![lice-00[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/lice-001.gif)
Submitted by Eric Worrall
George Leshkevich, a NOAA expert on Great Lakes ice, suggested in an interview that he wouldn’t be surprised if there was ice on Lake Superior in June.
While satellite images show more ice broken up and in smaller floes, there’s “a lot still on the lake,” Leshkevich said.
He said ice on the lake this year compares to 1979 in terms of coverage, with about 67 percent iced over on the comparable date of April 23.
He’s still running the numbers, but 2014 looks like “there’s going to be even more” lingering ice than in 1979. “This year is maybe a record-breaking year.”
The unusually high level of ice cover on the Great Lakes, no doubt caused by global warming, has been causing significant difficulties for local shipping.
h/t IceAgeNow – http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/content/will-lake-superior-still-have-ice-june
See more data on the WUWT Great Lakes Ice Page
so far, NYT not including the CC comments of Buffett & Munger at the AGM:
3 May: NYT: Berkshire Hathaway’s 2014 Shareholder Meeting
By MICHAEL J. DE LA MERCED:
12.36 P.M. Factoring in Climate Change: Mr. Sorkin asks about climate change and whether Berkshire will meaningfully move away from fuel sources like coal, which are used in the company’s energy plants and are hauled by its railroads.
Mr. Buffett says it is a given that Berkshire will expand its use of alternative fuels, but until state power regulators require the company to stop using coal in its power plants, for example, it will use fossil fuels as well.
Mr. Munger, known for being more conservative than Mr. Buffett counterpart, is a bit more dismissive about climate change and says some people tend to overestimate the kind of effect it can have.
Still, both agree that Berkshire will eventually step further away from fossil fuel. Just not any time soon.
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/05/03/live-blog-berkshire-hathaways-2014-shareholder-meeting/
SMH Australia has the quotes, but doesn’t indicate Buffett said the first & Munger the second “agnostic” quote – see WSJ Marketwatch link posted above:
4 May: SMH: Jonathan Shapiro: Warren Buffett disappointed with offshore success
Buffett and Munger on climate change
“I don’t think in making a decision on Berkshire and other companies that climate change should be a factor in the decision making.
“A lot of people are over-claiming that they know the impact. We are agnostic. It’s not there isn’t global warming because there is, but those that say they know its impact are talking out of their hats.”…
http://www.smh.com.au/business/world-business/warren-buffett-disappointed-with-offshore-success-20140504-37pqq.html
re Berkshire Hathaway AGM: should have made clear that andrew ross sorkin is a NYT writer, but he hasn’t put up an article on the AGM as yet.
In June 1876, 27 steamers were stuck in ice in Duluth harbor. http://zenithcity.com/zenith-city-history-archives/duluth-architecture/george-b-mary-sargent-house/
Does anyone know what the Gulf Stream is doing? That will definitely cool North America if it slows or is diverted, but in UK they are saying they have a pleasantly wet but warm spring, for them, which would be very cold in Australia. My old barometer tells me it is warming a bit today from yesterday. But the inside temps are 10 C (without heating).
My relatives in Calgary Alberta Canada told me Friday night that it was snowing and miserable. May 1! Unbelievable.
May 3, 2014 at 5:24 pm | Eric Worrall says:
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Aussie-dry sarcasm, Eric … they’ll get used to it 😉
Go here: http://earth.nullschool.net. Use your cursor to move the globe to the part you want to see. Then click on earth lower left. Chose 250 in the Height category; that’s the Jet Stream. Click earth to restore image.
If there is ice in June, it will not be anything new. At Isle Royale National Park, there has been ice in the rocky area on the north side of Scoville Point on the Fourth of July in years past. This (the Palisades) area does not get that much sun and is next to the colder lake water. Actual ice on the lake would be unusual though.
Village Idiot says:
May 3, 2014 at 9:35 am
Undercurrents of the NIMBY syndrome from the Villagers here. In My Back Yard its cold. Must be the same worldwide.
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Perhaps you could address the current positive global sea ice anomaly of over 900,000 Km2… that’s a good sized back yard for you.
Michael D Smith says:
May 3, 2014 at 8:22 pm
In June 1876, 27 steamers were stuck in ice in Duluth harbor. http://zenithcity.com/zenith-city-history-archives/duluth-architecture/george-b-mary-sargent-house/
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Thanks for the interesting link, which fosters some questions: How many effective steam- powered icebreakers were in use in Duluth harbor in 1876, which was in the time period considered to be “The Little Ice Age”? How may ships would have been stuck in Duluth Harbor in the past 10 yrs. if those same icebreakers were currently all that were available?
bushbunny
“Does anyone know what the Gulf Stream is doing?”
I don’t know about the Gulf Stream but, AMO or ATLANTIC MULTIDECADAL OSCILATION has been negative for 3 months now , confirming a cooling NORTH ATLANTIC ocean SST. If it continues, then there will be cooler weather ahead for EASTERN NORTH AMERICA and WESTERN EUROPE.To-date the impact has been felt mostly in eastern North America.
I don’t know if anyone else noticed but PDO has gone positive and AMO has gone negative for 3 months now, exactly opposite of what they were last year. . If this pattern continues for the next 12 months , we can expect a possible repeat of 1895-1915 or 1975-1995 type of weather pattern with a possible El NINO in the middle . This means more drought for the South west[ also PACIFIC NORTH WEST, MAINE , UPPER PLAINS states,and parts of SOUTHEAST states] unless the El Nino brings some rain when part of the jet stream splits in two as it sometime does and the lower or southern branch comes over the south west bringing more rain with it to the southern part of United States
Guess he must be new at his job and hasn’t looked at any previous years or perhaps he is new to the region….ice on Superior throughout the entire year is normal.
Here is NOAA Lake Superior Ice coverage records. All years show some ice.
Some years like from 88 through 94 show no melting.
http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/data/ice/imgs/sup.jpg
The Canadian ice records indicate mush different records, but so it goes…
To those of us who live on the Great Lakes, these kind of statements are laughable. Its like saying “OMG, its Spring and its raining!! We are all going to die”
Lake Superior is the coldest of the Great Lakes so ice may be expected on this lake longer than the others because of that reason alone.
About the statement that the reason for the ice is undoubtedly because of global warming: I am really beginning to believe that we could have glaciers in Miami, Florida in July and some of those “scientists” will figure out a way to blame man-made global warming for causing it. I really wonder if they even have a clue what they’re talking about.
Now, now, the “climate scientists” at the White House just got through saying January 2014 was the warmest on record. Shame on you skeptics for being skeptical of that! Where do you get off showing all those pictures of ice and snow in May? Couldn’t happen – snow and ice are things of the past! Must have photoshopped them! /sarc
But it is a warm and rotten ice…
/sarc
The North West Passage is a good indicator too. Why it is under territorial dispute right now.
Any ships going through it, are supposed to contact the Canadian government for permission.
Bob Diaz says:
I get the feeling that if we enter into another ice age, we’ll still be hearing about “Global Warming” is at fault.
I’ve seen programs on NGC that are already saying that global warming could cause another ice age. They’re already covering their bases on that.
empire sentry says:
May 4, 2014 at 10:30 am
The image you link to is titled “Annual Maximum Ice Cover” – it does not support your claim of ice throughout the entire year.