From the “it’s weather not climate department” – I never thought I’d see this today on the header of the Houston Chronicle:
The snow is the earliest on record. Of note is the fact that in 2008, it snowed in Houston on December 10th. Place your bets for next year.
Houston braces for about 2 inches of snow
Some in Houston area may even see half a foot of the white stuff
By ERIC BERGER and PEGGY O’HARE
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Houston this morning broke a record with the earliest snowfall ever recorded in the city’s history.
Forecasters are still hedging their bets on the amount, but say the most likely scenario is 1 to 2 inches of widespread snowfall through the day. Some areas could get up to a half a foot.
Light snow already was falling downtown and in other areas before 8:30 a.m. Other forms of precipitation — such as rain, freezing, rain, sleet and hail — also have been reported. Houston’s main weather recording station at Bush Intercontinental Airport reported at trace of snow at 8 a.m., meaning Dec. 4 will go down as the new record.
But emergency management officials say snow isn’t the biggest concern — it’s icy roads. A 12-hour freeze period is expected to begin after sundown today, continuing into Saturday, which could cause hazardous driving conditions.
A freeze warning has been issued for more than 20 Texas counties, including the coastal counties of Chambers, Galveston, Brazoria, Matagorda and Jackson, extending northward through Harris, Montgomery, Fort Bend, Wharton and Liberty counties, then stretching as far northwest as the cities of Bryan and College Station and as far northeast as Trinity and Polk counties.
“Even though we can’t say for sure this weather event is going to occur, we can definitely say our confidence has increased substantially compared to three or four days ago,” said Fred Schmude, a meteorologist with ImpactWeather, a private, Houston-based forecasting service.
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In other news:
Dr. James Hansen is coming to Houston to promote his new book Storms of my Grandchilden.
Is he thinking snowstorms?
Just put soot in to Anthony’s search engine (make that the word “soot”) at the top right hand side of his home page and you will find plenty of articles and discussion. I believe that it makes a huge difference in the NH compared to Antarctica which does not have as much.
Hope the snow continues in Houston and reaches Copenhagen because Australia had its hottest November on record:
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/month/aus/summary.shtml
which seems to reflect November for the globe. So far however the AGW media have not made a big issue out of this as December has cooled off somewhat.
Dr. James Hansen is coming to Houston to promote his new book Storms of my Grandchilden.
“Is he thinking snowstorms?”
Heh, he could care less about his grandchildren, it’s more the dough he stands to make selling his own particular brand of snake oil. Dang, if only his sleaze-ball competitor Gore hadn’t beaten him to the punch with his fizzler “Our Choice”.
Poor Warmists, it always seems to snow on their parade. May Hansen get lots of coal in his stocking this Christmas.
ked5 (12:54:22) :
Don’t look now but, according to Fox News, two Hollywood conservatives want to demand Al Gore return the Oscar, in light of Climate-Gate scandal (that’s the way Fox spells it).
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/03/al-gore-cancels-climate-lecture-copenhagen/
Bruckner8 (11:15:25)
No, because when it gets colder somewhere (e.g. Houston) it doesn’t get warmer somewhere else to make up for it. So right now based on cold in Houston and elsewhere we might have global cooling on average and could have global warming tomorrow and it doesn’t really matter. The integration of temperatures you described over time could be considered climate, but it is very debatable how much time to average over.
In related news, Fox picks up the scent on the X-treme Climactic Makeover certain scientists/warmists have proposed:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,579373,00.html
None of which is needed. The climate has already been cooling off, and besides all that, whatever percent the Solar Minimum plays in the cooling of the climate, it’s still very much Stuck in Deep Solar Lodi.
Dusty,
If soot was reduced, I think most ice melt issues would be greatly diminished.
Fred2 said, “Snow in houston and Louisianna and Missippi.”
And I’m jealous in Arkansas. No snow but it’s been c-c-c-cold. Doing my best to burn wood and gas to heat the environment back up. FORWARD THE CO2!
We did get some mild sleet a few days ago, but that’s not unusual for Northern Arkansas this time of year. Thank Gawd this is all weather and not climate! It’s probably actually quite warm out…
Re: AdderW (10:20:51) :
“Please enlighten me, I am not familiar with the Texas weather, what is considered normal weather this time of year?”
In Houston, the normal high on December 4th is 67F, the normal low is 45F
@ur momisugly John Galt
This is a debunking admission directly from the article
“Rising temperatures over decades have prompted scientific concern, and the last decade has been the hottest in thousands of years, according to climate records.”
