“Thousands of dead crabs have washed up along the Kent coast, with environmental experts believing the cold weather in Britain is to blame,” London’s Daily Mail reports. In an MSNBC/LiveScience report, we get the simple explanation. ’tis the snowfall on the beach that melted wot dun it:
“It’s been a phenomenon for probably a third year in a row,” Tony Child, Thanet Coast project manager, told LiveScience.
The crabs come closer to shore at this time of year, Child said, where they feed on the seaweed. In the past, environmental scientists ran tests to check for disease or other physiological problems with the crabs, coming up empty-handed. But Child said every year the die-offs have occurred after there was snow on the beaches. The meltwater causes temperatures near shore to drop, and Child said the deaths must be linked to hypothermia.
Now, get load of this quote from another person in the Daily Mail Article:
“Coastal warden Tony Sykes said: ‘We suspect that climate change and warmer weather has lured the crabs towards the shoreline.”
Warden, what are you smoking dude? Have a look at the SST’s for Britain, what were they doing, swimming towards Spain?
Note the colors around the southeast part of the U.K. – barely above freezing SST’s.
Source: http://www.osdpd.noaa.gov/data/sst/fields/FS_km5000.gif
Note the quote:
It’s been a phenomenon for probably a third year in a row,” Tony Child, Thanet Coast project manager, told LiveScience.
Hmmm….now what could possibly have happened in the UK during the last three winters? BBQ Summers?
Here’s the press release from the Thanet Coast Project:
Marine wildlife hit by cold weather
Around 25,000 velvet swimming crabs and marine wildlife have become the latest victim of the recent cold weather in Thanet.
Volunteer coastal wardens from the Thanet Coast Project have surveyed the coastline and reported hundreds of dead creatures washed up on the shore. Casualties have been reported from the Nayland Rock, Margate and in bays to the Kingsgate area, with further sightings between Dumpton and Ramsgate. The discovery was made following the Christmas period, following on from the recent heavy snow falls.
So this claim from coastal warden Sykes isn’t the same ridiculous claim we’ve been hearing lately, that global warming causes cold weather. Nooo… the problem here seems to be that the crabs made the mistake of believing in global warming.
Here’s the link to the Daily Mail story with the quote.
H/T to Mark Duchamp for the email.
“Coastal warden Tony Sykes said: ‘We suspect that climate change and warmer weather has lured the crabs towards the shoreline.”
Yes, the Global Warming Siren lured them:
Come hither Crabs, come to your death!
Obviously Anthony, you’re not familiar with the devious nature of this heat generated cold. Of course it tricked the crabs! Its been baiting them for some time! Always just hanging there, appearing all warm and stuff and then whammo!! it suddenly turns cold on the poor crabs! This is a relatively new phenomenon. A Dr. Syme from the department of lexicography has termed it warmcold. We can expect a paper from him soon. The Ministry of Plenty is quite anxious to get to the bottom of this, but all outward appearances indicate this monstrous warmcold is indeed a product of global warming (of the cooling sort).
I’m going to break away from the rest and agree that Global Warming is to blame for a lot of things.
For instance, I blame Global Warming for the existence of WUWT.
I blame Global Warming for my blogging habits.
Oh sweet relief! I’ve been in China for five weeks (mix of business and pleasure) but discovered to my horror (did you offend the Party, Anthony?) that I was unable to access WUWT. Just back, this story was a wonderful way to begin my rehabilitation!
Somebody, anybody explain why snow that falls on beaches is deadly but snow that falls in the ocean is not. And what about all the times rain that is nearly at freezing falls in the ocean or lands on the beaches?
This is what happens when you watch too much Monty Python.
What boggles the mind is the blatant misrepresentation that this species of crab (or any species of any kind ) has never encountered hardship or “die back” in it’s entire existence. The idea that this is “all new” is ludicrous. The past was not static. They love nature but completely misunderstand it. I think I have more respect for nature than that. The article is another example of shootinfooticus selfinflicticus. Road Runner reference !!
The climate that is constantly changing has always been responsible for mass die offs of species through out the ages. This is nothing new.
Compliments to Mr. Sexton. You made me laugh until my eyes watered.
