From the Independent, March 20th, 2000:
However, the warming is so far manifesting itself more in winters which are less cold than in much hotter summers. According to Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia,within a few years winter snowfall will become “a very rare and exciting event”.
“Children just aren’t going to know what snow is,” he said.
According to reports I’ve read, that is the Independent’s most viewed story of the past 10 years. It has become the modern equivalent of the famous “Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus“.
Now, for the second year in a row, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales is covered with snow. Meanwhile, AGW proponents like George Monbiot are furiously spinning to make it look like AGW causes more snow, rather than less, as the CRU scientist said 10 years ago.
(Update) WUWT commenter Murray Grainger writes:
The very same Independent has already published the rebuttal:
Expect more extreme winters thanks to global warming, say scientists
It isn’t working. Give it up kids.
I was alerted in Tips and Notes to this image from sat24.com by WUWT reader Joel Heinrich, but found an even better one from the Aqua satellite. See below.
Here is the image from the AQUA satellite, as you can see, except for a small part in the Southwest, snow is everywhere.
Click image to enlarge.
The image above has been cropped and annotated. Original source here
See last year’s image here
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Onion says
“These theories of what will happen to UK winters are only coupled to manmade global warming in one direction. They are different researchers predicting what will happen to UK winters under manmade global warming. If any particular one is wrong that doesn’t falsify manmade global warming. The fact that a number of contradictory theories for UK winters exist based on manmade global warming shows that manmade global warming doesn’t hinge on any particular response by UK winters.”
An onion has many layers or skins – your name has been well chosen ………………….. I am sure you will find a story that fits one of them and the story will be able to change as the mood suits – merry Christmas.
A very Merry Christmas to all!
And thanks for all the fish!
You cannot stand there for 10+ years and tell me the CO2 is causing winters to be milder and then all of a sudden tell me that winters are getting colder because of CO2.
I have a name for that, and I step in it when I’m at the farm….
onion says:
December 24, 2010 at 11:10 am
“a very rare and exciting event”
So far it is. Since 2000 it has snowed very rarely, while the last 3 winters are exceptions
=========================================================
I don’t suppose that could be the other way around?
That the lack of snow was rare, and things are just returning to normal?
anywho
Since we now know that CO2 causes colder weather, shouldn’t we be increasing CO2?
It’s already Christmas morning in Aotearoa New Zealand and its going to be a sunny barbecue day. Maybe 22 degrees in Purakanui.
Merry Christmas everyone and a happy New Year.
Here is some interesting stuff about global warming causing warmer colder winters in the NH. You simply cannot make this sh*t up! They have twisted themselves in knots these devious manipulators.
http://notrickszone.com/2010/12/23/potsdam-climate-instutute-now-says-to-expect-warmer-colder-winters/
Real Climate is in a panic over the negative NAO
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/12/cold-winter-in-a-world-of-warming/#more-5596
They know this will likely stick around for thirty years and falsify the AGW theory that positive NAO is here to stay. They desperately are clinging to the newly floated reduced arctic ice extent creating this weather theory but are dreading that likely sea ice volume buildup will likely result this year as it has in the past during negative NAO.
Looking at GISP2 ice core temperature reconstruction, the little ice age was the coldest period of the Holocene.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GISP2_ice_core_eng.svg
Looking at the current CET:
http://hadobs.metoffice.com/hadcet/
We may speculate that The current UK winter could become the coldest in 10,000 years. It is hard to stop the trend of unstoppable Holocene cooling.
Peter H says:
December 24, 2010 at 9:25 am
It’s been gloriously cold, sunny here today, in Devon, SW England, crisped snow lies on the ground glittering in the Sun and tonight is likely to be *extremely* cold. And, I don’t deny that reality (or the recent years of warm weather) for a second.
I also know what the global temperature trend is…
Well based on 1998 still having the record that would flatlined then !!!!!!
@ur momisugly Doug in Seattle
“I don’t think it is time yet to put down our guard, but the momentum appears to have genuinely shifted. It is time to start becoming more optimistic”
It’s just a change of direction, with effort going into world domination by another route !
Since the blogosphere has played a major part in turning global warming into ridicule we can now expect to see some sort of attempt to control what people put onto the internet. After all, we can’t have innocent persons being corrupted by uncontrolled and unscientific dialogue, can we ?
We have the “free” press demonstrating (very well) that it isn’t free at all, just another arm of Big_Biz.
We also have scientists demonstrating (very well) that having your bread buttered on both sides is preferable to having clean hands.
Roll-on 2011, when we will have Global Climate Insinuation coming out of our orifices, and at high cost.
