I’m truly sorry about the title, but nothing else really describes the ridiculousness of the pronouncement by the White House aide John Podesta over these two satellite images in a maddeningly idiotic story from the Washington Post.
![snowpack13[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/snowpack131.jpg?quality=83)
![snowpack14[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/snowpack141.jpg?quality=83)
In a Feb. 24 Oval Office meeting, two of President Obama’s top climate advisers presented these sharply-contrasting images of California’s snowpack on Jan. 13, 2013 (left) and a year later (right), as a way to underscore how global warming is changing conditions on the ground in the United States.
The satellite images viewed by President Obama before a meeting with eight Western governors were stark, showing how snowpack in California’s mountains had shrunk by 86 percent in a single year.
“It was a ‘Houston, we have a problem’ moment,” recalled White House counselor John D. Podesta, one of two aides who briefed the president that February day. Obama mentioned the images several times as he warned the governors that political leaders had no choice but to cope with global warming’s impact.
After years of putting other policy priorities first — and dismaying many liberal allies in the process — Obama is now getting into the weeds on climate change and considers it one of the key components of his legacy, according to aides and advisers.
Story here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/for-president-obama-a-renewed-focus-on-climate/2014/05/04/6b81412c-d144-11e3-9e25-188ebe1fa93b_story.html
Gasp! 86% change in a single year. More proof positive that ‘global warming’ is accelerating. /sarc
So tell me, oh geniuses, what will you show the President after the looming El Niño kicks in later this year, and California has a wetter than normal year during the winter of 2014/15 and the snow pack goes up to something like 146% of normal? What then? Blame that on global warming and call it another “Houston we have a problem” moment when we get flooding in California like in 1997/1998 after that big EL Niño changed the weather pattern in a single year to drench the state?
The lack of snowpack in 2014 is all about ENSO and resulting jet stream patterns, something well known for years.
![209479main_elnino1_080128_HI[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/209479main_elnino1_080128_hi1.jpg?quality=83)
Pattern shifts related to ENSO make California winters highly variable. For example, compare the snowpack change from 1880 to 1881 in the graph below from the Sierra Snow Lab and note some of the other low years highlighted in yellow.
Snowfall and snowpack data from the CSSL archive dating from 1878 to1945, and from 1952 to1957, were measured and supplied by the Southern Pacific Transportation Company. Snowpack and snowfall measurements were taken at Summit Station from 1878 through 1927, and at Norden from 1927 on. From 1879 to 1897, and 1901, the maximum snowpack depth was estimated. Current CSSL methodology mandates that new snow is measured twice a day, at 0800 and 1600 Pacific Standard Time. The depth of the new snow is probed with a rule at the four corners of a snow board. [The snow board is piece of plastic-covered plywood, .25m2 in area.] The four depths are recorded and averaged, the board is then cleaned off and replaced on the snowpack surface.
[Ref: Randall S. Osterhuber, Climatic Summary of Donner Summit, California, Central Sierra Snow Laboratory, October 1993]
Will these geniuses in the White House say global warming reached back through time to 1881 to cause this? How about 1977, was that “global warming” too? But let’s indulge them, let’s say it is ALL caused by ‘global warming’. What will they do about it? Tax it? Issue a presidential order? Make emitting CO2 a crime?
Like Nature cares what they think or do. Idiots.
| “Some people are weatherwise, but most people are otherwise.” — Benjamin Franklin |
These pictures are bogus. No question! I spend weeks each summer near the snow line in the Sierra Nevada doing geological field work, and I can promise you that anyone who claims a 80% decrease in snow pack is lying…not exaggerating, not fudging, Lying!
There has never been ( in the last 18 years of my study) more than perhaps a 40% difference in snow cover from year to year. While it is true that we are about half of the average this year that is a result of three less than Average years in succession .
It is hard to believe it is possible but this crew in Washington has even given politicians a bad name….
I would like to see a date stamp on those two photographs .
Doug D
elmer says:
May 5, 2014 at 6:13 am
Meanwhile the rest of the country had it’s worst winter in history.
——————————
Worst, best, average, ….least, most, the same,…. hotter, colder, just right. All perfectly consistent with CAGW.
We will always be at war with Eurasia.
/sarc
Jeff L
May 5, 2014 at 7:12 am
says:
‘Just noticed the same article ran in the Denver paper this morning.’
Yes, and there are strong indications, currently, that the Senate Democrat for Colorado may be vulnerable in November. A wet winter 2014/15 won’t make any difference after the midterms in November. What Podesta says now will have been forgotten by then.
Moreover, Obama’s executive pen strategy was largely authored by Podesta.
P.S. Check out the carbon footprint of John’s darling brother Tony; co-founder of their powerhouse lobbying firm.
Bruce Cobb says:
May 5, 2014 at 7:29 am
Houston, we have a problem: record Antarctic sea ice.
Must be global warming.
