stop this avalanche of eye opening bad weather.
I’ve lived in Breckenridge, CO since 2005, and we’ve had four long, cold, snowy winters in a row, with snowfall average to above average each season. I’ve had so many deep powder days I can’t remember all of them. We start skiing in September and when the lifts close in April we still have enough snow to ski backcountry until June/July. In May 2008 we received three major snowstorms and I skied waist-deep snow on May 13. In May 2007 I skied fresh powder several times. In Colorado, the ski seasons are not getting shorter, the average annual snow-pack is not shrinking, and snow-levels are not rising. Snow is lasting all summer long on the highest peaks, in fact. Last summer much of the snow didn’t melt in the shaded areas of forest until almst August. Furthermore, in Summit County, we received snowfall every month for AT LEAST the last 12 months.
rss is also out!
http://www.remss.com/data/msu/monthly_time_series/RSS_Monthly_MSU_AMSU_Channel_TLT_Anomalies_Land_and_Ocean_v03_2.txt
looks like both satellites showed some drop this past month.
Is it at all possible that the excess precipitation is a symptom of cooling? It makes sense to me that it would precipitate more after such a warm period. All that evaporated water comes back down when the cooling starts. Hope it’s not a severe cooling…
Seems to me the pic only says 47/48. But Steve, I thought you were writing from Europe? That’s looking balmy.
Posted on Real climate… Ironically these april foolers don’t seem to realize how close to reality this is going to be soon LOL… Word for word (except last silly little arguments re severity of AGW)… they are actually correct, and this will most likely happen…. they will be saying farewell (guess next year or after) HAHA
Farewell to our Readers
Filed under:
* Climate Science
— group @ur momisugly 11:22 AM
“We would like to apologize to our loyal readers who have provided us so much support since we first went online in December 2004. However, after listening to the compelling arguments of the distinguished speakers who participated in the Heartland Institute’s recent global warming contrarian conference, we have decided that the science is settled — in favor of the contrarians. Indeed, even IPCC chair Rajendra Pachauri has now admitted that anthropogenic climate change was a massive hoax after all. Accordingly, RealClimate no longer has a reason for existence. The contrarians have made a convincing case that (a) global warming isn’t happening, (b) even if it is, its entirely natural and within the bounds of natural variability, (c) well, even if its not natural, it is modest in nature and not a threat, (d) even if anthropogenic warming should turn out to be pronounced as projected, it will sure be good for us, leading to abundant crops and a healthy environment, and (e) well, it might actually be really bad, but hey, its unstoppable anyway. (Can we get our check now?)”
WakeUpMaggy (17:41:21) I noticed the same muddy red rain this evening, and still ongoing, apparently on the otherside of McClure Pass from you. Actually, I have never seen it for more than a few minutes, when it has been really dry and then it starts to rain. In the past the rain has cleansed the atmosphere in short order. Today, is by no means dry, 10″ of wet snow 6am-1pm, then four hours of rain snow mix, with a 20 minute break. Then tonight it has been a muddy rain for almost three hours. Just drove 5 miles on paved country roads, windshield wipers moved muddy water with each stroke, pickup looks like it was on muddy dirt tracks. My leather jacket has streaks of dirt rolling off the shoulders from being in the rain for a couple of minutes. Seems unusual, even the amount of water.
Glaciers overrunning lifts and lodges will negatively affect the ski industry, especially in the Alps.
Has anyone noticed that the “0” line on these RSS (graphs see TLT TMT graphs below at BOTTOM of web page), left side “0” are NOT on the same level as right side “0” giving the impression that the trend is much greater than should be? Note that the higher troposphere graphs are in sync (where there is no trend). Test it yourselves with a ruler. See what RSS has to say about that!
http://www.ssmi.com/msu/msu_data_description.html#msu_amsu_trend_map_tlt
” Ben Lawson (17:54:37) :
“I have to admire that way you guys, and especially Steven Goddard, keep putting new lipstick on the “Look, cold weather! How could Global Warming possibly be true?” pig.”
That’s an insult right there, we are here for a little careful cameraderie, a lot of hypothesis plural, tons of data and common sense from Anthony and his contributors and not so much verbal violence and judgment. These people don’t have a position except curiosity! Anthony is curious, so are we. Are you?
“It’s quite correct to disparage “alarmist” reports of warm weather as proof of global warming. Plenty of those comments here. But there is a curious, and disappointing, silence on the same illogic when presented in support of the “skeptical” position.”
As you and many others, including Obama, do not seem to understand, SCIENCE IS SKEPTICISM! That’s what IT IS and it is lovely in its infinity and the beautiful drive of the human mind to keep pursuing the incredibly complex details.
“What is good for the goose, surely is good for the gander?” is exactly wrong. Hold yourselves to a higher standard if you want respect.”
If you want to get into childrens’ literature and wisdom go read some fairy tales. Aesops Fable’s, the Dog and the Bone, Chicken Little, The Blind Men and the Elephant, The Emperor Has New Clothes, The Pied Piper of Hamelin. The Sky is not falling. Read that stuff over and over for 17 years to preschoolers and maybe you will absorb the wisdom of your many elders who are dead now for many hundreds of years.
Oh I forgot, regular, liberal people don’t HAVE children anymore and there’s no one to read to, or pay taxes in the future. No wonder they want us all to drive tiny electric cars with rules about safety seats for babies, explosive airbags in the front seats. Parents have to buy SUVs if they live in Red States where it snows. You can’t even put a kid in the front seat anymore thanks to Elizabeth Dole and the ridiculous airbag laws. 3 kids+ SUV.