AGW is just a political excuse to redistribute wealth. 30 years ago global cooling due pilution was responsible for heavy snowfalls. If the shoe fits wear it.
GUESS WHAT?!?!?! The planet’s got a fever. And the only prescription in more cowbell!
Warm globally, cool locally.
>>Phillip
>>It’s very unusual for Ireland to be mostly covered in the white stuff.
Indeed. It is known as the Emerald Isle, not the Pearl Province.
.
I went through the hassle of signing up to comment on this article, providing the link to their 10 year old article. I wonder if it will get published.
Silly question (hey, it’s Festive Time) Looking at the image of the snow-bound British Isles, why does the snow not fall on the sea?
It may be frostbite, Jim, but it’s a warm frostbite .. due to AGW 🙂
This winter and last has seen ice floes on the river tay at dundee.
onion says: “…The fact that a number of contradictory theories for UK winters exist based on manmade global warming shows that manmade global warming [theory] doesn’t hinge on any particular response by UK winters [reality].”
My bold. Quite so, onion. Looks like manmade global warming is coming unhinged from reality even as we speak!
Does that look like the ice sheet getting closer to Iceland? Or is it just a visual illusion?
http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/images/daily_images/N_bm_extent.png
So global warming causes more extreme winters? How about 400/401 AD?
Winter of 400A.D. / 401 A.D.
– In the winter of 401, the Pontus Sea was frozen over, also the Sea between Constantinople (Istanbul) and Scutari (Üsküdar) [inlet to the Sea of Marmara from the Black Sea] in Turkey.
– The Black Sea was frozen for 20 days, and when the thaw came, such mountains of ice passed by Constantinople [Istanbul, Turkey] that they frightened the citizens.
– In the year 400, the cold was so severe that on January 28, the Rhône River in France was frozen over its entire width and the passengers on foot and horseback went on the ice, without running any risk, between Dauphine (in the Alps) and Vivarais.
– In the year 401, the River Thames in England was frozen over for two months.
Source – James A. Marusek’s “A Chronological Listing of Early Weather Events”.
Nothing “unprecedented” to see here, move along…
A merry Christmas to Anthony, moderators and all the readers of WUWT. Enjoy the season and have a safe and sceptical new year.
I think its interesting that many environmentalists don’t think people are smart enough to understand climate change in the profound way that they do. In reality, a lot of people are struggling just to get by on a daily basis, both here in the US and in Europe so most ordinary folks just aren’t that interested. But a funny thing happens with folks and their ability to crunch numbers when a currency sign is put in front of the number. All of a sudden someone who is challenged by math can miraculously do it. It’s been very cold in Europe and much of the US for the entire month of December. Politicians are working to make energy more expensive to encourage conservation and tilt the economics to renewables. When the bills start coming due climate science and the corrective measures for climage change are suddenly going to be much more important and everyone will be paying close attention. I suspect many of the ordinary folks won’t have the intellectual capacity to rationalize how the cold they feel in their bones is somehow related to a world warming out of control.
Seasons Greetings to all. Please take the time to enjoy the company of your friends and families. Ever wounder why our ancient ancestors held the winter solstices in such high regard? Why they, who did not travel very far from home this time of the year, opted to host a big party a family celebration instead? They were smart enough to know the winter weather is unpredictable with one exception. It is more often then not miserable. Alternate explanation: the weather gods heat airplanes and don’t much like trains, cars or buses either.
Keep a skeptical eye and remember, Mother Nature plays with loaded dice.
“If the theory can “predict” mutually contradictory outcomes, without anyone knowing which one is “true”, then it’s nowhere near as “robust” as it claimed to be so widely and so often.”
That’s not the case. Logically the theory that human activity is warming the earth can be robust even as the theory of what that means for UK winters is not.
Werner Brozek says:
December 24, 2010 at 10:00 am
The BP oilspill however, does not explain last winters dreadful weather or the year before.
That Petoukhov and Semenov Study Independent is discussing and Realclimate is covering does not apply to this winter at all.
It discusses cold NAO+ winters and links the cold in europe to sea ice cover changes in arctic. Results are based on computer modelling.
The study does not cover NAO- winters at all. Nor does it link arctic warming to NAO- conditions. Thus it is very misleading to link 2009-2010 or this winter to the conditions covered by this study.
Re MattN:
“You cannot stand there for 10+ years and tell me the CO2 is causing winters to be milder and then all of a sudden tell me that winters are getting colder because of CO2.”
You are being told both of these. The theory that winters will get milder in the UK in coming decades hasn’t been withdrawn, in fact that’s the widely accepted impact of the world warming. However how the UK winters change is not certain and there are rival, but less accepted, theories that it will get colder.