Gordon Fulks writes in about this humorous headline showing how the media catastrophises even simple things like a pleasant weekend forecast:
Hello Everyone:
Just to provide a little balance to the story about snow and cold in the Pacific Northwest that I just sent around, here is a weather story out of Britain:
Source:http://uk.news.yahoo.com/uk-hot-sahara-weekend-111451996.html
One comment rewrote this headline as:
‘Sahara to be as cold as the UK this weekend’
20 degrees C is 68 degrees F.
WOW, it is spring somewhere! That’s good news.
Gordon J. Fulks, PhD
Got down to 23C in Proserpine (Northish Queensland,) last night, and it was raining… Sizzle away, UK! :-))
NOT so funny, read all:
24 March: Australian: Ean Higgins: Fighting on the beaches as council orders retreat from climate change ‘threat’
LIKE many working couples, Anne and Russell Secombe decided to find a place by the sea where they would eventually retire to live out the rest of their lives pursuing simple pleasures.
In the 1970s, the couple, now in their 80s, found it, a modest single-level brick house at 23 Illaroo Rd, Lake Cathie, a town on the NSW mid-north coast.
It’s simple bliss: Anne, a retired clerk, spends time keeping up her neat garden; Russell, a retired mechanic, angles on the beach for blackfish, flathead and bream. But yesterday the Secombes’ sense of hard-earned stability collapsed when they discovered they could be among the first victims in Australia to be dispossessed of their home. Not because of any existing environmental threat, but because the local council believes climate change could pose one by the end of the century.
In a move that struck incredulity, alarm and fear among locals, Port Macquarie Hastings Council put a study on the council website recommending that council enforce a “planned retreat” for the owners of the 17 houses on Illaroo Road. The area is one of 15 “hot spots” identified by the NSW government as being vulnerable to the effects of sea level rises due to climate change, as outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change…
Illaroo Road is about 7m above mean sea level, so there’s no danger of flooding…
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/fighting-on-the-beaches-as-council-orders-retreat-from-climate-change-threat/story-e6frg6nf-1226308725029
“.anybody know who pays the wages of UK weather forecasters (not just bbc) ?”
The Met Office is financed by the Ministry of Defence, could be an agency within the MoD.
I prefer the old (pre 1963) name for the MoD- the War Office.
Has a far more purposeful ring to it.
Bob Brown and others from his Greens Party are in the Australian Govt!
24 March: Hobart Mercury, Tasmania Australia: Bob sings up a party
THERE was rapturous applause and a fuzzy green glow at the Hobart Town Hall last night as Australian Greens leader Bob Brown took to the stage and sang for the planet.
Senator Brown’s The Earth Song was like a hymn of praise and hope amid a euphoric celebration of the Tasmanian Greens’ 40th birthday….
The Greens’ hero was met with a standing ovation when he delivered the 2012 Green Oration, which called for a single global and democratic parliament.
“Let us create a global democracy and parliament under the grand idea of one planet, one person, one vote, one value,” he said.
Senator Brown said he would call on the world’s 100 Greens parties to back his “earth parliament” at the third global Greens conference in Senegal next week…
http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2012/03/24/312341_tasmania-news.html
23 March: Business Spectator, Australia: Greens celebrate 40 years of survival
Senator Brown received a standing ovation before delivering the third green oration on the theme of global – and, at times, intergalactic – democracy, addressing the party faithful as “fellow earthians”.
“Surely we are not, in this crowded reality of countless other similar planets, the only thinking beings to have turned up,” he said. “Most unlikely.
“So why isn’t life out there contacting us?
“Maybe life has often evolved to intelligence on other planets with biospheres and every time that intelligence, when it became able to alter its environment, did so with catastrophic consequences.
“They have come and gone. And now it’s our turn.”
Senator Brown proposed that a global parliament should be formed with the question ‘Will people a hundred years from now thank us?’ inscribed above its door.
He said its goals should be economy, equality, ecology and eternity.
“Let us determine to bring ourselves together, settle our differences, and shape and realise our common dream for this joyride into the future,” he said.
“In that pursuit, let us create a global democracy and parliament under the grand idea of one planet, one person, one vote, one value.”
With 10 Greens sitting in federal parliament, 25 in state parliaments and more than 100 councillors around the country, the party is a far cry from the United Tasmania Group formed on March 23, 1972, after a confrontation with hydro workers.
The Greens received congratulatory messages from colleagues as far away as Mongolia, while Senator Milne announced Australian Nobel Prize-winning physicist Brian Schmidt as next year’s orator.
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Greens-celebrate-40-years-of-survival-SNDW5?OpenDocument&src=hp19
While that’s true, the Earth’s average temperature is generally agreed to be 15 degrees C or 59 degrees F.
