CEI is taking John Holdren to task over his “polar vortex” video.
In a post today at globalwarming.org we have this:
DC’s cherry trees hit their official peak blossom date last Thursday, April 10th. That’s the latest in the year that the Capital has experienced peak blossoming in over two decades. (For you botanical historians, the last time that peak blossoming occurred this late or later was in 1993, when the event fell on April 11.)
In 2013 the blossoms were almost as late, hitting their peak on April 9. That was a pretty dramatic change from 2012, when the date fell on March 20. This change was most disconcerting to two groups: tourists trying to plan their trips to DC in advance, and global warming alarmists who trumpeted every earlier-than-expected cherry blossom as yet further proof of global warming. In fact, in a sizzling multi-part blog post series last year, followed by dozens of readers, we charted peak blossom dates against global warming data. We even had graphs. (See Adam Sandberg, Peak Bloom Is Here – DC’s Global Warming Canary Lands with Frost on its Feet, April 15, 2013.)
White House Science adviser John Holdren made some ridiculous and baseless claims about the “polar vortex” being tied to climate change in a hastily produced “never let a good crisis go to waste” style video on YouTube. Readers may recall our January 8th WUWT story:
The White House gets into the ‘polar vortex’ climate change blame business
So as the post at globalwarming.org posits:
We suspect that Holdren’s agency, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), may now have a second video in the works in this Blame-Everything-On-Global-Warming series. Perhaps they’ll call it Delayed Peak Blossoming Explained in 2 Minutes.
I get word from our friends at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) that they are taking the claims made by Holdren in that January video to task. CEI is targeting two claims made in WH videos and blog posts:
“A growing body of evidence suggests that the kind of
extreme cold being experienced by much of the United States as we speak is a pattern that we can expect to see with increasing frequency as global warming continues.”
We also seek to correct a January 8th OSTP blog post by OSTP Senior Communications Advisor and Web Editor Becky Fried that features the above Polar Vortex Explained video.
We request a correction of its claim that “we also know that this week’s cold spell is of a type there’s reason to believe may become more frequent in a world that’s getting warmer, on average, because of greenhouse-gas pollution.”
Despite the widespread criticism that this claim has received, the video and a related claim are still up on OSTP’s website. The CEI petition uses OSTP’s own regulations (and the Information Quality Act) to request that this misinformation be corrected.
The late onset of cherry blossoms in DC made CEI wonder whether Holdren would soon be releasing a video attributing that to global warming as well.
CEI has a short blog post on this at http://www.globalwarming.org/2014/04/14/will-cherry-blossoms-get-sucked-into-the-polar-vortex/
The blog post links to the OSTP correction request, which can also be found at:
We expect OSTP to shortly post the request on its website.
Just a reminder, we’ve experienced all this before:
In 1977, a nearly identical pattern set up with warmth in Alaska, drought in California, and cold in Florida. Arctic sea ice was near a peak at the time. (h/t Steve Goddard)
And then there’s the winter of 1963, the most “savage winter of the century” according to Life Magazine on February 8th, 1963:
And this illustration is from that Life Magazine article on page 33. Gee, that pattern looks familiar.
Source: http://books.google.com/books?id=o0EEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA31-IA2&vq=jet%20stream&pg=PA31-IA2#v=snippet&q=jet%20stream&f=false
Those who do not study weather history are condemned to bloviate it as yet another effect of “global warming”.
We must act now!
Gosh, yes! (Now where did I put my little hatchet?)
This is my last comment for today on this thread.
Warmists cherry pick to death and it is ironic that they used to pick the cherry blossom bloom dates to prove their weak case. I too can cherry pick cold events to ‘disprove’ their hypothesis. Yet they correctly USED TO tell me that the weather is not the same as the climate – UNLESS it backs their case. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see through this scam.
And I have no Koch brothers’ funding. (not sure why you mention it)
16 April: CBS: John Dodge: It’s Mid-April And Coast Guard Is Still Battling Thick Great Lakes Ice
Almost one month into spring, and the U.S. Coast Guard is still breaking up ice around the Great Lakes.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, more than 64 percent of Lake Superior was covered in ice as of Wednesday. Lake Michigan was 21 percent covered, Lake Huron was 31 percent covered, Lake Erie was 14 percent covered, and Lake Ontario was 2 percent covered. The entire Great Lakes system was 37 percent covered in ice…
The ice was preventing the delivery of coal to the area, needed to power local mining operations…
Ice in Marquette harbor was reported to be up to 24 inches thick.
