No it’s not a time warp photo of Dicken’s time, it’s from the NASA MODIS satellite imager this week. This is like one of those “spot the cow in this photo” images, looking for the UK in a sea of white.
It must be having quite an impact in the UK. According to UK resident and WUWT commenter “borderer”:
Every single newspaper in the UK has published the following satellite image of the UK today – it shows the entire country in glowing white – snow and ice now appears the entire British Isles from John O’ Groats at the Northern tip of Scotland – to Landsend in Cornwall.
Despite this – and we are now in our 25th day of sub zero temperatures – the MET Office put up a spokesman on Newsnight last evening claiming that their forecast for a ‘very mild winter’ had ‘only been a probability!!
In other news, the Met Head gets paid extra even for botched forecasting. Remember the “BBQ summer” forecast?
“Mr. Hirst, you predicted a barbeque summer for 2009 – we don’t remember that – and a mild winter for this winter, which hasn’t happened. Why did you get a massive performance related bonus?“
h/t to Kate at SDA
And, as Kevin mentioned, Edmonton suffered thru -40C and worse a few weeks ago. The same was true of Whitehorse and other places.
I think someone’s been feeding you a line about northern Canada being milder.
Yes the BBC fed by the MET
The most irritating thing about the interview with the Met Office guy was that he didn’t at all admit to error…in fact he pulled the “we expected this leveling of temperatures after 1998.” BS! I heard he say “expect” probably 20 times…sheesh don’t these guys have any humility to admit the errors to their warm bias?! Sheesh, siding with warming seemed to have been envogue when it was warming…but now that it’s not…the 100% PERSISTANCE (aka warming forever) forecast ISNT GOING TO CUT IT ANYMORE!
It shows how aweful models actually verifty with the natural chaos of the atmosphere. We’re not fortune tellers and we’ll never be. The short term models (NAM/GFS/ECMWF/NOGAPS/Canadian/MetUk), medium range models (NCEP CFS) and long range (AGW models)…are not reasonalby accurate to predict very well. When you know and see the lack of verification…then you understand what the deal is. And you wonder why the people behind the models don’t see the forest from the trees.
But patterns and cycles are where we can rest our bets best…consistency in weather should never be expected to last for eternity. Eventually, it will change, and it usually will do what you expect last.
Barry Foster…
Yes, you can see Michael Jackson peering over his left shoulder. Squinting a little helps. Well spotted!
My two bits on Canada.
I live on the southern plains near Lethbridge Alberta where December’s mean temp was -13.3°C which is 8C° below average. As our Edmonton friends have noted many records were blown away. We hit -39.5°C on Dec 8. Smashed the old record by many degrees.
Yesterday morning it was -35°C here in Lethbridge.
Finally a Chinook has blown in. Woohoo. ☺
Warm is just fine with me.
Another of my rules when reading/hearing the news is to monitor the number of adjectives used. The more adjectives, the less credible the story/journalist. Then I have to go about digging for real facts.
Seeing all the stories about this year’s winter weather in Great Britain and Western Europe, I half expect to hear a breathless announcement about advancing glaciers.
So, what’s happening?
Here in Buffalo it’s 17°F while in London, England it’s 28°F. Of course, it sounds better (for the hype) in Celsius:
Here in Buffalo it’s -8.33°C while in London, England it’s -2.22°C. And overnight, it is forecast that temps in Buffalo could get as low as -15°C.
I guess the Gulf Stream gives the UK and Western Europe its moderate climate — except when it doesn’t. Blame it on the loopy jet stream; it’s overwhelmed the Gulf Stream. But why’s the jet stream loopy? Shhh – don’t ask embarrassing questions.
Excuse me now while I head on out to use my shovel, Al Gore, to remove a few inches (only 2 or 3) of global warming.
