The nation is rather abuzz over the huge snowstorm (which I dubbed Snowzilla) this week, and I thought I’d put together a collection of loosley related news items. In light of Krauthammer’s recent comment, I’m glad I chose Snowzilla for the name.
Refreshing sanity — It’s La Niña, obviously: Dr. Louis Uccellini, head of NCEP, winter storm textbook expert: “We are linking the storm tracks to the La Nina pattern which dominates the flow coming off the Pacific,” Uccellini explained to AP in a telephone interview. “This follows the pattern we would expect through the Ohio Valley and with heavy precipitation to the Great Lakes…You can’t relate climate change to individual storm systems. Clearly, there have been similar storms in previous decades. As intense as this storm is, it’s equivalent to other major storms that they’ve seen in past decades”
First the satellite image:
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The animation: showing Snowzilla forming, and stomping all over the nation east of the Mississippi:
From NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory:
Intense Blizzard Rolls Across the U.S.
A massive winter storm system is rolling across the Plains and Midwest U.S., headed for the New England Region. Snow amounts of up to three feet have been dumped in some parts of Illinois and Indiana, and more is on its way. Whereas the Midwest is plagued with snow, ice will be the danger in Pennsylvania. Temperatures are warming from Maryland south, which will bring only rain to the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.
This animation shows GOES-East satellite infrared water vapor imagery from January 29 -February 1, 2011. The GOES satellites provide visible and infrared imagery of the U.S. every 15 minutes. The blue colored areas show the most intense, moist areas of the atmosphere that are responsible for these major precipitation events. Also included, at the end, is the snow precipitation amounts from Jan 31 – Feb 1, 2011.
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The snow cover map:
Source: http://www.nohrsc.nws.gov/nsa/
The snow and cold records:
The northern hemisphere snow:
The graph from Rutgers snow lab, and 2011 isn’t even on the books yet:
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The photos – Chicago on February 2nd:
Dallas: Fountain Place Fountains Frozen
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The Superbowl – now more about the weather than football:
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The there was the rolling blackouts: wind power shoulders some blame
More here
Plus, the embarrassing revelation that Texas had to get electricity from Mexico:
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Gore and the pundits:
Gore’s pronouncement about the “snow being caused by global warming”, so stupid even Jay Leno made fun of it.
The Goreacle: Snowstorms caused by global warming
Snow job: Gore channels liberal columnist as proof of global warming fueled blizzards
Here’s Leno:
And then there’s this Godzilla/Snowzilla moment:
Charles Krauthammer: ‘If Godzilla Appeared on National Mall Gore Would Say It’s Global Warming’
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And finally, the word on Gore’s imagined water vapor increase:
From Dr. Roger Peilke:
“Stratospheric water vapor concentrations decreased by about 10% after the year 2000.
From NOAA ESRL:
Click for a larger image
Note the second graph, precipitable water. How is it with global warming that in 1950’s we had so much more precipitable water than in the present? Notice the spike in 1998 – that’s the big El Niño that did that. If anything, if there’s a claim to more water vapor in 2010, it would be to the large El Niño that year. It will be interesting to plot this again in a few months to see if there’s a spike just like 1998
Only problem is, that we have a strong La Niña in the middle of Snowzilla now:
UPDATE: The original preciptable water plot from NCEP has been updated to be more current. Thanks to commenter “c james”. NCEP also provides a map of preciptable water in the near term. Here’s what it looks like during the Snowzilla event:
and here’s the zoom on the USA:
Interesting how a few stations reported high minimum temp when surrounded by low temperature records. UHI effect? These stations might be worth researching.
Snow happens!
ew-3, I don’t see any high temp records of any kind there. There are yellow dots where each major city is, perhaps that is what you see?
First it was global warming causing less snow, and the less snow (albedo) was making it even hotter…..
….Now it’s global warming causing more snow, and the more snow is still causing it to get hotter.
How in this world can anyone talk about a “null hypothesis” when everything that happens is because of global warming.
No wonder these morons need communication workshops………………..
There was that story a year ago about the windmills in Minnesota that couldn’t operate through the winter because they lacked the natural gas powered heaters to keep the hydraulic fluid warm. With temperatures in the single degrees in Texas, it’s possible that the windmills froze up. I know some point out that there was wind, but if the hydraulics freeze then they are but giant statues.
