By Steve Goddard
From the Declining Spring Snowpack Department:
Mammoth Mountain, California June 2, 2010
State % of Average Snowpack ----------- ------------ NEVADA 186 CALIFORNIA 176 OREGON 154 IDAHO 129 WYOMING 116 MONTANA 114 WASHINGTON 112 UTAH 107 ALASKA 79 COLORADO 54 NEW MEXICO 36 ARIZONA 9
A few years ago, our friends at Real Climate made this not very insightful post :
Has Pacific Northwest snowpack declined? Yes.
Well, actually – no. Oregon State Climatologist George Taylor lost his job over this issue. He dared to question the Global Warming Church Orthodoxy.
George Taylor on Global Warming.
by Gienie Assink Tuesday, October 16. 2007
By: Suzanne Penegor
Oregon State Climatologist George Taylor returned to the Lane County Rubicon Society on Sept. 27th to speak as a private citizen regarding global warming issues. The political climate for Taylor has been heated since he disagreed with Gov. Kulongoski by refusing to toe the “politically correct” political line.
Taylor said he still expects the governor to take away his title of state climatologist because of a slight disagreement on global warming issues. When Kulongoski developed the Oregon Strategy for Greenhouse Gas Reductions recently, he didn’t even ask for Taylor’s input.
Taylor discussed the history of climate cycles and how, for example, Oregon’s climate was actually much warmer in the 1930s than they are today. Also in the early 1800s there were 2 years where we had no summers in the US. Taylor said World War II enhanced a temperature increase and discussed how cities’ temperatures tend to be higher than rural areas due to human development. Taylor noted that where measurements are taken can affect the temperatures and the data we use to determine climate changes.
Taylor said the greenhouse effect is invisible and essential to life on Earth. He said 90% of it is water vapor and then the rest of it is methane and carbon dioxide.
Taylor noted that the tropical pacific patterns, the El Nino and La Nina events, and the impact they have on global temperatures overall. He said humans have some impact, but not nearly as much as sunspot activity or natural disturbances like volcanic activity over time.
Taylor went on to say that those who espouse the global warming line often point to the snowpack levels. He said a Washington climatologist was fired over climate issues that were not politically correct regarding snowpack levels and left sided concerns. Taylor said there are cyclical periods of La Nina and El Nino which effect snowpack levels.
He said the debate over sea level changes is an ongoing debate over whether the current changes are steady and reliable trends. He also mentioned how it is estimated that at the current rate, the global sea level may rise 8 to 17 inches per 100 years.
Moreover, heating the ocean takes a considerable amount of time. He said in the 1940s there was also an increase in arctic temperatures. And in the 1970s the big concern in the media was the possibility of another ice age or global cooling.
Taylor goes on to say scientists believe that in 2020 the global climate could return to a cooler period as sunspot activity is expected to change.
Taylor addressed the issue of whether the glaciers, sharing how they are shrinking due to human impact. He said there was much melting of the glaciers before 1950 and the SUV theory was a bit off. Taylor said surface temperatures may not be the best measure of climate change anyway, particularly on where the measurements are taken.
It was noted that the Montreal Protocol banned the use of human-made compounds that were suspected of damaging the ozone layer; however, no apparent change has occurred since that Protocol was created, so it begs the question of whether humans really impact the ozone layer as scientists predicted.
Taylor is a published author of several books regarding Oregon’s climate history.
I am late to this discussion, but want to thank Mike D (8:51 pm 6/5) for the beautiful tribute to George Taylor. It is good to know that individuals of integrity are working where they choose and being influential with their knowledge — affluence is good, too. I hope the Corps of Engineers and others in government listen well to George Taylor. I also hope we vote out of office and force to resign from positions of responsibility (academic and government) all the politically correct hypsters.
Steve Goddard thanks for continuing to set the record straight.