Exceeding the “average” by 5 C or 9 F is news?
Maybe Mann was right–we’re now seeing unprecedented warming!
Last year at this time the high was only about 65, this year it is about 85. This is said to be higher than “normal”, which is about 75. Funny 65+85/2=75. The average is the “normal” but that doesn’t mean that most years the high is at exactly the normal.
The degree sign is very easy using a Mac [option + zero key]. Here are a few of the more useful keystroke operations:
Option 0 = º
Option 1 = ¡
Option 2 = ™
Option 3 = £
Option 4 = ¢
Option 5 = ∞
Option 6 = §
Option 8 = •
Option d = ∂
Option e = ´
Option g = ©
Option j = ∆
Option k = ˚
Option m = µ
Option o = ø
Option p = π
Option r = ®
Option t = †
Option x = ≈
Option z = Ω
ShiftOption 2 = €
ShiftOption 8 = °
ShiftOption ? = ¿
22 March: Fox, Phoenix: Climate Fund Seeks UN-Style Diplomatic Immunity
The Green Climate Fund, which is supposed to help mobilize as much as $100 billion a year to lower global greenhouse gases, is seeking a broad blanket of UN-style immunity that would shield its operations from any kind of legal process, including civil and criminal prosecution, in the countries where it operates.
There is just one problem: it is not part of the United Nations…
A 24-nation interim board of trustees for the Green Climate Fund (GCF) is slated to hold its first meeting next month in Switzerland to organize the fund’s secretariat and to get it running by November, as well as find a permanent home for the GCF’s operations…
But before it is fully operational, the GCF’s creators — 194 countries that belong to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) — want it to be immune from legal challenges and lawsuits, not to mention outside inspections, much like the United Nations itself cannot be affected by decisions rendered by a sovereign nation’s government or judicial system…
http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpps/news/climate-fund-seeks-un-style-diplomatic-immunity-dpgonc-km-20120322_18755189
21 C ?
Scorchio!
Well, th’ real problem is that if you get runaway global warming, you’ll hit the Planck temperature before too long. & you’ll wish you hadn’t.
Wow, thanks Smokey! Now I can write œnophile correctly. What fun!
BTW, all you lovely European people are welcome to keep our Canadian winter. London will not quite be as warm as Toronto has been these last few days. We reached nearly 26º C yesterday, with a ‘humidex’ reading of around 29º, while normally we’d be slipping through slush and scraping windshields, still decked in our attractive puffy winter coats. No-siree, yesterday it was sandals and short skirts at work. Whoo-hoo! But we need all the help we can get, with our ecoloon, œconimically imbecilic Premier still aggressively pushing a Green Energy plan.
Darn, why is it always that soon as one posts a carefully crafted comment, the mistakes in writing suddenly leap to the eye? Is there some equivalent of “Murphy’s Law” to describe this. OF course, I meant to write “economically”.
@ur momisugly Joseph Bastardi, you’ve provided a synopsis of the forecast weather patterns for Europe. Does this freakishly warm weather here in Central Canada promise to lead into a warmer than normal summer? Thanks!
Chuckles says:
March 23, 2012 at 2:37 pm
“I am amused that anyone thinks that 20-21 deg C is in any way ‘summery’. Although I suppose it could be a symptom the non-existent summers we’ve had for the past several years.”
The usual midsummer day in Britain is roughly the same as the usual midwinter day in central Florida. When the jets arriving at Disney World announce the temperature there is a robust “Oooohhh” from the passengers.
Practicing climate science in Britain is roughly comparable to growing Rice in Canada.
68-74 is my comfort zone. Just curious, though, are they comparing UK highs to Sahara highs or highs to lows?
Roger Wehage says:
March 23, 2012 at 4:51 pm
Here in the midwest these last few days we’ve had temperatures 20-30 °F hotter than Death Valley. I do believe that several days in a row of 80+ °F in the middle of March will set an all-time record for central Illinois.
====================
Yep, the plants and trees are about 1 month ahead of schedule.
Temperature seems to control growth, much more than sun angle.
With the thermal mass buffering of this house in Mesa Az the inside temps were 68 to 78F, with the outside being 50 to 88F, with no heat or ac use, just two ceiling fans on slow, and a box fan running on medium in the sun room/ orchid tables. They are loving it!
— TREASURY OF DEATHLESS QUOTES —
“There are no American infidels in Baghdad. Never!”
“My feelings – as usual – we will slaughter them all”
“Our initial assessment is that they will all die”
“I blame Al-Jazeera – they are marketing for the Americans!”
“God will roast their stomachs in hell at the hands of Iraqis.”
“They’re coming to surrender or be burned in their tanks.”
“No I am not scared, and neither should you be!”
