It has been an exceptionally cool summer here in Music City. Highs in the 80s, lows in the 50s (was 57 Sunday morning, high 73, even with sun), but exceptionally hot in the northwest (right Phil?). I figure it must be a result of dysfunctional climate related to global warming (right Al?). On the otherhand it just might have something to do with the El Nino effect. Just a matter of your point of view I suppose. Anyhow, my electric bill for July was a mere $62 (July was near a record low for average temp). My August bill might be even less!
Cheers for global cooling!
Bad Bob
Strange weather
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Robin Sayler
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john elder
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Alan Baracco
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Just my 2 cents worth:
1. Don't confuse "weather" with 'climate".
2. There will definitely be winners and losers as climate change occurs. Grapes will grow somewhere (which is important to those who drink wine) but that very well might not be where they grow now!
3. The initial response to changes in climate, it seems to me, will be more pronounced than the "new norm". By that I mean, fires and floods will occur more often over the next time period (maybe years, decades or centuries), but as things stabilize they will become less aggressive (how often can one place burn or flood?).
4. Only our children or grandchildren will experience the brunt of it.
Alan Baracco
Biologist (Retired)
1. Don't confuse "weather" with 'climate".
2. There will definitely be winners and losers as climate change occurs. Grapes will grow somewhere (which is important to those who drink wine) but that very well might not be where they grow now!
3. The initial response to changes in climate, it seems to me, will be more pronounced than the "new norm". By that I mean, fires and floods will occur more often over the next time period (maybe years, decades or centuries), but as things stabilize they will become less aggressive (how often can one place burn or flood?).
4. Only our children or grandchildren will experience the brunt of it.
Alan Baracco
Biologist (Retired)
A few responses:
Deke: Sure, a few folks did stay in the water longer. Sea water in higher latitudes has indeed been warming faster than land areas (up to 10 degrees in some arctic waters vs 1 degree on land areas in the past century). So who would want to swim for more than 10 seconds in 50 degree water vs 40 degree water? A few years back I stuck my toe in the water on a beach on Prince Edward Island and figured those people out there swimming must be nuts!
Alan: As to the climate-weather bit, I know this summer's weather is a result of El Nino (I was hinting at that), but my point was that every time we have some oddball weather the global warming folks blame it on global warming. They are the ones confusing climate with weather, not me.
Jason: As to forest fires, just to clear the air (no pun intended) the total U.S. acreage burned in the 1930s was vastly greater than in recent years. Forest fires were left to burn out naturally then. The figures can be checked out on the USDA Forest Service web site. I have them in the unlikely case anyone wants them. Only after WWII and nature lovers like we guys all are started moving into fire-prone ares by the millions did we begin to fight wildifires.
Bad Bob
Skeptic (Retired)
Deke: Sure, a few folks did stay in the water longer. Sea water in higher latitudes has indeed been warming faster than land areas (up to 10 degrees in some arctic waters vs 1 degree on land areas in the past century). So who would want to swim for more than 10 seconds in 50 degree water vs 40 degree water? A few years back I stuck my toe in the water on a beach on Prince Edward Island and figured those people out there swimming must be nuts!
Alan: As to the climate-weather bit, I know this summer's weather is a result of El Nino (I was hinting at that), but my point was that every time we have some oddball weather the global warming folks blame it on global warming. They are the ones confusing climate with weather, not me.
Jason: As to forest fires, just to clear the air (no pun intended) the total U.S. acreage burned in the 1930s was vastly greater than in recent years. Forest fires were left to burn out naturally then. The figures can be checked out on the USDA Forest Service web site. I have them in the unlikely case anyone wants them. Only after WWII and nature lovers like we guys all are started moving into fire-prone ares by the millions did we begin to fight wildifires.
Bad Bob
Skeptic (Retired)
Like Bob, I just thought we were talking about the weather. This was a hot dry summer, last year was a cold wet summer. Who know what next year or even next month will be. I'm hoping for an early winter.
As for wildland fires, there's a reason they don't try to put out most fires here in AK. Years ago that was their strategy and they found it just left fuel for a super fire every 20 years or so. And there aren't as many people living in the bush as there used to be. Most of what burned was in the Tanana and minto flats, grass, moss, and scrawny black spruce will pop back in no time.
Consequently, one of the largest fires was started by an underground coal seem that likely has been smoldering for years or decades.
As for wildland fires, there's a reason they don't try to put out most fires here in AK. Years ago that was their strategy and they found it just left fuel for a super fire every 20 years or so. And there aren't as many people living in the bush as there used to be. Most of what burned was in the Tanana and minto flats, grass, moss, and scrawny black spruce will pop back in no time.
Consequently, one of the largest fires was started by an underground coal seem that likely has been smoldering for years or decades.
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john elder
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A couple comments:
Alan...if you lived around SD, you'd say that there isn't a 'final burnoff'...unless we concrete it all...two years after the Cedar fire, you couldn't tell anything burned, except for the bigger trees that got it...we have fuel to spare for another grand weenie roast!
BB...I think we often confuse the issue of Global Warming with the issue of the Cause(s) of Global warming. I don't think most of us, including you, would doubt for a minute that global warming is/has occurring/occurred...whether Man is the cause or just a popcorn fart in the wind remains to be determined (may never be determined)...but the other Great Truth (Inconvenient? hmmm) is that we have screwed up and continue to screw up on several fronts. Mainly, we need to do what Mom always told us and pick up after ourselves. I think that any campaign that raises awareness is a good thing, be it from your neighbor, Al or from Al Sharpton.
We just got back from our trek thru Yosemite...one of the most beautiful places on earth. We stopped for the view as we were leaving at a pull-off...I was just amazed that in this day and age, there were bottles and cans and paper strewn all over the place, with bear-proof trash bins nearby...what were they thinking? Well, they were probably thinking they were giving work to that college girl doing a summer job, scurrying around picking up the crap...and someone else had already dumped their ash tray...so what's ours going to hurt...has to be cleaned up anyway, right? So, what's to be gained if we clean up our act, when the Third World nations will continue to spew out pollution as they make products cheaper?...hmmmm, guess we might as well keep spewing too and get our share of that market, huh?!
Deke
Alan...if you lived around SD, you'd say that there isn't a 'final burnoff'...unless we concrete it all...two years after the Cedar fire, you couldn't tell anything burned, except for the bigger trees that got it...we have fuel to spare for another grand weenie roast!
BB...I think we often confuse the issue of Global Warming with the issue of the Cause(s) of Global warming. I don't think most of us, including you, would doubt for a minute that global warming is/has occurring/occurred...whether Man is the cause or just a popcorn fart in the wind remains to be determined (may never be determined)...but the other Great Truth (Inconvenient? hmmm) is that we have screwed up and continue to screw up on several fronts. Mainly, we need to do what Mom always told us and pick up after ourselves. I think that any campaign that raises awareness is a good thing, be it from your neighbor, Al or from Al Sharpton.
We just got back from our trek thru Yosemite...one of the most beautiful places on earth. We stopped for the view as we were leaving at a pull-off...I was just amazed that in this day and age, there were bottles and cans and paper strewn all over the place, with bear-proof trash bins nearby...what were they thinking? Well, they were probably thinking they were giving work to that college girl doing a summer job, scurrying around picking up the crap...and someone else had already dumped their ash tray...so what's ours going to hurt...has to be cleaned up anyway, right? So, what's to be gained if we clean up our act, when the Third World nations will continue to spew out pollution as they make products cheaper?...hmmmm, guess we might as well keep spewing too and get our share of that market, huh?!
Deke