Climate Poetic justice in the land of ETS. From the Sydney Morning Herald:
Freak snowfall has NZ reeling
WELLINGTON: New Zealand is shivering through a one-in-50-year polar blast that has brought snow to much of the country, the weather service says.
A bitterly cold southerly blast has caused snow to fall in areas of New Zealand which do not usually receive it, making roads impassable in many areas on both islands, closing airports and cutting power to thousands.
Staff at Wellington Zoo took advantage of the first major snowfall in the capital for 40 years to give the visiting penguin ”Happy Feet” a dip in an icy saltwater pool.
…
The MetService head forecaster, Peter Kreft, said the polar blast was ”of the order of a 50-year” event and warned it could last for days. The level of snow that had fallen in Wellington had not been seen since at least the 1970s, he said.
In Wanganui in the North Island, snow had settled for the first time since 1974, Constable Simon Beswarick said.
…
The MetService has forecast the heavy snow to continue today before easing tomorrow. It is unlikely to continue down to sea level.
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We’re having a blast us deniers with this snow thing down under…a polar blast .I knew that if we just kept on paying that bit extra for our petrol the results would kick in sooner or later. You see the molecules of CO2 over NZ have been taxed and therefore have been behaving themselves in accordance with AGW. Funny thing though ,the believers here in NZ are getting a little confused about the “global WARMING” and some are so crazy and disoriented that they’re coming up with a new thing called “global WEIRDING”. Global weirding can explain everything …everything, Droughts, floods,tornadoes,snow, you name it. I kid you not. Look it up in wiki. That’s where they get all their science.
Are all the Hobbits OK?
I grew up in Rotorua (330m above sea level) in New Zealand during the 60’s and early 70’s. Snow was not unheard of during that period and common on the hills and mountains around the area. The desert road (state highway 1) closed nearly every winter. It is nothing unusual for those with a memory. We spend most August school holidays in Taihape and always expected some snow. Nothing new under the sun
Patrick Davis says:
August 16, 2011 at 2:45 am
Yes but it does happen, I’ve seen quotes say “this is the most snow we’ve had in 15 years, 40 years, 50 years, 72 years. etc”
It’s weather, it happens.
We had the warmest April on record here in the UK and the driest spring in 20 years and second driest since 1910! Doesn’t prove global warming any more than this disproves it. But I bet several people here will try to say that it does.
as a result of our 4% contribution to this planet’s atmospheric CO2 content.
Don’t exaggerate Brian :)) it’s 0.04% CO² in atmosphere of which we may contribute 3.27% (1.5 parts / million /année) /sarc off
CANBERRA RALLY UP DATE the rally was a complete sucsess around 5000 deniers where there GROVER the truckie made it walking all the way from ALBURY we have become a united group of australians that have stood up and be counted and we will win to get democracy back into australian .we have to win for our grand kids future in this world
Alan Ogden says:
August 16, 2011 at 2:15 am
For UK readers, a familiar face discusses the weather in Wellington
Now that is interesting. I wonder when and why he left the BBC/UKMetoff ? He came from the USA to the BBC. Don’t know where in the US.
NZ is in the grip of a severe jet stream straight from Antarctica. This seems to be the pattern during winter when the Sun is extra quiet. The amount of low pressure systems around the bottom end is notably different from what we would normally expect.
A pic of yesterdays jet stream at the end of my my NH winter prediction article…Also some info on the building La Nina
http://tinyurl.com/2dg9u22/?q=node/224
For peter geany and others . . .
Snow in Dunedin or Christchurch or the hills around Rotorua is dog bites man.
Snow in Auckland city or Dargaville (where my rates are collected) is man bites dog.
And, just for the record, I’m 66, was born in Auckland, went to school barefoot in wintertime in the 1950s . . . and this weather is definitely a once-in-my-lifetime event.
No problem the models predicted it , along side rains of fish and any other weather no matter how usual . Its a good way to ensure they can never be wrong .
It is winter there, but its summer here in Ireland and looking like the worst in over 50 years.
Ireland on course for coldest summer in 50 years
http://www.rte.ie/news/av/2011/0815/media-3026743.html
@Gil Dymock
Couldn’t handle the jandal bro?