“Be assured. Baghdad is safe, protected”
“Who are in control, they are not in control of anything – they don’t even control themselves!”
“We are not afraid of the Americans. Allah has condemned them. They are stupid. They are stupid” (dramatic pause) “and they are condemned.”
“The Americans, they always depend on a method what I call … stupid, silly. All I ask is check yourself. Do not in fact repeat their lies.”
“I can say, and I am responsible for what I am saying, that they have
started to commit suicide under the walls of Baghdad. We
will encourage them to commit more suicides quickly.”
“I can assure you that those villains will recognize, will discover in appropriate time in the future how stupid they are and how they are pretending things which have never taken place.”
“We have destroyed 2 tanks, fighter planes, 2 helicopters and their shovels – We have driven them back.”
“The authority of the civil defense … issued a warning to the civilian population not to pick up any of those pencils because they are booby traps,” he said, adding that the British and American forces were “immoral mercenaries” and “war criminals” for such behavior.
“I am not talking about the American people and the British people,” he said. “I am talking about those mercenaries. … They have started throwing those pencils, but they are not pencils, they are booby traps to kill the children.”
“We have them surrounded in their tanks”
“The American press is all about lies! All they tell is lies, lies and more lies!”
“I have detailed information about the situation…which completely proves that what they allege are illusions . . . They lie every day.”
“Lying is forbidden in Iraq. President Saddam Hussein will tolerate nothing but truthfulness as he is …BOOM…last line, sorry..move along folks. Baghdad Bob is NO MORE!
21 degrees celsius, isn’t that an optimum air-conditioning level ?
it’s 27 in my room – I’ve had the heater on, a bit cooler in the kitchen, and around 21 outwith the building, near adelaide airport.
slightly off topic but I had the good fortune of swimming with ‘ye ancient amphibious society’ (or similar), at Broughty Ferry, scotland. 12 degrees was an acceptable (swimmable) summer day, with the water around 10 degrees. funny how a few minutes later the water felt warm. amazing what you get used to. our training pool is set at 26 degrees, warm enough to work up a sweat.
I recall stories of heatwaves in the UK during the 1960’s that killed people at the catastrophic temperature of 70 farenheit
further off topic, but it was nice to see the girls ripping strips off sherri quammen. cdbdi’s?
also nice to see the cagw labour government in queensland, notorious for it’s corruption , social and economic damage, being slaughtered in the state election.
Well, according to Accuweather it will be 79F in Sabha, Libya, while here in London it will be 66F – at the moment my thermometer is reading a balmy 47F. The Ministry of Disinformation seems to be at it again.
(Mod: I’m having trouble with WordPress logon system and lost my previous version of the post, hence having to use a new handle Tenuk, instead of old one Tenuc.)
Who would have thought that there are such similarities between scorching Sarah conditions and UK Springtime.
So far it’s been a cold misty morning with temps around 8C
Anthony you should do a follow up on this prediction!
23 March: TomNelson: From the Skeptical Science “leak”: Interesting stuff about generating and marketing “The Consensus Project”
To achieve this goal, we mustn’t fall into the trap of spending too much time on analysis and too little time on promotion. As we do the analysis, would be good to have the marketing plan percolating along as well. So a few ideas floating around:
•Press releases: Talked to Ove about this yesterday, the Global Change Institute have a communications dept (well, two people) and will issue press releases to Australian media when this comes out. No plan yet for US media…
•Google: Coincidentally, started talking to someone who works at Google, specifically the data visualisation department. So I’ve been working with them on visualising the consensus data in sexy, interactive ways. This will be one of the X-factor elements of TCP – maybe they can even provide an embeddable version of the visualisation which blogs and websites can use…
http://tomnelson.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/from-skeptical-science-interesting.html
A few years ago a reporter in a hot Toronto apartment hallway said that it was boiling. Now I know that boiling is 100⁰C and the temperature in the hallway was 45⁰C, so it would more accurately be described as freezing than boiling as 0⁰C is closer to 45 than 100 is. The title of this post reminded me of this thought 🙂
After seeing photos of my grand children out in a boat in long sleeves and jackets today in Abu Dhabi, I happened to look up their weather on Weather Underground. Chance of rain 40% tomorrow, although that has since changed back to zero, temperature a mere 70° F . Funny, here in Western Colorado it was also exactly 70 °! (Vastly different times of day and humidity however.)
They have complained lately of weather too cold for the beach and the rooftop pool. Unheard of cold temps!
It is evident that the UK is absolutely resistant to climate disruption: the chicks wear flip flops, miniskirts and show off their bum-cracks and bellies in winter times just the same as in summer times; and they wear UGG boots, whether it is +30C or -30C — Because English chicks are always ‘hot’, no matter what, you know 😉