—————————————–
According to many adherents the reason for the record Antarctic Sea Ice Extent is that the Antarctic Ice cap is melting so fast it’s reducing the salinity of the surrounding Ocean making it freeze at higher temperatures. I kid you not.
wws
May 5, 2014 at 6:47 am
says:
‘Fortunately, no one cares about, or is paying attention to, this particular story except California voters…
==========================
They should care. This lies comes from the President, and he wants Calif policy on a national level.
David A: “Has anyone noticed that one photo appears to have more clouds in it, or is that snow on the pacific ocean off California?”
The picture on the left is noticeably lighter than the picture on the right. Lightening brings out both clouds and snow.
This is supa dupa cherry picking at its very finest. Since cherry picking season is well underway I would like to point them to the Great Lakes. Brrrrrrr.
Now that January picture over a one year period is called the weather. Since January is in winter here is North America’s snow extent since 1967, it’s been trending up. Spring extent has been trending down while Autumn / Fall has been trending up.
http://climate.rutgers.edu/snowcover/chart_seasonal.php?ui_set=namgnld&ui_season=1
http://climate.rutgers.edu/snowcover/chart_seasonal.php?ui_set=namgnld&ui_season=2
http://climate.rutgers.edu/snowcover/chart_seasonal.php?ui_set=namgnld&ui_season=4
The most distressing thing to me that there are many who believe what they say….the blind belief in “authorities ” prevails in many non-thinkers. They are easily led. I suspect remaining in power is such a strong drive it trumps intelligence.
I agree that the only difference between the parties is the spelling of their affiliations.
Doug D
Hm . Where I’m sitting right now has gone from verdant green to copper red.
Funny…it looks the same to me.
Here is a sure sign of global warming. Someone call the President ASAP! It’s much worse than we thought!
Maybe the advisors to the president should have show him Antarctica. More signs of global warming.
Earl Smith @ur momisugly 4:24 am
And now, to really get pedantic, the actual proper quote is, “Houston, we’ve had a problem here.”
Obama is now getting into the weed on climate change and considers it one of the key components of his legacy, according to aides and advisers.
1. Too much weed is bad for ONE.
2. What legacy? Weed it and weep?
“Make emitting CO2 a crime?”
You know if they do, they will write themselves an exemption. After all, they do it for the greater good and what emits more CO2 than a politician’s pie hole?
“[Obama] raised concerns with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye about their financing of coal-fired plants in the developing world, aides said.”
That’s not just stupid; it’s immoral. Even some on the loony left recognize this: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303380004579521791400395288?mg=reno64-wsj
Tom J, you are correct, I forget about Oregon. So does most of the rest of the country.
Steve Goddard reports.
‘But let’s indulge them, let’s say it is ALL caused by ‘global warming’. What will they do about it? Tax it? Issue a presidential order? Make emitting CO2 a crime?’
Yes. They will do that. One of John Podesta’s key strategies is bypassing Congress and using presidential executive orders. He is far more than an aid. He was brought in as a key strategist, both to salvage the fortunes of the Democratic Party in November, and for the furtherance of Obama’s ‘vision’ for us. Their aim is to change this society, and their strategy is to do so by way of the bureaucracy.
For those who don’t know the author of this thing:
http://junkscience.com/2013/03/04/victory-junkscience-forces-juliet-eilperin-out-of-wapo-environment-beat/
Thanks, A. But I must point out that asses may appear to us as slow-witted, while in reality they are not. This willful attempt at deception is criminal. Asses are not criminal.
But there is no denying that we have a problem, a big problem, and it is not for lack of ice.
Thanks; I had not seen that column.
It’s nother example of why ‘sustainability’ might be the dirtiest word in the English language: using the myth of “climate change” to deny cheap and abundant electricity to the peoples of the developing world and keep them mired in poverty.
/Mr Lynn
Alberto Zaragoza
May 5, 2014 at 8:42 am
says:
‘For those who don’t know the author of this thing:
http://junkscience.com/2013/03/04/victory-junkscience-forces-juliet-eilperin-out-of-wapo-environment-beat/‘
The Center for American Progress was founded by John Podesta. You’re going to see a lot more of these scaremongering stories as the months go by. They’re taking their gloves off for November.
Those damned trees. They move uphill, then down and now maybe up again. Grrrrrr.
Rain, rain go away. Please come back another day. Or is that snow?
The winter of 04-05 is the one I remember because I was building my house that winter way north San Diego County on the Riverside County line. Big time nasty. Check this out:
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2005/california-storms2005.html
There was a bridge in Temecula with huge culverts. It was just up the road from the Pechanga Casino. It washed out. TWICE. They rebuilt it and it washed out a second time a few weeks later.
California snow pack shrunk by a factor of 7 in a year? That’s nothing.
Great Lakes ice cover has increased by a factor of 19 in the same year! (Data for 30 Apr)
http://iceweb1.cis.ec.gc.ca/Prod20/page3.xhtml