“Nuclear power is not the way to go for many reasons.”
Well, I believe wind definitely isn’t the way to go for any reliable energy. Wind potential is vastly overrated for one thing. You are going to need something that can move HUGE amount of water. You aren’t going to get wind power to move enough water to make a difference.
A nuclear plant could use a three-stage cooling system with the tertiary coolant being the very water you are moving. It could run 24x7x365 in any weather conditions. You don’t have to worry about ice, wind, tornadoes, or long periods of calm taking our your ability to pump water.
But if you REALLY want to produce something that could make a huge difference in this country, I have an idea for a “load leveling” system that makes a house or a commercial building appear as a constant load. You would basically design it with a storage system as you would an off-grid building but the storage doesn’t need to be as large. When load comes up during the day and exceeds your charging current, you begin to draw from battery to make the difference up. When load comes back down below the charging current, the batteries begin charging. It also lends itself well to auxiliary power input from local wind or solar sources. But the idea is a constant current load on the grid 24×7 so the building appears as a “base load” rather than a “peak load”. It also gives you some insulation against brief outages. The storage shifts a portion of the daytime peak into the overnight hours. This allows base load plants to work at peak efficiency without needing to bring less efficient “peaker” plants online during the day. It also allows you to store nuclear and hydro generated power at night for use during the day but doesn’t need to be as large as a completely off-grid system.
The snow was so deep at Mt. Hood Meadows last year that trenches has to be dug in many places for the lift chairs to pass through.
It was a record snow year.
Almost as much this year .
Steve Keohane (19:17:06) :
WakeUpMaggy (17:41:21) I noticed the same muddy red rain this evening, and still ongoing, apparently on the otherside of McClure Pass from you.
We were searching for a forest fire as we had never EVER seen such a thick occlusion from anything but a big fire before, without a huge west wind. But of course, we are so isolated and so poor there is no local news available on radio or tv.
All that dirt is cloud seeding the blizzard for Denver tomorrow. A few days ago the winds of 75mph blew all the dirt off my field. Today I got a little of Arizona’s dirt for my garden.
I was hoping the jet stream dumped some Redoubt ash on us but it was just Arizona.:)
Remember folks, climate doesn’t kill, weather does.
Ben Lawson (17:54:37)
Calling someone you admire a pig is quite strange.
Seriously, you must be a dour sort. Sense of humor?
Appreciation of irony? Apparently not.
Disappointing and curious, I think.
They display on the same level on my monitor.
Try viewing the page and then change the size of the window by grabbing the lower right corner of your browser window and sliding the bottom of the frame up as a ruler.
When I do that on my system it comes out exactly the same on both sides. Your monitor might be skewing the display slightly.
Larry
Ben Lawson.
“(quoting me) “What is good for the goose, surely is good for the gander?” is exactly wrong. Hold yourselves to a higher standard if you want respect.”
Respect is something one earns. Wanting it or craving it is never the way to earn it. It is earned by doing the right thing and the right time, without regard to the consequences or the cravens who take potshots from the sidelines, especially those who hide behind a sorry excuse for science.
Practicing proper science, as Dr. Richard Feynman so eloquently stated it, would go a long way toward earning some respect for your side, the AGW proponents. That would include such things as carefully measuring the data, providing all the data in a completely transparent manner, drawing logical and supportable conclusions based on sound physics and math, stating the areas of uncertainties, and how those would impact the conclusions.
And yes, what is good for the goose is good for the gander. Why shouldn’t WUWT or any other blog publish cold events as they occur? Are you advocating censorship?
Speaking (writing, actually) only for myself, I could care less if anyone respects me or not. My concern is keeping the policy-makers from heading down the wrong path, wasting trillions of dollars (and other currencies) on a ideologically-driven, scientifically-unsupportable movement to punish affluent Western societies for having had the resources and opportunities to build a better world.
As I wrote elsewhere, Western man has done more good in this world with energy and ingenuity than the liberal idealogues will ever admit. Obama got one thing right thus far, and that is that we should be willing to extend a helping hand to others. But that help is provided by energy, and comes in the form of using energy. As E.M. Smith wrote on his chiefio blog, there is and never will be a shortage of energy. He is right.
And because there will never be an energy shortage, if and when the Earth is ever in dire need of reducing excessive air temperatures, or the opposite, severe cold, the engineers will step up and get the job done. If the AGW proponents turn out to be correct in their position, in perhaps 10 or 20 or 30 years, there will be plenty of time to make adjustments. As I have written before, there is no technical challenge to adjusting the atmosphere’s composition with respect to any component gas. We have all the knowledge we need, right now, to remove 100 ppm or more of CO2 or any other gas within a very short time frame.
When (I should say, IF) the first non-floating polar ice slides off into the ocean, and the sea level rises that first centimeter, call me. Let me know. At that point, the engineers will stop the ice slides and fix any other problems that require fixing, and nobody need panic. Impossible, you say? Hardly. Talk to some engineers sometime.
crosspatch,
I try to stay out of nuclear power debates on WUWT, but if you want to read my writings on the subject, do a search on my blogs for “nuclear.”
http://www.sowellslawblog.blogspot.com, and
http://www.energyguysmusings.blogspot.com
And wind does and will work. Have a little faith in the engineers!
O/T The News Release of the USGS doesn’t include a time frame but
the dates 1940-2005 should ring bells.
HEADLINE: New USGS Study Documents Rapid Disappearance
of Antarctica’s Ice Shelves
TITLE: “Coastal-Change and Glaciological Map of the Larsen Ice Shelf Area,
Antarctica: 1940-2005”
See here: http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2186