Above: Photo taken at eye level of a sign already elevated because of seasonal snow issues. See below for photo of sunken boats in Valdez harbor due to snow loading.
The Valdez Alaska Dispatch writes:
All the experts say the effects of climate change will be felt most in Alaska, home of the ex-governor who contends climate change is no big deal.
Good thing she wasn’t in Valdez this week when the citizenry got buried under a record snowfall. We’re not talking about your ordinary little dump here. That was in Copenhagen, where world leaders were meeting to discuss what to do about global warming and the Bloomberg news service was warning that Barack Obama and the rest would “face freezing weather as a blizzard dumped 10 centimeters (4 inches) of snow on the Danish capital overnight.”
Valdez, Alaska got more than four inches per hour at the height of the snowstorm that began there Monday and ran through the week. By the time the citizens of Alaska’s only oil port finally caught a break, the snow was piled 5 feet, 8 inches deep.
Yes, you read right.
Five feet, 8 inches; over the head of your average American woman, up the nose of your average American man. The National Weather Service called it record.
================================
So much snow that snow loads sunk one boat in the harbor while other owners try to keep up with snow removal.
From NBC TV in Washington DC:
History has been made in Washington, DC also. The snow has already broken the 1 day record for DC. The old record of 11.5″ on December 17,1932 is now in 2nd place since National Airport has over 15″ with snow still falling. This storm is now in 6th place all-time and the February 1983 storm total of 16.6″ may yet be eclipsed.
h/t SPPI
Politicians and activists in the UK have encouraged the overstatement of the effects of global warming for years. Since Kyoto, exaggerated forecasts for sea level rises, floods, droughts, famine, polar ice cap disappearance etc., have been and continue to be made. This approach has been official government policy for some time now; the ridiculous Stern report mirroring IPCC’s stuff in order to grab the attention, they feel, of the ‘apathetic public’ who can’t even be bothered to vote these days.
So of course it is no surprise in the UK that the CRU researchers at East Anglia University can’t see what all the fuss is about concerning the leaked emails. They can’t see that they have done anything wrong as their biased approach to science just reflects government and opposition policy backed by a non debating submissive media.
They won’t be faced with prosecution in the UK or EU for any wrongdoing as the mention of any bias on their part is met with open mouthed incredulity and not even discussed.
So when they are faced with litigation for fraud in the US courts their protestations of innocence may be extremely difficult to defend.
“The importance of weather events like these can not be known until we “adjust for homogeniety”…under strict peer-reviewed guidelines-of course.”
Let me help with the homogenization. I’m in South Florida, and it’s 61F and overcast. For the snowbound, that would be wonderful, but for us, that’s a chilly 17 degrees below the average for this time of year.
Robert Morris (11:37:10) :
“vukcevic (10:32:17)
Very interesting thoughts, I am particularly impressed with the close correlation between the Hudson Bay Area Mag Flux and the North Atlantic Temp Anom. Have you any clues as yet to the blips in circa 1950 and 1965?
Please keep pursuing this.”
There are regular magnetic jerks in the polar regions, usually first in the Antarctica and 2-3 years later in the Arctic, if I remember correctly. I suppose it might be something to do with it.
“It is thought that the “extremely acute” wintry conditions in northern France caused snow to build up underneath the trains.”
Why can’t people ever learn from the experience of others?
We found out many years ago in Sweden that when there is fine, cold snow about, it is whirled up by the train and sucked into the cooling air intakes. Since it is so fine it is very good at getting into the smallest cracks. It’s no big deal as long as it stays cold since snow is a pretty good insulator, but once it gets warmer the snow melts, and water is not an insulator. Fzzt-boom, and that electric train ain’t gonna go anywhere until it has been thoroughly dried out and the blown fuses replaced.
