Severe weather

The following is also found HERE on the White House web site. I provide it here without comment because it speaks for itself. But if you want more, check out "Global warming action: good or bad for the poor?" by John Abraham, and "Keeping The Carbon In The Ground Elsewhere: Developing Nations" by me. Drought and Global Climate Change: An Analysis of Statements by Roger Pielke Jr John P. Holdren, 28 February 2014 Introduction In the question and answer period following my February 25 testimony on the Administration’s Climate Action Plan before the Oversight Subcommittee of the U.S. Senate’…
If water had its way, this is what California would look like: Think about it for a second. Every single moment, currents of air move, slowly or rapidly, across every land surface on the planet. Anything loose gets blown slowly or rapidly, to lower places. Every now and then, in some places rarely and in other places commonly, liquid water falls from the sky on almost every land surface on the planet. Now and then, in certain limited areas, frozen water builds up to great heights, thousands of feet hight, and moves along, scraping deep hollows and grooves the size of big lakes out of…
The famous Polar Vortex has come and gone in North America. Then, it came back. What a jerk. As I write this the outside temperature is 13 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, and tomorrow morning’s Bus Stop Temperature promises to be about –25F windchill here in central Minnesota. Meanwhile my Twitter stream is polluted with climate science denialist tweets pointing out that it is too cold outside to believe in global warming, even though the entire land area of the United States, where this cold is being experienced as a cultural and physical phenomenon, is about one and half percent of the…
I first interviewed Dr. Alun Hubbard on the edge of the Watson River in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland last summer. His vivid language and lucid storytelling made that video on of the most popular in the Yale Series. (see below) Both Dr. Hubbard, and my Dark Snow Project cohort, Sara Penrhyn Jones, live in the tiny village of Aberystwyth, on the coast of Wales, and teach at the local university. I skyped with Alun a week or so ago in the midst of the storms hammering the area. Shortly after that he wrote me to explain that his roof had just blown off in hurricane force winds.... Read the rest HERE…
Paul Douglas send me this photo: "Check out the piles of melting slush in the foreground; looks like half a foot (?) of dirty snow in that one clump. This takes weather whiplash to a new (and ridiculously jaw-dropping) level. Photo courtesy of Dana Cottingham Fricke, from Concord, Illinois." The biggest loss of containers from a container ship (that didn't just plain sink) happened a few days ago as the Svendborg Maersk was battered with hurricane like conditions including Waves Of Unusual Size generated in the Global Warming Enhanced megastorm, while at the same time tornadoes, some…
Mother Jone's Climate Desk has an excellent and important interview with Jennifer Francis and Kevin Trenberth. I can't really comment on it now due to lack of time but I think it is time for me to update my AA->QR->WW linkage post based on this discussion. I'll also bring this into my next talk on Climate Change, possibly in Plymouth sometime during the next couple of months (still being arranged). Anyway, CLICK HERE to get the blog post by Chris Mooney which includes the stream of the Inquiring Minds Podcast. Also, thanks to Chris for asking the question I suggested. Very…
I have some information on an interesting event coming up in Union, Missouri, in case you happen to be in the neighborhood: “Climate Disruption in Missouri: Consequences and Solutions” Date/Time: April 17, 2014 from 7pm to 9pm Location: East Central College, Union, MO Format: 60 to 75 minutes of presentations and 45 to 60 minutes of open forum discussion Audience: Expected to be between 100 and 150 Synopsis: Missouri business leaders, educators and environmentalists discuss dangers and opportunities related to human-caused climate change in Missouri. Climate change is disrupting the…
Last night I attended a talk by meteorologist Paul Douglas, at the Eden Prairie High School. The talk was “Weird Weather: Minnesota’s New Normal? Our Changing Climate and What We Can Do About It,” and it was sponsored by Environment Minnesota, Cool Planet, and the Citizens Climate Lobby. I didn’t count the number of people in the audience but it was well attended (over 100, for sure). Extra chairs had to be brought in. You probably know of Paul Douglas either because of his own fame or because I often link to (or facebook-post) his blogs at Weather Nation or the Star Tribune, and I…
First, let me note that if you are not a regular reader of Peter Sinclair's "Climate Denial Crock of the Week" you should be. Peter's latest video is "Abrupt Climate Change, and the Expected Unexpected" Senior Scientists discuss the potential for sudden disruptions of human and natural systems as a consequence of climate change.