I have found this true: It matters not “weather” your science is correct, it matters “weather” or not you are a yesman to some prevailing opinion. And if the supervising level of your job is stuffed with prevailing opinion people, we, those of us who would rather base our work on direct observation and data, find ourselves a private citizen, or wanting to be. That is where I am at with our public education system related to special education. Do we want to actually spend our time planning for and teaching to grade level standards (You can’t read? If I can teach a rock how to read, I can teach you. Here is how to read, now start practicing.) or spend our time doing paperwork documenting poor little Johnny’s learning disability, admiring the problem, and accommodating for it, because the powers that be say paperwork, admiring the problem, and accommodating for it are what counts?
Sorry, but I would rather teach the truth and chase after results, instead of toe the line and chase after the prevailing opinion. George, I’m right behind you!
Hi Anthony,
my son looks at the web cams at our favorite board resort every day and whines, “why aren’t they open? The snow is still there!” But of course, they can’t afford staff to run the lifts or groom the runs, the crowds just quit coming in March, no matter the weather.
Lassen looks really good from Hwy 32. We’ve boarded Lassen as late as October, the snow pack on the summit was that good. Usually we spend Father’s Day at Diamond Peak or somewhere along the road into the park. There’s some good runs around the sulphur works. But there’s no groomers, no trails, it’s pretty rough and tumble. And at the summit, the up takes a long time, for about a 6 minute down. Although, I’ll tell you what, there’s just about nothing quite like yelling “Ya-HOOOOO!” for six minutes. And there’s nothing like snowboarding in shorts and tank tops, or a bikini. Don’t sit down.
My husband and I were talking about ‘global warming’ the other day, and we were trying to come up with the appropriate word for the feeling that your own petty actions could actually be responsible for something so huge – ‘arrogance’ just didn’t quite do it. ‘Self-important’? Not sure.
Have a good weekend – I can’t wait to get back to that classic Chico “dry heat”., this mugginess is yucckkky.
How does RealClimate defend their obviously wrong prediction? I went over there to see for myself but I simply can’t stand reading that site. I had to leave within minutes. It’s an insult to intelligence over there.
There is an apparent discrepency between http://climate.rutgers.edu/snowcover/docs.php?target=ssmi
and the USDA report. Can someone explain why such a difference. Rutgers appears to indicate there is no snow in the lower 48. What am I missing?
CarlNC says:
June 6, 2010 at 7:56 am
There is an apparent discrepency between http://climate.rutgers.edu/snowcover/docs.php?target=ssmi
and the USDA report. Can someone explain why such a difference. Rutgers appears to indicate there is no snow in the lower 48. What am I missing?
Rutgers reports on a 1ºx1º grid which might be part of it, also microwaves don’t respond as well to wet melting snow.
Weather, not climate: June frost in Korea
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2921285
Wade says:
June 5, 2010 at 3:49 pm
Could some please send that snow to the south east US because it has been a very hot May and June is starting out hot too. We can thank La Nina for that. La Nina makes the south east US hot and dry because the jet stream stays north most of the summer and a huge blocking high pressure camps out over us. Air conditioning is the best thing that has ever been invented. Please send us some snow.
The only positive is that in North Carolina, where I live, the chances of a hurricane is less. Florida and the Gulf coast area, not so much.
_______________________________________________________________________
Hot? Dry? It was dry in April but it has been very soggy lately, I can still dig fence post holes in the clay (unheard of in summer) and I turned on the A/C for the first time yesterday. I just hope it stays cool and wet for the rest of the summer here in North Carolina.
I climbed Red Lakes Peak three times in the last 30 days and I can report that the snow/ice in its bowls is melting dramatically now. Red Lakes Peak is just east of Kirkwood near the Carson Pass. It will likely all be gone by late August as usual. Skiing has been great! This has been the best spring climbing season in a memory that goes back beyond the satellite era.
http://igloo.atmos.uiuc.edu/cgi-bin/test/print.sh?fm=06&fd=05&fy=1988&sm=06&sd=05&sy=2010
Tesla_X says:
June 5, 2010 at 9:05 pm
You get a drought in California because research like this is INTENTIONALLY buried:….
__________________________________
Thanks for the info. Control of the world food supply => Famine is another of my interests.