Scouse Pete (09:50:21) : On Peter Stott’s (Met Office scientist) claim that we are getting “milder, wetter winters”: This is untrue. I know because I’ve taken the Met Office data and compiled the graphs myself. The idea of milder winters is shot down here http://climate-graphs.co.uk/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=4 Choose ‘CET Series’, then ‘Hadset’, then ‘Winter’, then 1989 to 2009. You get a flatline – for 20 years! However, much more important than that is the idea that winters have become “wetter”. They have not! If you go here http://hadobs.metoffice.com/hadukp/data/seasonal/HadEWP_ssn.dat In the first column is the winter rainfall for England & Wales. If you compile a graph of this data going back 30 years you actually get a slight fall in annual levels of precipitation. I have been trying to get the Met Office to accept their own data for some time! Similarly, if you compile graphs of their data for summer temperature and precipitation (as I have done) the idea that we are getting “hotter, drier summers” is also completely dismantled. Indeed, even the Met Offices own graph shows it from 1980 here http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climatechange/science/monitoring/CR_data/Monthly/EWP_seasonal1.gif Summer rainfall has INCREASED, not decreased. I shall be tackling Peter Stott by letter on these points. We cannot allow ‘scientists’ like Stott to get away with blatant lies like this. It’s indefensible.
Ed Murphy: there are reports of lizards freezing and dropping out of trees.
Sounds like a line from a Python sketch! Made me laugh and almost choke on my lunch.
John R Walker. I’m no electrician, but isn’t it dangerous to get 160v when you should get 230v? I seem to remember that it can cause induction motors to catch fire. Is that correct, anyone?
Wow, this is on BBC? Surprising. I can’t believe they’re holding his feet to the fire.
P Gosselin (10:05:21) :
In Germany, many municipalities have run out of road salt.
Yep, a lot of them are.
Did buy a lot of fluroridated salt (NaF/NaCl) a few years ago.
Now I’ve a use for it.
It’s for the roads, not for human bodies, NOR for the teeths.
Hot Air Windmill produces Electricity, Tanning, and “Carbon Chips”.
Patent Pending.
I’ve invented a “Hot Air Windmill” that politicians, bureaucrats, and warmists can wear like a hat. The propeller hangs in front of their face and is powered by that powerful air blast that comes out the mouth, as one sees in the Al Gore Ice Sculpture and persons like Mr. Hirst.
This seemingly “endless power source” generates electricity that is then microwaved to the power grid.
Sadly, it’s not a 100% “green” process due to a byproduct of “brown waste” that comes out the bottom end. After a solar dehydration process however, the hot air byproduct would be pressed into “Carbon Chips” and could be valuable in carbon trading. Brown paper certificates could be issued for transactions while the actual “Chips” could be warehoused similar to gold in Ft. Knox.
An additional bonus is the second hand exposure to microwaves can give a great tan, year round.
Overall, it’s “Brown Gold” into Green. I can hear Sting singing “Fields of Gold” right now… the image is breathtaking, all those chips drying, but it’s probably just the smell… Carbon Trading really Stinks… politically, figuratively, and literally… really, really bad.
I want to vote them all out… yesterday.
Peter Hearnden (09:38:42) :
[…] It’s also amazing how cold it’s been given the (supposed) UHI that sceptics say plaster the UK and warm it so much – ha ha!
I know the forecasts are starting to sound a bit boring but if you cared to listen properly, in the last few days all forecasts on BBC, ITV, Sky and Channel 4 have been specifically pointing out that the cities are much warmer than rural areas.
The BBC even went so far as to draw attention to this in a map showing the temperatures in the major city centres to emphasize how cold it really is. At the moment forecasts almost always point out that it is “of course, much colder in the countryside” or “several degrees warmer in the city centres, of course”.
I only picked up on it because the phrase “of course” was used so often.
Astonishingly, during assembly at my child’s school today, the headteacher first explained why the kids were not allowed outside to play for as long as there was snow in the playground (health and safety gone mad, again) and then stressed that this did not mean that global warming was no longer happening. She blamed the cold spell on the warming arctic and told them a sob story about a polar bear mama and her cubs almost drowning because of the melting ice.
“…and, as Kevin mentioned, Edmonton suffered thru -40C”
Good thing it wasn’t -40F 😉
I live in Devon in the warm bit of the SW of England (the bit that sticks out left at the bottom). If you look closely at the map you can see me waving. I’m that white object. The last two nights have been -14.6C and -16.7C. I live in a valley. The river has frozen and there is no way I can get out as the steep lanes do not get gritted. Fortunately I listened to Piers Corbyn and ignored the Met Office. I have at least 2 months supply of food and fuel (heating oil and logs). Will they be enough?
