Updated with a photo, Daryl Ritchison writes:
If you want pictures of the Dickinson snow, here are a couple of pictures sent from a viewer of mine. They reported 1.5″ as these pictures were being taken. The one with the lilac blooming (at right in photo above) is interesting because most years the lilac have finished blooming three weeks ago, but the spring has been so cold in this area that most phenological events are running about 2-3 weeks behind schedule.
More here from the TV station web site: http://www.kxma.com/weather
From the “weather is not climate” department, this report from TV station KXMC in North Dakota:
KXNewsTeam
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) Snow has fallen in Dickinson in June, the first time in nearly 60 years the city has seen snow past May.
National Weather Service meteorologist Janine Vining in Bismarck says there were unofficial reports of a couple of inches of snow in Dickinson on Saturday.
Vining says snow in North Dakota in June is uncommon, though it’s not unheard of. She says other parts of the state have seen June snow within the past 10 years.
Williston and Bismarck had received only rain as of mid-Saturday, but Vining said snow was possible in those cities later in the day.
Twins Elizabeth (left) and Jeanette McGregor play in the snow in Aviemore
Nick
the weather in the UK has been variable recently
Not to mention the forecasts! The Met Office got into hot water over the recent Bank Holiday, when they forecast thunderstorms (that failed to materialise), thus sending visitors at some South coast resorts back home a day early, taking their spending money with them!
Still, as long as they know what it’s going to do in 60 years’ time… 🙂
BTW, it’s currently 6 deg.C on my back fence, and I live in the Isle of Wight.
For the record, Michael H. Anderson, there is no snow in Calgary, it was gone in a short time… but it was insulting that it piled up in the first place.
Snowmobile? Y’all must be using your weird American terms. Up here we use a SkiDoo.
🙂
Very pleased to see an extended discussion of plants, germination, latitude limits yada yada, from E.M.Smith and others. Can’t fake that stuff, because plants is plants.
And enough Anecdotes, and there is Data….
As Leonard Cohen once sang (Anthem)
‘There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in’.
Keep up the agricultural references, one and all.
AllenCic (21:31:24) :
A couple of inches of snow fell in Lassen National Park in northern California a couple of days ago. The National Park service just got last winter’s snow cleared from the road thru the park and open to the public the same day. Let’s see, some of last winters snow still left on the ground and we’ve got new snow already.
—
Hmmmmmn.
At what point in the year does spring end and the next season (fall obviously) begin?
Is a crystalized steam storm falling on June 20 in the previous winter, but the same storm still falling on June 23 a sign of the next winter?
(What if they declared a global warming and the temperature got colder?)
Robert A Cook PE (17:19:57) : …At what point in the year does spring end and the next season (fall obviously) begin?
There has been a shift in the actual temperatures start and end of seasons in both hemispheres, but David Archibald´s “temperature100 kilometre equator-ward shift in growing conditions” which could be translated for the SH in a similar equator ward temperature shift it seems it has not happened.
If you haven’t seen a condition in 60 years, and tomorrow it happens, what would be your first reaction?
1.) Oh, that’s happened before.
2.) Wow, where did that come from?
It’s human nature to go with #2.
It’s also in us to breathe easier when a group has been calling for hellish heat but instead the place is cooling off.
All, that is, except for those who are belching the flames.
Be a good samaritan, offer them a RollAids.
Hey, don’t they give Polar Bear Cubs an ice cold Coke(r) for a 30 below heatwave?
Adolfo Giurfa (17:51:06) :
Ah, but many of us are noticing a change in what grows, as opposed to what we have come to expect. A marked difference year on year for my NW. Ca locale.
How about yours?
I like these threads, I understand they are just a bit of fun and because of this they infuriate the [opponents]. This is good.
Nothing to report from SE Queensland Australia, just a month of rain causing flooding and mayhem. All normal Aussie weather.
rbateman (18:10:06) :..How about yours?T
There is no change at all in my city except for the late start of summer, and consequently its late end. But as you can see here:
http://www.giurfa.com/lima.jpg
Temperatures here if plotted and smoothed would be almost a straight line, however we clearly feel differences as humidity is very high. In “winter” it oversaturates producing a drizzle. We live in front of el Nino, so if you go to the beach and dip a finger in the pacific ocean waters you won´t need to see all those oranges and reds in some agencies charts. That´s why I said “there are no ninos around…la nina just went to the toilette to arrange herself and she´ll be back soon”. Red ink can not warm up any ocean.