Apparently the scientists the writer is quoting are ignoring the Midevil Warm Period and the Roman Warm Period. My guess, pure speculation actually, is the writer here is getting his information from the Mann/ Jones camp and a warmist/ Alarmist.
Additionally, have you heard of the PDO? Pacific Decadal Oscillation? It has recenlty entered a cooling phase, hence part of the reason for the cooler water temperatures.
Cheers,
Matt
This sort of weather extreme is consistent with global warming.
(Isn’t that what we are told everything there is a weather event that seems to fly in the face of global warming?)
Denbo (10:02:18) : “Sorry everyone I am skeptical (or a denier) of everything I read. I will believe it when I see it and so far I don’t see snow on the live Houston traffic cams. http://traffic.houstontranstar.org/cctv/transtar/ It might be snowing but nothing it on the ground yet according to the cams.”
Most of it has melted off. Try this cam:
http://traffic.houstontranstar.org/cctv/transtar/
It’s consistent with global transport of oceanic heat due to a drop in input to the system.
Oceanic heat goes up to the poles in currents and air masses, displacing the Arctic air.
Those 2000+ mile long high/low boundaries running nearly N/S this spring and summer were not just because and no other reason. The system is trying to adjust to a new equilibrium.
DocMartyn (09:47:41) :
Well I am about to cycle home some 4 miles. from the Medical center in Houston.
Wish me luck!
Snow, they call this snow. I was in East Lansing, Michiganfor 4 years; now that was SNOW.
Doc, the problem is the idiots trying to drive in it. I am originally from near buffalo NY and was in South Carolina during a snow storm. My brand new car – just paid it off that day – was accordioned at a stop light. The real problem is no plows, no salt and ICE..
I wish you luck. We get hit here in North Carolina on Saturday.
Kay (10:15:39) :
….I hope the global warming people ARE right–give me warm any day. The alternative is too awful to think about.
You are right about that. David Archibald was saying here on WUWT, a drop in temp means no cereal grains in Canada and Russia and parts of China Europe and the USA. The dolts in the US Congress got rid of our excess grain reserves (Freedom to Farm Act 1996) and have no plans to replenish it. They have set us up for famine on purpose.
“Recently there have been increased calls for the development of a U.S. or international grain reserve to provide priority access to food supplies for Humanitarian needs. The National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) and the North American Export Grain Association (NAEGA) strongly advise against this concept..Stock reserves have a documented depressing effect on prices… and resulted in less aggressive market bidding for the grains.” July 22, 2008 letter to President Bush http://www.naega.org/images/pdf/grain_reserves_for_food_aid.pdf
And they plan to make money off us starving.
“In summary, we have record low grain inventories globally as we move into a new crop year. We have demand growing strongly. Which means that going forward even small crop failures are going to drive grain prices to record levels. As an investor, we continue to find these long term trends…very attractive.” Food shortfalls predicted: 2008 http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/dancy/2008/0104.html
Try telling the average person we are being set up for food shortages and very high prices while the international corporations move to create a food monopoly by regulation farmers off their land worldwide and no one hears.
Our only hope is hard cold weather sets in fast, we get mild food shortages and it shakes people up before these crazy megalomaniacs do too much damage and we can not recover.
Bruckner8 (11:15:25) :
I like this:
“Climate is what you expect. Weather is what you get.”
Gary (13:55:30) :
Yeah, I’m in central AR, and it is cold here, too. Very weird to see snow passing to the south of us. Between 10-15 degrees below normal, and we’ll see a near record low tonight (predicting 25, record is 24).
Fred2 (10:52:56) :
Snow in houston and Louisianna and Missippi.
Hell is freezing over.
I’m keeping a weather eye out for flying pigs too, they are hell on the street wires and branches – and don’t let one perch over your car. EVER.
Reply
No No Fred Hell is in Michigan.
I don’t know about flying pigs, but I use a butterfly net to catch piglets.(actually fishing net) I though my vet was going to die laughing from sticking the rabies shot in his own arm instead of the piglets butt.
Joe (10:53:58) :
…. And more trucks pulling said Prius’ out of ditches when the dumb prius owners figured global warming would save them from the snow.
My friend used his team of oxen to pull out a Caddy in the Boston area much to the horror of the Caddy owner.