But I do think you’re on to something with this evil warmcold phenomenon, and I do hope you’re right about a paper coming out very soon, commissioned by the Ministry of Plenty. Warmcold is the wave of the future, hot and cool…and that is really most unprecidentedly ominous. It’s never happened in the entire lifetime record of recorded history. And just try and check the time before! The planet will lose every time warmcold raises its ugly head. Ice cubes will melt, hot coffee will freeze. When you enjoy a hot fudge sundae, the ice cream will go warm and the fudge cold…you get the idea. But if only there was a way to make money off of this warmcold…perhaps there is…with clothing! We could make coats with fur lining and no sleeves! And bathing suits made of wool! Say, now that’s a green idea…
Stay cool, my friend. But whatever you do, stay away from warmcold.
Burning fossil fuels produces H2O that makes the ocean levels rise and causes more floods. We must ban the burning of fossil fuels. Just look at the Australia floods.
That makes as much sense as regulating it because it produces plant food(CO2).
In PNS, (after real science) cold is warm. To consume wealth is to create wealth, Truth is not important, If you wish it, it will be. Poor dears, they are too feeble minded to do real science, so they just make it up as they go along.
“The science of AGW is for the feeble minded.” pg
co2insanity says: January 7, 2011 at 8:00 pm
So, the “22″ is Tony Sykes IQ?
[Now, now. Do not make unwarranted, un-researched assumptions …. 8<) Robt]
Not un-researched. That was a GISS homogenized value, using nearby warmist IQ’s for adjustment.
I don’t think this die off or any of the other in-vogue fish, bird, etc. die 0ffs are that unusual, it’s just that the press/blogosphere has just noticed and panicked. Move along, nothing to see here.
Michael says:
January 7, 2011 at 10:24 pm
Jinx!!!
I listened to a report about this on BBC Radio the other morning. Fortunately Tony Sykes wasn’t interviewed. He may have managed to get on air later in the day, knowing the BBC it may well have been them who found him in the first place.
So just how do we solve the problem of solar warming?.
So believing in Global Warming decreases your life expectancy. I suspected that much, thanks for the proof. 🙂
” jones says:
January 7, 2011 at 11:49 pm
So just how do we solve the problem of solar warming?.”
We first establish beyond doubt that Sol is warming the globe and that it is abnormal for the context.
We’ve done neither.
Correlation is not causation. This faith in AGW stalking the world is positively medieval.
They died because they were suckered into near shore waters by AGW and then caught out by cold melt into the sea from snowy beaches! Let’s try the witch trial test. If she floats drag her out because the water has rejected her ‘witch evil’ and burn her; if she sinks and drowns it proves her innocence and drag her out and give her a decent burial.
Collateral damage in the battle against the evil one.
I don’t think Rod Serling could have come up with a better story line than this where hot is cold and cold is hot. Wait a minute, I think he may have — it was a Twilight Zone episode staring Lois Nettleton called — “The Midnight Sun.” Are we now living in the Twilight Zone? Craaaaazy!!!!
Agh well if they are already frozen then easy to just go and pick em up n cook em
Having tried to talk to other people about this I have found that the issue is actually polarizing groups to more extremes. It seems very hard to have a rational discussion. The blinkers are pulled tighter and the abuse level has increased. I have apparently become a bigger idiot for doubting the “scientists”
I have a theory of how it must have happened.
Lured by those fiery red splotches on maps showing ocean temperatures, the crabs of England decided to take a much-needed winter holiday, forsaking our chilly seas and swimming en masse southwards to bask in the anomalies off West Antarctica.
Alas, there they met their doom. Parboiled by extreme water temperatures caused by man-made carbon emissions, and sorely weakened by ocean acidification caused by same, the hapless crustaceans turned around and exited this anthropogenic ocean hell, swimming back north in hopes of seeing their home waters again for the very last time.
And they did so, after a supreme effort which cost them their lives, expiring finally in their thousands on the beaches of dear old Blighty. So there you have it – it was Global Warming wot killed these magnificent beasts. QED.
Maybe if the Met Office had gone public about their colder winter forecast the crabs could have read about it and not come so far inshore?
Global warming causes most everything.
I’m waiting for spousal infidelity to be attributed to global warming. That’ll really complete the global warming equation.
I just had to post again. This has been going through my mind a lot…
Global Warming causes…
too much snow
too little snow
cold snaps
heat waves
tsunamis
earthquakes
floods
droughts
sea level change
windling polar bear population
dead birds falling from the sky
dead crabs on the beach
And when they tell us..
MAN CAUSES GLOBAL WARMING
do they really expct us to believe them after all the claims they’ve made?
Interestingly, this is the third year in a row, so evidently crabs breed like rabbits and their population is not suffering. Are they edible? Are there catch quotas? Maybe those should be increased to keep the numbers in check?