Hey I have a question, I looked up the humidity level and found this graph:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_N4XvePkmKjA/TLFaHJ0DrhI/AAAAAAAAATA/ngOtwMmElQE/s1600/1000+mbar+Global+Humidity.jpg
which was from this website:
http://objectivistindividualist.blogspot.com/2010/10/water-not-co2-controls-earth-ir.html
I didn’t read it in detail too much, but it looks like the humidity change has varied based on the altitude?
Anthony, thanks for the very informative graph of precipitable water. No doubt some warmer will come up with a rationale for analyzing data the record starting in 1965 to come up with an increasing trend. They’ve done that with all sorts of data, from hurricanes to record max and min tempertures, “prove” warming since 1960, 1965, 1970, or some other date during the cool epoch after the 1930s warm spell.
Also, no doubt some warmers (who have posted on earlier WUWT articles) will re-issue their claim that bigger snow storms occur due to more moisture, invoking Clausius–Clapeyron (warmer = more moisture = wetter). They’ll claim it’s basic physics, and “what part of physics don’t you understand?”
Well, here’s some additional physics:
1. Snow form from condensation of water vapor.
2. The atmosphere is saturated when condensation occurs.
3. The saturated amound of vapor increases with temperature (Clausius–Clapeyron).
4. Snow forms when the temperature is below 0C (it’s ice, you know).
5. The maximum amount of vapor available to condense into ice occurs just below 0C.
6. Raising the temperature beyond 0C produces rain.
7. The maximum amount of vapor available to produce snow cannot be increased beyond the saturation amount at 0C.
8. Maximum storm snowfall can be increased by stronger upward motion due to temperature contrasts, convergence, vorticity, etc., not moisture.
9. There is no mechanism by which overall warming can increases the maximum snow storm.
Here in Toronto, Canada, it was supposed to be bad… http://www.thestar.com/news/article/931740–storm-expected-to-be-biggest-of-the-winter
Then we got hit with a dry slot just as the heaviest part of the storm was supposed to go over us. Result; half, or less, of the snow that the QPF indicated we’d get… http://www.thestar.com/news/article/931954–what-happened-to-toronto-s-snow-mageddon
Even Torontonians were calling the Toronto school board wimps for declaring a “snow day” for schools” http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters/article/933020–reaction-to-a-snow-day#article I feel bad for the School Board official who called the snow day. He was going with what forecasts were available, and police were urging everybody to stay off the roads.
That photo of Dallas Cowboys Stadium in deep-freeze snow says it all.
Funny how the Antarctic blast that got loose in S. America last summer (and the MSM hid) has a counterpart that won’t go away.
Al Gore is eating cold crow.
As I type this, heavy snow is falling again in western New Hampshire. We’re expecting another 4″ – 10″. Definitely one of the snowiest and coldest winters I’ve seen here in 15 years and it’s just early February…
You’d think they’d be pleased to see the snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere advance so far. They claim the snow and ice in the NH disappearing is a major crisis.
Their own response to ‘good’ news shows that there are no clear objectives or results in earth’s weather systems that will satisfy their endless push to regulate and tax carbon dioxide emissions.
It is instructive to note that the IPCC AR4 report, the final and most comprehensive climate report of the U.N. issued in 2007, which is more than 1,000 pages in length and which references more than 1,000 studies on climate issues makes no mention or discussion whatsoever about global warming having links to increased snow in the future. In fact this massive report concludes that the future holds nothing but more heat waves and reduced snow cover for the globe.
The resent statements by some climate alarmist scientists that increased snow and snow storms are consistent with global warming theory are simply climate fear hand waving and alarmist conjecture. It yet another example of how dishonest, deceptive and manipulated the science behind man made global warming has degenerated.
Any word yet from Al Gore and the Rommulan Fleet?
All this precipitation, whether it is in the form of rain or snow, seems to have increased greatly in relation to the low sun spot activity of the sun.
What makes it more intriguing now is the fact that the water moisture in the atmosphere has decreased since 2000.
Surely this must give more weight to Henrik Svensmark’s cloud propagation theory by Cosmic rays?
There’s got to be a neutral colour zero band in these colour anomaly graphs. NOW!
Have a look at this map, especially the Southern Hemisphere where it is summer now.
http://www.coaps.fsu.edu/~maue/extreme/gfs/current/raw_temp_c.html#picture
Also have a look at this map that shows the current ice and snow cover world wide:
http://www.iceagenow.com/Most_of_Nrthn_Hemisphere_covered_by
Since 1986, the year the AGW scare saw the light with a warning for ‘imminent danger of climate disaster’, nothing has happened.
Our climate is fine.
