Climate and Weather

According to Texas Education Expert! She knows because she looked at some web sites!!!!!!!!! Holy Crap!!!!
Educator alert: The best example of the Naturalistic Fallacy EVAH!!!! The money quote is.... "Carbon Dioxide is Natural. It is not harmful. It is part of earth's life cycle. And yet we are being told we have to reduce this natural substance, and reduce the american standard of living, to create an arbitrary reduction in something that is a naturally occurring in the Earth." Here it is... Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann: hat tip: dump bachmann
Monica sent me a link to a Faux News story on global warming, which makes the claim that global warming is not real because ice is expanding, and not contracting, in Antarctica. It also makes the claim that 90 percent of the earth's ice and 80 percent of the earth's fresh water is in Antarctica, which I assume is mentioned because it would make Antarctica seem more important than other parts of the world, and thus the "fact" that global warming is not happening there is proof of ... whatever. I'd like to clarify. To start with, let's get the fresh water thing straight. Most of the fresh…
Marc Morano does not think global warming is anything to worry about, and he brags about his confrontations with those who do. For example, Mr. Morano said he once spotted former Vice President Al Gore on an airplane returning from a climate conference in Bali. Mr. Gore was posing for photos with well-wishers, and Mr. Morano said he had asked if he, too, could have his picture taken with Mr. Gore. He refused, Mr. Morano said. "You attack me all the time," Mr. Gore said, according to Mr. Morano. "Yes, we do," Mr. Morano said he had replied. Mr. Gore's office said Mr. Gore had no memory of the…
This picture, from a current (as of this writing) accuweather forecast page, is an excellent illustration of what happens here in the upper Midwest the spring. The overall pattern of movement of air masses at the continental scale is west to east, with extra moist and extra warm air secondarily moving north from the Gulf of Mexico, and cool and usually dry air coming form the Northwest (not shown here but note the "blizzard" part) and with dry Pacific/Rocky Mountain air coming from the west. The main energy flow to keep an eye on is that coming from the Gulf. There is a rule of thumb you can…
There has always been Oxygen on the earth, but it was not floating around free in the atmosphere as it is today (most of it still isn't). Indeed, it is kind of strange that the earth is blanketed in a mixture of toxic, corrosive liquid (water) and equally corrosive gas (the oxygen in the atmosphere). Imagine showing up at a planet without an atmosphere or liquid water, and splashing the water and spraying the air from he earth all over that planet. Depending on the planet, it could be like throwing vinegar into a bowl of baking soda. Third grade science fair time! In fact, this could…
Spring is an ecological phenomenon of weather and biota linked to orbital geometry. More importantly, spring is here, as of this very moment, in Anoka County, Minnesota. The parts of Anoka County, Minnesota that are not built on consist of scrubland, prairie, and marsh. So there is a lot of grass. For the last several weeks it has been unseasonably cold. So the soil beneath the grass is frozen solid. This frozen-state is facilitated by the fact that we have not had much snow, which otherwise might have insulated the ground and kept it warmer. And, this lack of snow means that when we…
A "pre-existing condition" in the North Indian Ocean stoked the sudden intensification of last year's Tropical Cyclone Nargis just before its devastating landfall in Burma, according to a new NASA/university study. The cyclone became Burma's worst natural disaster ever and one of the deadliest cyclones of all time. Scientists at the National Taiwan University, Taipei; and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., used data from satellite altimeters, measurements of ocean depth and temperature and an ocean model to analyze the ocean conditions present at the time of the catastrophic…
This story: 10 tornadoes confirmed in Ga., including one with winds topping 160 mph Ten tornadoes, one packing winds of more than 160 mph, touched down in parts of Georgia on Wednesday, the National Weather Service said Friday. The storms caused an estimated $25 million in insured losses, said John W. Oxendine, the state's insurance commissioner. "I spent some time surveying damage and talking to residents in Jasper, Putnam and Hancock Counties" on Friday, Oxendine said in statement. "I believe claims will easily reach $25 million. Actual losses are much higher when you consider things like…
This is the seventh in a series of reposts from gregladen.com on global warming. This installment is about sea level rise and fall, in the past. Sea level change that results from the formation and melting of glaciers not only has an enormous impact on the physical nature of the landscape, but it also would not have gone unnoticed by people living ever pretty far from the sea! With large amounts of the world's water trapped in glaciers (mainly continental glaciers), the sea level drops. When that ice melts, the sea level rises. As you know, the earth is covered by two kinds of surface:…