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2014/04/16/its-mid-april-and-coast-guard-is-still-battling-thickc-great-lakes-ice/
Jimbo says:
April 17, 2014 at 5:11 pm
“This is my last comment for today on this thread.”…..
==================
Never announce your plans, the Gods take notice.
stop the presses (or whatever is stopped in the digital age):
17 April: North-West Indiana Times: Deborah Laverty: Students hear two sides of global warming debate
VALPARAISO | Hebron High School junior Kasie Sass said Thursday’s World Affairs Conference held at Ivy Tech Community College was the first time she had heard both sides of the heated global warming issue.
“It was pretty interesting and I definitely heard a different perspective. I am so used to hearing all the propaganda from the other side,” Sass said.
Chesterton High School junior Alyssa Bowker agreed.
“I learned a lot of facts that I’d never been told,” she said.
Sass and Bowker were among about 150 area students who took part in the Rotary District 6540 sponsored conference to discuss the Storm Over Climate Change.
The two keynote speakers, Steve Goreham and Jorge Ortiz, gave opposing sides of the issue at a gathering of other students in Manchester University in North Manchester…
Goreham, a policy adviser to the conservative Chicago-based the Heartland Institute, said those who believe in the claims of looming global warming are all wet.
Even on the heels of what he termed a “good old-fashioned northern winter,” some people are still saying the snow is disappearing and will stop unless global warming is stopped, Goreham said…
Ortiz, regional director for U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., spoke on the senator’s behalf.
In his speech, Ortiz provided definition of climate change and updates on how it is being handled in this country and throughout the world.
Ortiz said the Environmental Protection Agency defines climate change as temperature changes that have increased by 1.4 degrees.
***”More and more agree that the temperature is rising but there is no consensus on why,” Ortiz said.
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/valparaiso/students-hear-two-sides-of-global-warming-debate/article_733b8659-e1c5-54bb-86fc-ab65630e99c5.html
A climate scientist and a Co2 molecule walk into a bar,…….
Barkeep says, what’ll it be?
Climate scientist says “vodka… on the rocks”.
When the scientist turns to his drink, he sees no ice cubes. “Hey, I said I wanted it on ice!” The barkeep says he did so.
The CO2 molecule says, “Sorry, my fault”.
Tom Trevor says:
April 17, 2014 at 1:55 pm
Isn’t it a subjective decision as to when peak blossoms has occured. Maybe we should check the bias of whomever made that decision.
See the text here: “The Peak Bloom Date and Blooming Period”
http://www.nps.gov/cherry/cherry-blossom-bloom.htm
Wait for daylight, Web Cam here:
http://www.earthcam.com/usa/dc/cherryblossoms/
63 and 77 were weather. This is climate! /sarc
I have a cherry tree in my yard here in Ohio. I have a photo from March 20, 2010 that shows the tree in full bloom. This year we are still waiting to see the first flower appear. It may happen this weekend, a full month later than the 2010 blossoming.
Fear sells. Normal doesn’t. Any questions?
Fortunately most Americans are smart enough to recognize the idiotic “Global warming causes cold winters” as an excuse. Many remember vividly the claims that “your grand children would not know what snow is” from the climate change priests.
The IPS story says it all. Why are people voting on Obama and democrats?
westcoasttiger says:
A climate scientist and a Co2 molecule walk into a bar,…….
One molecule of CO2 and three ice cubes. Such a ratio?
WestCoastTiger
CO2 molecule says, “Sorry, must be my fault”.
When the US had the polar vortex in winter 1963 we in the UK had our worse winter of any since 1947 in terms of ice, snow and cold. This winter when the US had the polar vortex we had a relatively warm and extremely wet winter. If the “highly sophisticated” medium range weather forecasting we have today was available in 1962 would it have predicted the US and UK winters correctly then and now? I think not.
Will medium range weather forecasting ever become good enough to make a useful distinction in the 2 scenarios of 1963 and 2014 in the UK? I also think not.
Steve in Seattle on April 17, 2014 at 11:26 pm
WestCoastTiger
CO2 molecule says, “Sorry, must be my fault”.
Of course, you’re correct… correlation therefore causation. Oh, and Steve… you need to pick up the tab.
DrTorch says:
April 17, 2014 at 12:33 pm
Question regarding plotting these dates based on calendar.
Since our calendar doesn’t match perfectly w/ respect to the Earth’s orbit of the sun, the seasons change at different dates. Specifically, the first day of spring officially a day later than a few decades ago
No – that was why Julius Caesar invented leap years (and Pope Gregory refined the system in 1582). The beginning of spring is always within the same (roughly) 18-hour period