Richard (12:04:02) :
“THE SIBERIAN EXPRESS IS COMING”
You can see the Siberian express approaching here.
http://images.intellicast.com/WxImages/SatelliteLoop/hinpole_None_anim.gif
However as far as I can conclude the Great Plains of Siberia also play important role in the North Atlantic basin climate, but with a number of years delay.
Here comes the next Ice Age glaciation. I think the tipping point was 1998.
btw, have we named the next glaciation yet? I know an effort made to name the new solar minimum, although I have forgotten who won. But have we done the Gorecene yet?
The Valdez snow is not such surprising news. 5′ 8″ = 68″ fell over the whole week not in a day. December is the “snowiest” month in Valdez averaging 72″ (NOAA).
The main road into Valdez comes down thru Thompson Pass which is the “snowiest” place in Alaska. It averages 551.4″ of snow a year and has a record of 974.5″ (more than 80 feet). It holds the Alaska Record for Most Snow in a Day at 62″. So, Valdez has a long way to go to beat its neighbor just a few miles a way.
Warmists will no doubt point out that global warming causes weather extremes, including cooling and after corrections and adjustments the temperatures will still show warming.
OT, but if anyone is interested in a striking visual proof of UHI, have a look at this MODIS picture:
http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/realtime/single.php?A093541215
In the lower left-hand corner is England. All of Eastern England is snow-covered except for London. There is even a “comet-tail” of snow-melt in the downwind (SW) from the city.
JBean (12:10:07) : “I’m in South Florida, and it’s 61F and overcast. For the snowbound, that would be wonderful, but for us, that’s a chilly 17 degrees below the average for this time of year.”
Well if you think the southern hemisphere is warm – its not. Not where I am. Right now it is exactly 16C (60.8F), so about the same as south florida
Lars Seiersen (10:56:11) :
Minus 19C in Denmark last night.
Coldest in 8 years.
———————
Gore Effect
Didn’t quite break the all time record for DC. Came in at 16.2″ for the one day total. We even had a salt dome (road salt storage facility) collapse. They had to shut down the buses and the above ground portion of Metro.
What is the predictive power of UK Met Office seasonal forecasting?
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/science/creating/monthsahead/seasonal/
Do we have some statistics for the deviation between predictions and observations the last 10 years? I found this link:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2008/09/06/uks-met-office-blows-another-summer-forecast/
However, a more complete overview would be more useful – it would be interesting to see whether a Bingo forecast would outperform UK Met Office…
No biggie.
I lived in Valdez for several years, before and during the Exxon Valdez oil spill. That winter of the spill, 1989, we had fifty feet (yes, feet) of snow. On March 24, 1989, my sailboat was still in my yard covered with six feet of snow.
During the winter in Valdez, driveways are shoveled out with Euclid front end loaders. The streets look like hallways, with slots cut in the snow wall for driveways. Residents spray paint their house numbers on the snow wall so you know who lives inside. Most houses are two story, with the entrance on the second floor.
I shoveled snow UP off the roof of my mobile home for an hour every morning and evening when it was snowing. Once when I was shoveling snow UP off the wood shed, I fell down into the snow. Fortunately, I hung onto my snow shovel and was able to dig myself out.
In order for global warming to happen in Valdez, the sun would have to be visible from behind the mountains from November to February.
The 5′-8″ Valdez storm total I can identify with:
On the east slope of the North Cascades there was a town near me that for a while held the record for the most snow in WA in one 24-hour period:
4 feet. That record was subsequently surpassed by stations on Mt. Baker and Mt. Rainier.
So when Copenhagen gets in a tizzy about 4 INCHES of snow; and cities on the east coast of US more-or-less shut down with a foot or so of new snow:
Those of us who live in the mountains can’t help but smile a bit; and think that people in the big cities back east have NO IDEA what a heavy snowfall really looks like. . . .
It isn’t snow, its just a statisical anomaly. which can be safely ignored..