I think Ian Wilson´s theory is closer to what really happens:
http://users.beagle.com.au/geoffsharp/wilsonforum2008.pdf
How about simply Crystalline Vapor?
When PC started too long ago to exactly remember a clever scientist described to me a particular situation as the Native North American in the combustible resource.
Adam from Kansas (12:31:16) :
Okay, oh wow (the article linked below) O.o
http://www.accuweather.com/news-story.asp?partner=netweather&traveler=0&zipChg=1&article=9
So it says here some areas in the Northern US to the Northeast will have a ‘year without a summer’!?
______________________________________________
Here is the quote:
“According to Long Range Expert Joe Bastardi, areas from the northern Plains into the Northeast will have a “year without a summer.” ”
How are our grain supplies? Should I be panicking and stocking up on corn and wheat right now?
What about all that corn needed for fuel ethanol? Should I sell my dual-fuel car?
Will the price of beer and scotch go up? Now THAT would be a global crisis – Al Gore better head for the hills if that happens!
But we can always rely on wind power to keep us warm, can’t we? …Can’t we? …CAN’T WE?
or crystal vapor for short.
“All wealth comes from the earth”
Thomas Jefferson
Grain is one of the unique commodities that is not existing.
I’m afraid that only the tiny remnant of an agrarian society and a few
other souls understand the meaning of this.
Strategic petroleum reserve? Petroleum is an existing commodity, you can extract it when you desire.
Strategic Grain reserve sounds much more comforting to me.
Climate change is a fact. The error is vastly overestimating man’s power to effect the earth.
A lesson in humility may be coming, I HOPE NOT but just in case, how about we
store some grain?
“Stuart Huggett (20:59:28) :
What about the southern hemisphere? Skiing in NZ is starting at least 5 weeks early.”
And too in Australia. Unfortunately, the politial damage is, or about to be, done. Nothing will be made in Australia, the UK, the US etc, it’ll all be made in India or China (Hummers now will be made in China) and you will pay, not only the price for the goods, but an import duty and a carbon tax on that import duty. Here in Australia we import frozen food from…..China. Give that a miss!
“Saturday’s high temp in Green Bay sets record for June 6”
Record low temperature for a high, that is.
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20090606/GPG0101/90606042/1261/GPG05/Weather++Record+temperature+set+in+Green+Bay+Saturday
farmersteve (19:52:11) :
“A lesson in humility may be coming, I HOPE NOT but just in case, how about we
store some grain?”
************************
Excellent idea Steve. Instead of foolishly making corn ethanol we could start by storing all that corn – we may need it. But can we actually eat that stuff?
I predicted (well actually Tim Patterson did when I asked him) global cooling in year 2020-2030 in a ~2003 newpaper article – but hope I’m wrong and the warmists are right – there’s always a first time… :^)
Should we also be doing more work on frost-resistent crops? Not a subject I know much about – would appreciate comments from knowledgeable people.
*************************
Gary Pearse (05:26:04) :
Andrew P (02:03:20) : and Thomas and Rys Jaggar
Okay, so you corrected the altitude by 400m and yes Rys you are desperately reaching for the historic record to show that June snow all over the world is really just normal. Normal is a word your sect is generally loathe to use these days and it is definitely a synonym for notably below normal that your leaders order you to use only as a last resort
Gary, I too would also appreciate a retraction. Like Rhys, I am also not an AGW proponent (or member of any sect), as you would know if you read some of my other posts e.g. http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/06/05/rss-global-temperature-anomaly-also-down-in-may-halving-the-april-value/ at 08:08.
All I did was confirm the correct location of where the photo was taken, something which should be welcome by everyone on a scientific blog. Somehow, you managed to infer from my comment that I suscribe to the totally unproven and increasingly discredited AGW hypothesis. As I said, a polite apology or retraction would be welcome.
sorry – forgot to close the italics (should be after retort)
Same happened in Finland, some snow in June. Won’t see that often, once in 100 years.
Hi Anthony , and thank you again for wattsup.
Apologies in advance for the following rant.
Some contributors (here and elsewhere) have said that certain global warming alarmists are not dishonest, just incompetent.
When so many in the media are writing alarmist nonsense about alleged catastrophic humanmade global warming, and Earth is actually cooling, it is probably immaterial whether the alarmists are liars or mere incompetents.