Looking at the graph of North American winter snow extent it seems to jump around a lot. For example, there was a high in 1979 that then went to a low, by considerable margins, in 1981.
The levels fluctuate so much that it seems unlikely they can be attributed to a single cause
Is all of New Mexico covered in snow?
Whouda thunk it.
Now they’re forecasting rain over much of the southern parts of the area that is covered in snow. I’ve been furiously trying to get as much of the several inches of snow off my roof. It hasn’t melted much, especially on the north side. If it rains much that snow will soak it up like a sponge and roofs could collapse. There’s still a lot of snow on my pines and Leland cypresses weighing them down. I sincerely hope the rain bypasses the Ozarks.
The precipitable water graph in this post is not current. You can get the current one here:
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/cgi-bin/data/timeseries/timeseries.pl?ntype=1&var=Precipitable+Water&level=2000&lat1=90&lat2=-90&lon1=0&lon2=360&iseas=1&mon1=0&mon2=11&iarea=0&typeout=2&Submit=Create+Timeseries
It shows a continued spike up through the end of 2010 to almost as high as in 1952.
REPLY: Thanks, I’ll update to the more current one- Anthony
SNOW: “A VERY RARE AND EXCITING EVENT”
Where is Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia, who said in year 2000 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
http://ind.pn/i2ZHaw
VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE OF SNOW
David Parker, at the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research in Berkshire, says ultimately, British children could have only virtual experience of snow. Via the internet, they might wonder at polar scenes – or eventually “feel” virtual cold.
http://ind.pn/i2ZHaw
“Scott Gibson says:
February 5, 2011 at 11:42 am
ew-3, I don’t see any high temp records of any kind there. There are yellow dots where each major city is, perhaps that is what you see?”
You’re absolutely right. Thanks
Richard Keen says:
February 5, 2011 at 12:18 pm
….
9. There is no mechanism by which overall warming can increases the maximum snow storm.
…
Based on your previous bullets, it appears that you assume the moisture is supplied by the cold air mass… Have you considered that a warmer mass (warmed by GW) provides the moisture, moves into a cold air mass and condenses? Surely you have and I have just lost your point there…
Also, to Anthony. I think Gore meant that the lower atmosphere would hold the moisture… The decrease in stratosphere moisture dosent really affect rain, snow, etc does it? Of course. I’m just guessing here… I dont claim to really know what I’m talking about…
Why are they bothering to spin this cold and snow into the AGW theory? Why aren’t they just dismissing it as weather as they normally would? Could it be that they realize temps really aren’t rising anymore and for them to have jobs in coming years they’ll need to spin the cold and snow into global warming?
27 and 1/2 cold winters left.
Downward average winter temperature trend until 2023.
Bump up for two years and then back to flat line.
Pop the double pair of socks around 2039.
Yo Al, You whas sayen?
Snow cover is now gone in Scotland, England & Ireland? The above NH map doesn’t show any?
This map does ( http://www.theweatheroutlook.com/twodata/datukgfshires.aspx?display=snow )
Can any of our friends in the British Isles confirm or deny this?
Thanks for the absolutely first rate postmortem. The “animation” of Snowzilla is, well, awesome. Such features are a big part of what makes Wattsupwiththat the best of all sites on the web. Finally, I was thrilled to see the picture of Lee Roy Jordan. He is the all time best college and professional linebacker.
Nothing like shoveling snow in the Chicago suburbs during a blizzard 🙂
Shoveled every 2 hours or so, after the 3rd or 4th time realized I was creating a depression for 40-50 MPH winds to blow the snow into.
Thunder and lightning, wind gusts that had me watching for branches falling off the trees.
Thinking about buying a snow blower, after all, global warming portents more snow.
Reminds me of the late 70’s global cooling weather.
Robb876 says:
February 5, 2011 at 2:24 pm
You are confusing temperature of the air with High and Low Pressure systems, which can vary in temperature according to location and season, and move about carrying warm or cold air masses with them. A Polar High can be just as dry as a Temperate Zone High, but is far colder than the latter.
Girma says:
February 5, 2011 at 1:57 pm
Where is Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia, who said in year 2000 within a few years winter snowfall will become “a very rare and exciting event”?
—
Here he is!
This UEA TV special is from 2006. He appears at around the 13 minute mark. Check out all of the CAGW doomsday scenarios he proffers in the panel discussion. He even attributes Hurricane Katrina to climate change (at 23:10) [LOL!].