The paradisiacal southern seas under snow!. Where will then go our poor global warming partners for our next jamboree?
Had to put on some long pants….now that’s a cold day…in Hell or here. 😉
@Eimear says:
August 16, 2011 at 5:54 am
I’ll bet there’s a corelation, something genetic?
Poles apart, we’re finally getting our summer:
http://weather.yahoo.com/united-states/washington/bellevue-12798884/
7 straight days of comfortable sunny weather – now that’s climate change! 🙂
New Zealand getting snow (first in 39 years was mentioned).
All 50 US states broke heat records this summer.
NYC got massive rainfall, equivalent to 9 feet of snow.
Texas is bone dry.
Strong straight-line winds blow down that stage at the Indiana State Fair (five killed, dozens injured).
All presented as evidence-by-inclusion by ABC News (US) in their headliner piece featuring Dr. Heidi Cullen of Climate Central (formerly of The Weather Channel) excitingly saying:
AH-HA! WE WERE RIGHT! IT’S GLOBAL WARMING! GLOBAL WARMING IS STILL AROUND! WE TOLD YOU SO! GLOBAL WARMING LIVES! IT’S ALIVE! ALIVE, we say, ALIVE!!
Yup, the piece was highly irritating. A blast of straight-line wind kills people, such winds have caused tornado-like damage and even wrecked airplanes for ages, so now this instance is tossed in with the “freaky weather” showing damage from global warming. (Insert appropriate statement about sons-of-unwed-mothers and/or female dogs with attributions as needed.)
When all that NZ snow melts think of the impact on US cities: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2011-08-15-cities-fight-climate-change_n.htm
Our good friend Dr. Heidi Cullen was featured on ABC World News Tonight claiming the recent extreme weather, including both this winter storm in New Zealand and this summer’s extreme heat in the USA are caused by global warming (of course). According to Dr. Cullen, heat drives extreme weather events and these storms, heat waves, droughts, blizzards will continue to become more common and more extreme as the world heats up.
Any physical evidence to support that claim?
As more my two-cents worth, it seems to me that heat differential drives storms. Extreme weather events should be more extreme and more violent as a result of a cooling world, not a warming one.
“SteveE says:
August 16, 2011 at 4:07 am”
And what has changed in the UK since 1910?
Piers Corbyn says:
August 16, 2011 at 2:57 am
“There are simultaneous solar action driven gigantic shifts going on now in each hemisphere with significant cooling in USA – predicted by our Solar Lunar Action Technique to the day – alongside the supercold blast in New Zealand.”
Piers Corbyn, thanks for dropping by. I have been trying to interest the locals on WUWT in the “unprecedented” (Warmista term) cool weather in the middle and upper Midwest of the USA. Yes, it is cool in the East too but I think the MIdwest shows the greater “unprecedentedness” in this case.
My old hometown of St. Louis MO is enjoying May weather in August. Usually, July and August register a high temperature near 100 daily. The last time I saw this weather was in the run-up to the disastrous winters of 1976-79. My instincts tell me to expect the worst for this winter? Are they right?
huh. never been flummoxed. had my flabber gasted once, though. it was fun.
Congratulations to New Zealand for such quick success in cooling the atmosphere using ETS! If they continue to pay taxes like that for a few more years, the country may be used for a new collider. Superconducting magnets will be cooled by the environment. 😉
kadaka (KD Knoebel) says:
August 16, 2011 at 7:40 am
“All 50 US states broke heat records this summer.
Texas is bone dry.
Strong straight-line winds blow down that stage at the Indiana State Fair (five killed, dozens injured).”
Great post, Kadaka. I have been caught in those winds more than once, and each time I was jogging in Forest Park in St. Louis. Yeah, some trees were broken. These things happen.
Did no one expect that the dust bowl would return? These things happen.
All 50 states? No, way. I was in several of them. Anyway, it is a fictitious statistic, like something from Monday Night Football – “Miami is the only team undefeated in appearances on MNF.” Some place in Florida finally hit 100 on the Fourth of July and so Florida has a new record high – worthless statistic.