Links to sites/commentary/lists for extreme weather events. Articles or blog posts listing events Top 10 Global Weather Events of 2011 2012 Extreme Weather Sets Records, Fits Climate Change Forecasts 2012 Infographic on severe weather events Heat, Flood, Cold in 2012 Weather extremes: freak conditions from around the globe for 2013 2013’s Most Terrifying Weather Disasters 2013 NOAA report on Billion Dollar Disasters (overview) and the report as a PDF file is here Timelines, official lists, maps, etc. State of the Climate: Extreme Events Severe weather information centre NOAA list of daily…
For the first time in weeks we are experiencing warm weather in central Minnesota (it is now 21 degrees F) with a bit of snow off and on. But elsewhere there are interesting things happening. First, in far northern California and the Pacific Northwest there will be rain. A LOT of rain. That's great because it will help a little with the drought. But, it will also probably cause some severe flooding. Also, everywhere on the east coast from Atlanta up to New England is experiencing some kind of bad. Snomageddonapocalypse. On fire. A friend of mine in the Raleigh-Durham area told me…
The drought in California is really bad. Bad enough that people are struggling to describe it. Douglas (below) suggests that this may be the biggest weather story of 2014, and the reason for that is food. They grow a lot of it in California, but those who developed this 21st Century breadbasket did so with too much hubris. Hubris about water, to be specific. It will be interesting to see if discussions about food prices turn into discussions about food availability, at least for certain kinds of food, as the non-growing season develops there. People often equate California with other…
From Paul Douglas at WeatherNation: Published on Jan 28, 2014 WeatherNationTV Chief Meteorologist Paul Douglas looks at the devastating winter storm impacting much of the Southeast. Multiple accidents have been caused by the treacherous conditions. Schools are closed through Wednesday across the affected areas. Multiple states have declared States of Emergency, including Georgia and Alabama. Stay safe!
Paul Douglas from Weather Nation on weather whiplash, the latest on the Polar Vortex, Sochi weather problems. And, the 30-30-30 rule, which is good to know. Published on Jan 24, 2014 "It seems like the weather, increasingly, is getting stuck." Meteorologist Paul Douglas explains this weather pattern that seems to be stuck in a rut. Swells, drought and a polar vortex! Learn how it is impacting everywhere from Hawaii/Alaska all the way to Europe. The Winter Olympics may feel more like the Summer Olympics!
Published on Jan 17, 2014 Meteorologist Paul Douglas looks at the most expensive weather disasters of 2013. Internationally we saw an all-time high for billion dollar weather events. While we're on the topic of weather:
Here's the thing: Shauna Theel has a video on the Polar Vortex vs. Rush Limbaugh: Published on Jan 9, 2014 Media Matters Climate & Energy Program Director Shauna Theel debunks Rush Limbaugh's conspiracy that the "polar vortex" was created by the media to lie to you about climate change. Peter Gleick previously posted this Google Ngram on the term "Polar Vortex" and al Roker tweeted about it as well: .@alroker @kaleekreider Here is the actual history of the use of term "polar vortex". I looked it up. pic.twitter.com/9ZtoDLawyD — Peter Gleick (@PeterGleick) January 8, 2014 Here's a…
Extreme weather events of all kinds seem to be more common now than they were then. By now I mean the last five to ten years, approximately, and by then I mean ... well, before that. This is because of global warming. The current Colding caused by a wandering Polar Vortex (which I've heard Rush Limbaugh has declared to be a liberal plot ... thanks Obama!) is probably a result of changes in the nature and configuration of the jet streams and related air masses, as discussed here. Warming caused by the release of fossil carbon, mainly as Carbon Dioxide, has affected the Arctic more than most…
If global warming is real, then why is it so cold? We are hearing this question quite often today and it will be asked many times by many people over the next few days as record low temperatures are set in many parts of the United States. Here in Minnesota, for example, we have a good chance of setting a record low daily high beating the previous record of 14 degrees below zero F. We may or may not beat the record daily low but we are going to get close. (Donald trump is probably the most famous person to have gotten this wrong over the last few days.) Global warming is real. The apparent…
Storms these days are universally enhanced by Global Warming, and right now we are having one of those Jet Stream Blocking thingies which is doing some amazing weather making. In Norway, Storm Ivar did a pretty good job of messing up these people's shopping plans: I assume they started out with arms full of gift wrapped packages ... Hat tip: Miss Cellania who always has funny stuff for you.
The best way to not look like an idiot is to shut up. Works every time. Why just a few minutes ago I said something really stupid because I confused UPS and USPS. Should have just kept my mouth shut, but I didn't. This time of year a lot of people start sounding like idiots, quite possibly because they are idiots (but see below for alternative explanations), when it comes to global warming. For example, someone who may or may not be a "global warming denier" (i.e. a person who does not believe in physics) sent me, out of the blue, this string of tweets: First he tells me that the ice…