Today, maybe he’s keeping a low profile…
The death toll in Mexico from the cold wave is up to 23. (My Spanish isn’t strong but here is a link-includes fotos)
http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/742628.html
Some good charts in this thread. Here are some more.
“Gore’s pronouncement about the “snow being caused by global warming”, so stupid even Jay Leno made fun of it.”
In line with
“Larry Hamlin says:
February 5, 2011 at 12:40 pm”
At http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/lorrie_goldstein/2011/02/02/17129376.html
Lorrie Goldstein says: “As for Gore, if, as he argues, climate scientists have predicted for decades that global warming would make “snowstorms more severe” and lead to “colder winters,” why was there no mention of this in his “documentary,” An Inconvenient Truth?”
35 animal froze to death at a zoo in Mexico.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-lt-mexico-frigid-weather-animals,0,4552281.story
And in an Albuquerque, New Mexico (USA) Zoo–They had to break out the space heaters for the polar bears.
http://www.koat.com/r/26721791/detail.html
I wonder if Al works on “An Inconvenient Truth Part Too” will he include a picture of Snowzilla on the cover?
Dave Dodd says February 5, 2011 at 12:45 pm
Rommulan Fleet peddling doom and gloom in the UK recently : http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2011/feb/04/extreme-weather-global-food-crisis
The Snowzilla animation shows it really exploding at 10-11 seconds, when it starts pulling in the Gulf moisture.
That snow depth map is right, there was 6″ to 7″ of snow on the rooftop. Got about 80% of it off. I’m exhausted.
DD More says:
February 5, 2011 at 3:13 pm
Snow cover is now gone in Scotland, England & Ireland? The above NH map doesn’t show any?
This map does ( http://www.theweatheroutlook.com/twodata/datukgfshires.aspx?display=snow )
Can any of our friends in the British Isles confirm or deny this?
The bend in the jet stream has favored the UK over the past few weeks. Warmer air from the Atlantic has been funneled across which is also stopping the southward flow of cold air from the Arctic. This is the reverse of the USA situation, but their turn will come.
Robb876 says:
February 5, 2011 at 2:24 pm
Richard Keen says:
February 5, 2011 at 12:18 pm
….
9. There is no mechanism by which overall warming can increases the maximum snow storm.
…
“Based on your previous bullets, it appears that you assume the moisture is supplied by the cold air mass… Have you considered that a warmer mass (warmed by GW) provides the moisture, moves into a cold air mass and condenses? Surely you have and I have just lost your point there…”
Read bullets 5, 6, and 7 again. If the available moisture occurs at temperatures above 0C, it rains. So the max dew point for snow is 0C, and warming cannot change the max moisture available for snow. If AGW raises this to 10C, guess what – rain!
“c james says:
February 5, 2011 at 1:47 pm
The precipitable water graph in this post is not current. You can get the current one here:
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/cgi-bin/data/timeseries/timeseries.pl?ntype=1&var=Precipitable+Water&level=2000&lat1=90&lat2=-90&lon1=0&lon2=360&iseas=1&mon1=0&mon2=11&iarea=0&typeout=2&Submit=Create+Timeseries
It shows a continued spike up through the end of 2010 to almost as high as in 1952.
REPLY: Thanks, I’ll update to the more current one- Anthony”
Do note that this link has “mon2=11”, i.e. November, so that link shows yearly values for the first 11 months of each year. That could change the shape of the graph slightly. Better wait a few weeks until the whole year is available.
From “An Interview With the CEO of the Texas Grid,”
“I’m not aware of any specific issues with wind turbines having to shut down due to icing. I would highlight that we put out a special word of thanks to the wind community because they did contribute significantly through this time frame. Wind was blowing, and we had often 3,500 megawatts of wind generation during that morning peak, which certainly helped us in this situation.”
http://www.texastribune.org/texas-energy/energy/an-interview-with-the-ceo-of-the-texas-grid/
The British Isles have been in a generally mild run of strong Southwesterly winds for about a week already, with temperatures around 50F / 10C day & night. Snow and ice are not the weather issue here any longer – people are starting to worry more about flooding, since those winds are dumping plenty of rain, especially over the northern & western mountains.
The forecasts indicate that this type of weather will dominate for at least another week – so it’s a green rather than a white February here.
‘If Godzilla Appeared on National Mall Gore Would Say It’s Global Warming’
It’s NOT Godzilla! It’s ManBearPig…..