Dusty (11:23:07) :
@hunter (or anyone else)… I am on my phone so i can’t quote but, how much does soot from China and/or other countries come into play wrt Artic ice? I never see it discussed, but it seems to me to make a lot of sense…… Soot absorbing more energy and melting ice and snow. 1 + 1 = ?
Reply
A friend living in Alaska said the smog blowing in from China is now awful in her area in Alaska. I think WUWT just had and article on soot a few months ago.
JonesII (11:54:01) :
Wanna see those climategaters riding real horses at a Houston’s rodeo.☺
Gee I have some I can donate for a percentage of Big Al’s AGW take. They are the seven I need broken to saddle. One is a very short coupled 1200 lb Halflinger- Quarter horse cross perfect for Big Al…. She’s fast on her feet and even hates men. Do you think they will do?
JerryM (10:55:59) said :
Yuh know, what with Al Gore not going to the meet-and-greet in Hopenhagen and drag his traditional snow storm along with him, I wondered where he would go to inflict himself on the masses yearning to be freed from AGW. Could it have been HOUSTON?!?!
I strongly suspect that the Goreacle must have sneaked (snuck?) into town for a little secret fund-raising and a dose of the Gore Effect: (1) earliest snow EVER recorded, (2) FIRST EVER back-to-back years with measurable snow, AND (3) tomorrow we’re forecast to have a record low of ~22 deg F at the airport , beating the previous record for that date by 3 deg F.
On another note, I think y’all are being too hard on Noel, the poor dear, he MAY simply be out of his depth.
“Slice your average environment correspondent through the middle and you’re going to find a left-leaning liberal arts graduate who is utterly out of his/her depth. Their world view is being swept from underneath them and they are being shown—in ways that they do not really and have never had to understand—that the guys they thought were the goodies are in fact “at it” and that those they have spent a decade disparaging as deniers were in fact spot on.”
http://www.devilskitchen.me.uk/2009/11/crudgate-why-this-cant-be-swept-under.html
Perhaps, as an introduction to the “accuracy” of digital numerical analysis, Noel would volunteer to help me with a little Computational Fluid Dynamics problem I’ve got; marine environment, aspect ratio greater than 1000:1 (the proverbial “violin string”) and Reynolds Numbers (no relation) greater than 1E6. ROFLMAO. I accidentally set ONE turbulence variable incorrectly, and the Von Karman “street” (a classic series of turbulent eddies) simply DISAPPEARED. Amazing how computer programs can do that. How ’bout it Noel? We’ve got both FLUENT and CCM+, the same packages used by NASA, Boeing, Mercedes, etc. Should be fun.
The snow was fun and now the temperature’s dropping like a rock- and expected to shatter the previous record. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, but maybe not for the AWG morons.
And for Washington DC
Winter Weather Advisory
Statement as of 2:17 PM EST on December 04, 2009
… Winter Weather Advisory in effect from 7 am to 9 PM EST
Saturday…
The National Weather Service in Sterling Virginia has issued a
Winter Weather Advisory for snow… which is in effect from 7 am
to 9 PM EST Saturday.
Snow is expected to begin in the Washington DC and Baltimore areas around
sunrise Saturday. Moderate to heavy snowfall is expected Saturday
afternoon. 1 to 2 inches of snow is expected to accumulate before
tapering off during the evening. Temperatures during the day will
be in the upper 30s.
A Winter Weather Advisory means that periods of snow… sleet… or
freezing rain will cause travel difficulties. Be prepared for
slippery roads and limited visibilities… and use caution while
driving.
http://www.wunderground.com/US/DC/001.html#WIN
One can hope for a Gore effect.
Man, it is sad when the one of the “best” of the deniers, and a *bleeping* meteorologist, CAN’T DISTINQUISH WEATHER FROM CLIMATE. Oh, wait, he clearly can. Which means his intent is to MISINFORM, and confuse many who do not know the difference.
Why you guys choose to get your information from such a liar is beyond me.
Thanks Watts, for outing yourself as a political hack rather than a seeker of truth. Would you please apologize to the world, and then shut the heck up?
REPLY: Are you unable to read? It appears so. See the first line: “from the weather not climate department” and note the story tags at the bottom: weather, records, snowfall on the story. Don’t like it that I reported on a record weather event? Tough noogies. – A
Whopper snow storm Next Week!
http://www.accuweather.com/news-story.asp?partner=accuweather&traveler=0&article=0