Actually it is
Control Energy (Carbon trade agreements)
Control food (WTO Agreement on Agriculture)
Control Money (Obama’s sign off on the Financial Stability Board)
So “they” have won two out of three and with Obama on deck look to win three out of three…. Welcome to the new worldwide neo-feudalism
juanita says: June 6, 2010 at 7:08 am
hey juanita, come on down to the eastern sierra, mammoth mountain will be open until the 4th of july for sure!
watch how fast it melts here.
George Taylor is one of my Heroes. He was gibbeted by the Warmist Governor of this
state…..
Heretic! Infidel! Unbeliever!- it’s waay too medieval any more….
I don’t understand. The chart in this post shows that the AZ snowpack is ~9% of normal as of June 1. The May 25 post, http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/05/25/the-western-snowpack-is-137-of-normal/ shows that as of May 25, the AZ snowpack was over 400% of normal. There was that much loss in AZ snowpack in only 6 days? Is one of those numbers incorrect? Is the comparison to such a small number such that any change in amount is such a drastic change in per centages?
If someone were to tell me that both of those numbers are correct, I’d be skeptical.
There is a huge blank area on most american maps between Washington and Alaska, it is called British Columbia. Here is a report,
B.C.’s unseasonably warm and sunny weather through January and February has resulted in a snowpack so low that the government is already worried about summer drought.
Do a search for more details.
DonK31 says: June 6, 2010 at 1:28 pm
this was explained in a previous comment. in any case, here is the data:
http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/ftpref/data/snow/basin_reports/arizona/wy2010/basnaz5.txt
http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/ftpref/data/snow/basin_reports/arizona/wy2010/basnaz6.txt
Idaho rivers are CRANKING full bore.
USGS real time data for Idaho stream flow:
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/id/nwis/current?type=flow&group_key=NONE&search_site_no_station_nm=
Examples:
River , current flow vs. long term median flow
Snake R. at China Gardens, 133,000cfs vs. 61,700cfs
Salmon R. at White Bird, 79,400 vs. 42,000cfs
Selway R., 22,800cfs vs. 14,299cfs
Payette R. at Emmet, 19,800cfs vs. 8,450cfs.
There was a crest yesterday. We are about 2-3 weeks behind normal high water. But it is still raining.
nc
BC has pretty close to normal snowpack. Below is May 22 data, and there has been a lot of precipitation since.
Traveling thru the west this week. Still is some snow at the north rim grand cyn & in Bryce cyn. Also plenty of snow on highest pks in SoCal. Looks like the rumors of winter’s death have been greatly exxagerated
[cyn = canyon. ~dbs]
I rode along the Poudre this morning – full up to it’s banks. One person drowned this week in the Poudre, and another did in The Big Thompson.
Over 3,000 ft^3/sec
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?06752260
The Poudre is running 300% of the median volume for this date.
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?cb_00065=on&cb_00060=on&format=gif_default&period=120&site_no=06752260
Things are worse than we thought.
The good news, of course, is that now that they are applying that nostrum to the economy, they will forget all about gloBULL warming.
local hydrological forecast:
http://forecast.weather.gov/showsigwx.php?warnzone=CAZ073&warncounty=CAC051&firewxzone=CAZ273&local_place1=June+Lake+CA&product1=Special+Weather+Statement
walker river is on the verge of a record flow.
we have some washouts an dminor flooding. the creeks would be much higher, but they are simply carving multiple channels, classic braided channel flood flow. pretty cool 😉
Pamela Gray says:
June 5, 2010 at 6:12 pm
You should be in Wallowa County right now.
The Grande Ronde and Catherine Creek are now bank to bank here in Union Co., just got back from Union, which is now having the Eastern Oregon Livestock show. Complete with its usual Thunderstorm and “hen drowner” rains.
Haven’t seen the like here since oh, 2008. But this weather was not at all unusual for the 50’s 60’s or most of the 70’s…
Hmmm…
Dang it, I didn’t quote properly. Got distracted by my Springer and his Squirrel
nemesis at the quite soggy bird feeder….