Just saw this:
35 Zoo Animals Freeze to Death in Northern Mexico
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/05/35-zoo-animals-freeze-to-death-in-northern-mexico/
Only 2-3 inches of snow fell during “Snowzilla” in western New York, the “Southern Tier” to be more specific, where I’m staying and shoveling right now. I expected a lot more. The forecast was calling for 12+ inches. Just a brief blizzard blew through leaving about two inches of fluffy snow followed by some sleet which added another inch of sand-like snow. Temperatures haven’t been particularly low either. This is my first northern winter in 35 years. It’s a good cold one with lots of snow and reminds me of those from my early childhood in the 1950’s and 1960’s before the modern warm period started. The locals don’t care for it but I’m loving it. I’d probably not care for it so much after the novelty wears off. I brought a couple of my dogs with me on the trip north. They’re shepherds with huge paws and lots of dense fur well suited to this weather and they love it. The first thing my Anatolian shepherd did on arrival was to dive into a snowbank, roll around a bit, and then make a snow angel. My German shepherd (a real shepherd not the AKC German police dog) isn’t into rolling around in the snow but she has really long legs and loves bounding through the deep stuff like a deer. Precious.
For North America IPCC 2007 Report predicted the following:
Snow season length and snow depth are very likely to decrease in most of North America, except in the northernmost part of Canada where maximum snow depth is likely to increase.
Looks to me that the opposite has been happening for the last 5 winters as the snow has been increasing instead since 2006 . Another IPCC science turns out to be another myth instead.
http://climate.rutgers.edu/snowcover/chart_seasonal.php?ui_set=namgnld&ui_season=1
http://www.helium.com/items/2083868-magnetic-polar-shifts-causing-massive-global-superstorms
Speaking of superstorms…
Anthony, this link is to an article that compiles several studies regarding current changes in the movement of the earth’s magnetic poles acclerating in the last few years and possible climatic effects. I found it interesting that it reports: “The Earth was in October 2005 moving into the small spiraling circle (the MIN phase of the wobble), which should have slowly unfolded during 2006 and the first few months of 2007. (Each spiraling circle takes about 14 months). But suddenly at the beginning of November 2005, the track of the location of the spin axis veered at a very sharp right angle to its circling motion.”
October 2005, of course, is the period of the “step change” in solar activity that you have commented on numerous times.
(just posted to the Tips and Notes also)
Dogs were likely domesticated and bread for that trait (loving cold weather) during the last ice age. Therefore, I would imagine that most dogs still similar in size, fur, and appearance would be most comfortable in colder, snowy weather. A miniature toy devoid of a thick fur coat and anything resembling legs wouldn”t be very useful guarding the parameter just outside the cave.
Richard Keen says:
February 5, 2011 at 7:08 pm
…..
Ok, I’ve read 5,6 and 7 again and my point still stands… The question isn’t with air above 0c , as everyone knows it requires freezing temps to cause snow… My point was that warming could cause an increase in atmospheric moisture and you backed that up by stating that the highest moisture content for snow would occur just below freezing and that the colder the air, the less moisture… Global warming dosent mean only temps above freezing, and a “warmer” air mass could still be below 0. So…. Do you agree that warming could lead to more snow? It appears you do…
Robb876 says:
February 6, 2011 at 9:14 am
Richard Keen says:
February 5, 2011 at 7:08 pm
…..
Ok, I’ve read 5,6 and 7 again and my point still stands… The question isn’t with air above 0c , as everyone knows it requires freezing temps to cause snow… My point was that warming could cause an increase in atmospheric moisture and you backed that up by stating that the highest moisture content for snow would occur just below freezing and that the colder the air, the less moisture… Global warming dosent mean only temps above freezing, and a “warmer” air mass could still be below 0. So…. Do you agree that warming could lead to more snow? It appears you do…
————————————-
It’s not clear to me whether your point is that there could be more precipitation or that there could be more snow.
When you talk about ‘warming’ do you mean “Warming” (global, average, .001 of a degree kind of a thing) or the temperature of the putative water source for a given dollop of precipitation at a given time?
Obviously, when a water surface warms there is an increase in evaporation, if the pressure doesn’t rise concomitantly. How, when and where it precipitates out is the point of interest.
The notion that ice storms in North Texas are rare is complete garbage. They happen every winter. Cheers –
From Scienceray:
Ice storms
One of the ones I least like, we get at least one of these every Winter. A cold front comes through dropping temperatures like a rock, and then a storm system comes through right afterward creating freezing rain. Ice on average is about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of ice, which is more than enough to cause problems on the highways (and there’s tons of those out here), and maybe even bring down some power lines and tree branches in some spots. Ice storms usually happen in the months of January or Febuary.