This is the fifth in a series of reposts from gregladen.com on global warming. During the 1970s and 80s, creationists had a long list of reasons to doubt evolution, and every one of those reasons was wrong. But they had so many reasons, and it was so hard to keep track of them all, each with various versions, that a creationist that was trying to not live a lie could convince themselves that they had an honest dispute with evolutionary biology. But if you sat down and looked at every detail, "creation science" could be shown to be nothing more than a big bag of falsehoods. So to continue…
This is the fourth in a series of reposts from gregladen.com on global warming. "Climate Studies" is a "causal" science. Most sciences are "causal" in nature, which is why the sciences and scientists are often loathed and distrusted by people in the humanities and some of the soft sciences. There is not the time or space right now to address this issue, but I'll just say this: People who criticize science for its interest in causality usually do not understand what scientists are talking about. I think this is partly because people in the humanities and social sciences have gone gaga…
This is the third in a series of reposts from gregladen.com on global warming. Why It Matters What you Burn and When you Burn It Carbon Dioxide is a deadly poison. It is about 50% heavier than air, so where it occurs in density, in mines or certain natural vents associated with volcanics, it can accumulate in low spots. There are places in the Western Rift Valley where puddles of Carbon Dioxide form overnight while the air is still. These gas puddles can occur over puddles of water. When animals (such as antelopes) put their head down to the water to drink, they take a few whiffs of the…
This is the second in a series of reposts from gregladen.com on global warming. Why Greenhouses have nothing to do with the Greenhouse Effect, and more importantly, why CAN'T I microwave toast? A greenhouse is a glass house that is sealed to keep air in and insulated to keep heat in but at the same time allow sunlight in. This sunlight contributes to the heat in the greenhouse by warming the ground or other material in the greenhouse, and of course the light energy is used by the plants. But the point of a greenhouse is to keep air that is warmed, by the sun and/or heaters that may be…
One of the most interesting and exciting stories in science is that of the Younger Dryas. The Younger Dryas was a climate event that had important effects on human history, and that has been reasonably linked to some of our most important cultural changes, and ultimately some evolutionary changes as well. That is one reason why it is interesting. In addition, the Younger Dryas was a pretty big deal ... a climate change or something like a climate change that caused massive changes all around the earth, and fairly recently. But the cause of the Younger Dryas is at present unknown, although…
The largest waves in the Pacific Northwest are getting higher by seven centimeters a year, posing an increasing threat to property close to the shore. And the strange part is: Scientists aren't sure why. ... "Over a decadal scale, the increases in wave height ... have significant impacts on both erosion hazards and coastal flooding hazards and those currently exceed the influences of sea level rise," said Peter Ruggiero, "And they probably will over the next decade or two unless something drastic happens." Details at wired.
.... About to hit the south coast of Cuba with possibly a 20 foot storm surge. .... Tied for the second strongest hurricane evah in the Atlantic in November. .... Currently a Category Three FOUR! storm. .... Going to fall apart totally after it moves into the Atlantic, having had its way with Cuba Here's the current advisory, in all caps, like they do it at the HPC: ...OUTER RAIN BANDS OF EXTREMELY DANGEROUS PALOMA AFFECTING CUBA... A HURRICANE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE CUBAN PROVINCES OF CIEGO DE AVILA...CAMAGUEY...LAS TUNAS...GRANMA AND HOLGUIN. PREPARATIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND…
This is a photograph from the vicinity of Galveston Texas. These fish were stranded in this fence after Hurricane Ike's storm surge receded. This photo is one of a dozen or so I received that are allegedly being used in FEMA disaster training, and that may be true. But I think these are also circulating in connection with an internet meme claiming that a media blackout in Galveston ordered by George Bush. According to this meme, or urban myth if you like, about 15,000 people died in a particular area of the city and this is being hidden from us. I think this meme may have originated in…
But Nova Scotia will take it in the neck, so to speak. Kyle has made a pretty hard right turn and is going to make landfall in Nova Scotia. This changes the landfall estimate by many hours, because of the complex shape of the New England/Maritime coast. Indeed, Kyle is essentially already there, with the windiest conditions expected to occur over the next several hours in SW Nova Scotia. Here's the relevant part of the official forecast: A HURRICANE WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THE COUNTIES OF DIGBY... YARMOUTH...AND SHELBURNE IN SOUTHWESTERN NOVA SCOTIA CANADA. A TROPICAL STORM WARNING…