The government has bankrupted our country and has placed its minions in highly-paid (and highly-pensioned) taxpayer-funded jobs in control of virtually every influential organisation. Will the last person to leave the country please turn off the lights. Oops, too late. The government is already already making sure they will autonatically turn themselves off.
It’s time the natives started revolting.
Rant over.
Here, I’m waiting for it to get warm enough for the salt to work. Presently 1 degree above the freezing point of alcohol.
I wonder when weather forecasters first started covering themselves by using percentages? As we know if you forecast there is a 30% chance of rain, and it doesn’t rain, then well it was in the 70% and the forecasters were right. If it does rain, well that was in the 30% and they are right also! They can never be wrong. Fortunately, most forecasts here in Australia have not yet adopted the % system. Hope it warms up by the end of March when I am coming to the UK for 3 weeks……
Okay children, it is time for the question of the week. You want to know the weather and forecast and all you have is a 30 million dollar computer. Do you?
1) Program the computer with the latest AGW model?
2) Call Piers Corbyn and tell him you’ll give him a perfectly good computer if he’ll give you the forecast?
3) Throw the computer through the wall and have a look outside?
(Circle the best answer)
Arctic sea ice extent for December 2009 seems to be back to 2007 levels. From NSIDC Arctic Sea Ice News and Analysis:
“Arctic sea ice extent at end of December 2009 remained below normal, primarily in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic. Average air temperatures over the Arctic Ocean were much higher than normal for the month, reflecting unusual atmospheric conditions.”
…“December air temperatures over the Arctic Ocean region, eastern Siberia, and northwestern North America were warmer than normal. In contrast, temperatures in Eurasia, the United States, and southwestern Canada were below average.”
http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/
Overall, it looks like atmospheric energy is being distributed in unusual ways.
I want to play poker against Mr. Hirst.
Reply: Now that is funny. ~ ctm
here’s the link to the high res. photo of “the isles”, lots more detail.
http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/?2010007-0107/GreatBritain.A2010007.1150.250m.jpg
From 1975 to 2000 the jet streams moved poleward.
From 2000 to date they have been moving equatorward.
They were both climate shifts and not mere weather.
The current whole hemisphere cold spell would have been highly unlikely under the previous regime. If it persists until the end of January, let alone into March then it would have been impossible under the previous regime.
Unless those jets go poleward again and persistently so then no warming trend will resume.
The fact is that the position of the jets is not and never has been controlled or even significantly influenced by CO2 concentrations. Unless there can be demonstrated a direct link between CO2 concentrations and jet stream positions there can be no diagnosis of AGW.
“The last two nights have been -14.6C and -16.7C. I live in a valley. ” That’s really cold, not typical of Devon in this cold spell, but of frost hollows like Benson. Lowest I’ve recorded is -8C, though I don’t doubt a few sub -10C’s here and there.
You really ought to let the media or The Met O know, I’m sure they’d be interested in such readings.
Piers. Cracking self publicist, bit alarmist for my liking though. Always forecasting record breaking this or dangerous that every month. Our weather is bad but it’s not that bad…
As an aside there are some really angry people here today. ‘Chill’ people, in the UK you’ll get a vote soon and we can all then watch your people have a turn.
Alexej Buergin (10:03:03) :
It would be easier for the rest of us if the UK had a logical national flag, but Wales is not part of the Union Jack.
Quite logical! England and Scotland are countries; Wales is a principality.
The Prince of Wales, the Right Charlie, the one who has a servant to squeeze his toothpaste, is the culprit there.
—-
Jordan (09:38:33) :
The Grand Match, planned for the Lake of Menteith near Aberfoyle next week, would have been the first event of its kind for more than 30 years.
Incidentally, the only lake in Scotland.
LOL!!! – Well, my wife, daughter and I are coming to Norway in December (2010), to see the band “A-ha” – not their final concert (it was booked out), but one of their last.
So what do you reckon then – T-shirt and shorts?
It’s OK though. My Mum just explained to me that they did say that there would be more extreme weather due to greenhouse gases. I had to point out that Britain was shut down for months in 1947 by Canadian-style blizzards.
Mind you, we did have stockpiles laid in during the seventies in order to prepare for the coming ice age. I wonder whether “climate change” can go negative. Look out for down-going hockey sticks, coming to a journal near you real soon now….