Read more: http://scienceray.com/earth-sciences/meteorology/north-texas-weather-weather-conditions-you-can-expect/#ixzz1DCgUv4XS
http://scienceray.com/earth-sciences/meteorology/north-texas-weather-weather-conditions-you-can-expect/
Minimal snow received here in Northern New Mexico, consistent with typical La Nina weather, but the temperatures were astonishingly low mid-week. The Albuquerque Journal ran a nice article today about how the convergence of weather conditions this past week was *nearly identical* to the last time we had such record-breaking cold snaps in this region… back in 1971.
Roger Sowell says:
February 5, 2011 at 8:51 pm
From “An Interview With the CEO of the Texas Grid,”
“I’m not aware of any specific issues with wind turbines having to shut down due to icing. I would highlight that we put out a special word of thanks to the wind community because they did contribute significantly through this time frame. Wind was blowing, and we had often 3,500 megawatts of wind generation during that morning peak, which certainly helped us in this situation.”
http://www.texastribune.org/texas-energy/energy/an-interview-with-the-ceo-of-the-texas-grid/
Lying CEO! everybody at WUWT knows that wind can’t work.
And the hits just keep on coming!
New from Minnesotans for Global Warming:
Girma says: February 5, 2011 at 2:01 pm
British children could have only virtual experience of snow. Via the internet…”
Darn, there goes my idea of selling “snow” shaved from ice rinks so kids could have snow parties. 😉
As for Chicago, in my brief time in Cedar Rapids IA (not so much affected by the big lakes) I saw that the city sure could clear snow, organized and effective (And of course having equipment, which is a major limitation in places that don’t get much. In the northwet US/southwet Canada it is common to have blade attachments for dump trucks, and of course press front-end loaders and such into service – less efficient when it does snow heavy but lower cost on average.
Speaking of the southwet [sic] of Canada, in December 1996 Victoria BC had the worst dump in several decades or more – two feet, stayed cold for several days. Cause was shift of major wind patterns – IIRC the area is between cold north Pacific winds and warm moist winds from further south, so quite vulnerable to a shift. 1996 was of course near the peak of the 6 decade temperature cycle. An alarmist from the local university ignored that year when giving as proof of AGW that someone had skated on a local lake in the 1930s and it had not been that cold since. But he was probably speaking of a year in the mid-30s which had both the coldest winter and hottest summer in a long time, in the hottest decade in years. And he also overlooked 1959 when people also skated on local lakes. But hey! he has faith. 🙂
“uno2three4 says: February 5, 2011 at 4:27 pm
And in an Albuquerque, New Mexico (USA) Zoo–They had to break out the space heaters for the polar bears. “
Durn beasts didn’t read the environmentalist memo that they aren’t supposed to be able to acclimatize? 😉
“Pamela Gray says:
February 6, 2011 at 8:19 am
…. Therefore, I would imagine that most dogs still similar in size, fur, and appearance would be most comfortable in colder, snowy weather.”
Keep in mind that finding shelter from wind is important, as is using snow as insulation. I presume that on the prairie/plain animals like wolves take shelter in small gulleys or river cuts, which may have semi-cave structures – otherwise they burrow into the snow. The problem animals have is finding food. Note “uno2three4 says: February 5, 2011 at 4:27 pm” comment about polar bears in Albuquerque’s zoo, indicating to me they have become accustomed to warmer temperatures – I suggest domestic dogs have as well. Of course some animals hibernate, like most bears (do polar bears hibernate? do wolves? wolverines don’t, though I have the impression they hole up and rest deeply).
NWS pulls a GISS: After initially downgrading last week’s Chicagoland hugh 20.2 inch snow storm by 0.2 inch on Friday 2/11/11, meteorologists at the National Weather Service (NWS) changed the totals again. After media meteorologists, such as Tom Skilling from WGN, got wind of the change they convinced the NWS to change the totals again, this time adding an inch to the original total. In addition, the NWS decided to increase the total snow accumulation from the blizzard of 1979 by a whopping 1.5 inches (32 years after the storm). According to Skilling, such a change of after the fact would open a Pandora’s box that might shake the public’s confidence in weather forecasts. “People will come to us now and say “My God, you can’t even measure the snow event that happened.” It’s a psychological thing. What are the people going to think?. We just had one hell of storm, states Skilling, I don’t know why we’re fiddling with anything.”.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-met-snowstorm-rage-20110211,0,1561329.story