These climate alarmists are all engaged in a huge costly deception which will place excessive, almost limitless political power in the hands of the ruling elite, at the expense of the average human being, democracy and freedom.
The climate alarmists advocate massive misallocation of scarce global resources to address the false crisis of global warming, when real crises that kill tens of millions every year, like poor sanitation, malaria and poverty, go wanting.
This is a highly immoral act of historic scope, and whether its proponents are scoundrels or mere imbeciles is of little consequence.
Regards, Allan
Record June low temperatures in the lower North Island, including Wellington.
Allan M R MacRae wrote, “”Should we also be doing more work on frost-resistent crops? Not a subject I know much about – would appreciate comments from knowledgeable people.”
Allan (from down here near Lethbridge where it froze once again last night … -1°C at 3 AM! … a record low for June 7.)
Frost resistance is most complex. One of the key factors is the prevention of ice crystal formation in individual cells. (Simplistically, if crystals poke through the cell walls, they die.) Whereas, we grow a lot of GM crops in North America (canola and corn for example), the eco-weenie crowd shut down development of GM technology in many crops. For example, there are no GM potatoes grown anywhere in the WORLD because of idiotic “Frankenfood” nonsense from the green weenies. Almost certainly GM technology could make a significant contribution toward frost resistance. Most annual crops are frost resistance to some degree … say -0.5°C to -2°C. Seedling corn can withstand -3 or -4°C if it is young and the growing point is still below ground. The growing point of crops like canola are above ground from time of emergence and I htink canola can only withstand about -2°. I doubt of we could add more than one or two degrees of protection against frost with genetics anyway.
Many years ago there was work being done on spraying crops with a bacteria that somehow prevented ice crystal formation. I’ve no idea where that ended up. Tissue ice crystal formation can be prevented with irrigation and this is used extensively on high-value crops like citrus. But this can’t be done on the crops we grown in Western Canada. (Whereas we do irrigate, the water HAS to be applied to the entire crop during the duration of the freeze..something that can’t be done on a large scale and with our irrigation systems. And most of our crops are not irrigated anyway.)
I am NOT current in frost protection technology.
But frost resistance is only one aspect of crop production where climate is compromised. Crops still require certain levels of “heat units” to produce their wares and they require time. Peas and beans are short-season crops, but unlike peas, beans must have relatively high minimum temperatures in order to “set fruit.” So we have frost free-period, heat units AND certain threshold minimums–well above frost.
Without major breakthroughs in genetics, in Western Canada we would see a shift in types of crops if we lost (say) five or ten days in the growing season. Barley would replace wheat in many areas and pastures would replace barley land. Canola regions would be reduced (along with wheat). Ironically, agriculture could be forced more and more on cattle production which naturally are despised by extreme weenies…and is is VERY easy to overproduce cattle compared to demand. (But then again the cow farts would help warm us all.) Here in southern Alberta we could lose our dried-bean production and production of processing potatoes would be compromised. Overall output of “food stuffs” would be reduced. The “breadbaskets” of the world (Western Europe, North America and Russia), would be severely affected with a cooler climate. A one or two degree difference in annual temp can reduce actual production season significantly.
BTW … forty years ago this week (June 11, 12 and 13) it lightly froze at various sites across southern Alberta. It caused a lot of crop loss. But that was back when we were being warned of a new ice age. Do you think? ☺
Cheers!
Clive
“spring has been so cold in this area that most phenological events are running about 2-3 weeks behind schedule.”
My own observation from Southern NJ. In 2007 the kids were in the pool by the middle of May. In 2008 it was Memorial Day (and that took some coaxing). This year they finally jumped in yesterday, June 7th and promptly jumped out complaining it was too cold.
We’ve been having baseball playoff games this past week (when it hasn’t been raining) and the parents are bundled up in jackets and blankets begging for global warming.
I like the idea of multi-storey greenhouses,I don’t know how practical they are,but it is an idea worth funneling some money into.Imagine a skyscraper filled with crops,it may happen one day.Sadly,it may be the future of some animals.
I know Ethanol is not the answer alone however these points are often overlooked.
1. It is a domestic renewable resource.
2. It’s efficiency is dependant on the grain yield/acre and yields are climbing.
3. Grain is both food and fuel which can be efficiently stored.