(sarcasm mode off)
As is next years and the year after, we have the proof the figures dont lie.. therefor anything different is just a figment of your imagination
The Alps are melting, no ski slopes, no snow, hot weather – NOT.
http://www.planetski.eu/news/1102
http://www.planetski.eu/news/1150
Ernest,
I’ve lived in Valdez the last 20 years, and
actually that 68 inches was over three days, not a week. Tuesday was a record for that particular day in December at 38.7 inches. Normally in Valdez when it snows a plow with a long blade comes down the street and pushes all the snow into the center of the street so there is a big berm there and you can get out on either side of it. People generally then push their driveway snow into the center, if they get up early enough. Tuesday was different. For the first time in many years the snow removal crews couldn’t keep up so they came through a a big front end loader and plowed one big path down the center and then took a swipe out at each driveway so that people could get out (once you removed a 4 foot berm). Biggest problem I had was where to put the snow. Also, the snow was pretty dense and heavy so I was only able to get one car clear. Fortunately, I have a metal roof so most of the snow came off, reburying my yard again. As I write this the private snow removal guy I use is finally here with his bobcat to clear things before the next big dump.
Frankly, I prefer the snow to the deep cold we had last winter about this time. Driving back from Anchorage last winter post-xmas, it was -40F in Glenallen. The car’s suspension does not function well at -40F below, let me tell you.
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Ernest Campbell (12:52:17) :
The Valdez snow is not such surprising news. 5′ 8″ = 68″ fell over the whole week not in a day. December is the “snowiest” month in Valdez averaging 72″ (NOAA).
The main road into Valdez comes down thru Thompson Pass which is the “snowiest” place in Alaska. It averages 551.4″ of snow a year and has a record of 974.5″ (more than 80 feet). It holds the Alaska Record for Most Snow in a Day at 62″. So, Valdez has a long way to go to beat its neighbor just a few miles a way.
Methow Ken (14:17:44) :
It’s all relative.
I grew up in Northern Virginia. There were two really bad snows I remember as an adult, 1995 and 1996. One was a January snow, one was a late March snow. I can’t remember which was which at the moment, but one of the was two days, totaling about 30 inches. Good thing I had my Toyota 4×4, but even then I bottomed out a lot. Took me two hours to drive to work (10 miles) for a couple days. Some people talk about 1983 as a bad snow time there, but I was in the Army in Germany then, dealing with Snow in Wildflecken (4 feet of snow in 8 hours one day).
Now I live about 70 miles north of Seattle. A couple inches here will throw things into chaos. And last December (2008) we got over a foot over 3 or 4 days. Some roads didn’t get touched for weeks.
Joe Romm (Soros socket puppett on Climateprogress) as all bent out of shape about calling 4 inches of snow on Copenhagen a blizzard. Of course that is a distraction. He can’t admit this Valdez weven is Historic and nasty.
Hide the decline mantra means re spinning every weather event.
Doesn’t look so hot to me. Where exactly is this warming?
There is a level rising here, but it’s not the oceans, it’s not the temp of storms.
They have grown colder.
More snow in the UK.
More snow in the NE, NW, Midwest.
More snow in China.
Snow is not warmer than rainfall, no matter how much the data is fudged, nudged or cooked.
With all this global warming about you can understand why our “leaders” are so keen to have some legally binding emissions cuts and carbon trading systems in place before the 2012-2014 timeframe as I reckon there will be lots of brass monkeys about by then.
rbateman : Add “more snow in Japan” to your list. Watched the news here and according to them the December snowfall is WAY above average. Somethig like between 4 to 7 times the average amount for the prefectures along the Japan Sea coast.
” vukcevic (08:55:32) :
This is last thing we need:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/12/20/philippines.volcano/
It is cold enough as it is. Global warming, bring it on!”
Volcanoes don’t do much when there is a warm forcing (solar/ocean), but I’d love to see one with a cold driver (ocean/solar). Bring it!
C’mon AMO…go cold baby…go cold. It’s the only way out of this madness…