October 03, 2007
Global Warming Update (XXXIX)

Today's weather report: "Early season snow advisories issued for Washington Cascades"

Feel a bit chilly for early October? The National Weather Service forecast may make you shiver even more.

Snow is expected over the Cascade Range from central Oregon to the Canadian border by Wednesday night.

That's more than a month earlier than last year's "first major snowfall" in the Cascades, which arrived on November 10.

Al Gore is hundreds of miles to the south in Albuquerque tonight, so there must be some other explanation for the early snowfall.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at October 03, 2007 11:58 AM | Email This
Comments
1. In the words of DM..........

It's WARMING folks, were all going to die.

Wow can't wait to ski. I have a nice fuel sucking 4X4 to get me there.

Posted by: Army Medic/Vet on October 3, 2007 12:02 PM
2. Snow? Seriously? Crap! Don't want to drive east this weekend now.

Posted by: Peggy U on October 3, 2007 12:13 PM
3. Today's record high temperature is 80 degrees. Set in 1993.

Now, I'm no math major or some high-fallutin climatologist with a political agenda to push, but 80 degrees appears to be warmer than snow-producing weather. And it appears that warmer weather happened in the past.

Posted by: jimg on October 3, 2007 12:23 PM
4. We should pass a global warming tax to stop this!!!!

Posted by: Andy on October 3, 2007 12:33 PM
5. To protest, I am burning my snow tires.

Posted by: steve miller on October 3, 2007 12:38 PM
6. Al Gore: We're all gonna die!!!!!*


*But, before you go, if you are a high ranking event coordinator for your organization, consider paying Al Gore thousands of dollars to come to your event and tell you that we're all gonna die, in person. Note, there are lavish extras and other travel and expense perks to be paid for an audition with the messiah. See the backstage event rider for more details.

Posted by: Jeff B. on October 3, 2007 12:47 PM
7. Last year on October 13th we got a 25 inch snow storm while the leaves were still on the trees and the ripped down tree limbs left Buffalo without power for a week. This coming weekend will have highs in the 80's. This reflects the difference between weather and climate. If we can take the extremes of weather, we can probably get by with the very minor changes in climate we will have if any in the foreseeable future.

Posted by: KW64 on October 3, 2007 12:50 PM
8. We gotta stop this global warming thing and save our planet, cuz if we don't all of the chocolate will disappear. That would be down right catastrophic.

/sarcasm off now

Posted by: kim in vancouver on October 3, 2007 12:56 PM
9. Seattle temperatures in August were about 1 degree below average. In September the temeratures were 2.2 degrees below average. So far in October, our daily highs are running 8 to 10 degrees below average.

This is a good opportunity for a liberal politician to start screaming about global cooling, and the need for government to step in and take action.

Posted by: moondoggie on October 3, 2007 01:07 PM
10. That's just a little white dust. Hardly anything to get excited about, except if your religion says it is not supposed to snow for the next several years.

Posted by: swatter on October 3, 2007 01:29 PM
11. The only white dust the greenie weenies and Gore care about is what goes up the nose.

Posted by: Burdabee on October 3, 2007 01:49 PM
12. Ten minutes ago it was sunny outside my window. Now it's raining. By Stefan's short-term inanity, at this rate, by nightfall Seattle will be flooded.

Posted by: Bruce on October 3, 2007 03:14 PM
13. Bruce,

Based on your longterm inanity, we will all be broke and chewing on roots in earthen domes. Unless of course the carbon credit schemes work and dumping iron dust into the ocean saves us all....

I don't suppose you wear sandals and socks?

And based on that wonderful GMA, there is a good chance Seattle will flood. Not to mention $600k to rebrand King County and we can't keep the gutters clean and free of debris to assist in run-off.

Posted by: Chris on October 3, 2007 03:30 PM
14. Bruce,
If you can understand your own argument at #12, why do you insist on believing the predictors of doom when all of their "evidence" is based on temperature data taken for the briefest of periods, when compared against time periods that make a difference, both geologically and climatologically? Why do you believe a "temperature anomaly" exists, by definition, if the measured temperature is greater or lesser than the average temperature over just 50 years?

Th other day I read the Congressional Report on the environment and global warming, and the entire document can be summed as follows:

1) There are only three factors driving heat in the atmosphere: the sun, reflection, and greenhouse gases.

2) The computer models cannot produce the measured amount of warming with solar and reflective effects alone, so the warming must be caused by greenhouse gasses.

3) There is no evidence that increased levels of greenhouse gas is caused by any natural phenomena, so it must be caused by human activity.

That's it. Nothing more. Nothing more sophisticated than high school level logic. No experimental results. No allowance for climatic cycles poorly understood by scientists. No allowance for variations in extra solar radiation, the effects of solar magnetic fields, the earth's internal heat sources, vulcanism, plate tectonics, or even the quite likely scenario that global heating itself naturally causes levels of CO2 in the atmosphere to increase. No proof of causation, just inference from simplified computer modeling. Why do you find this so convincing?

Posted by: srogers on October 3, 2007 03:50 PM
15. I doubt that you could call Stefan's observation "short term inanity" with a straight face.

I think the religion of Global Warming is the cat's meow for the next 1000 years because that is the time frame most experts give the zealots before their current predictions will or won't be disproven.

Stefan is ridiculing Mr. Nobel hisself, Alvin Gore, when he asserted that rivers would rise, waterfront will become flooded, etc. etc. in what- 15 years? And Stefan's proof is an early snow when we aren't supposed to have snow if there is a GW cycle? Your inane comment about rain during the season we get rain and sometimes snow just doesn't cut it.

You just don't get it, do you? Last week it was mocking Petraeus and comparing it to Blumenthal's butt-licking of Clinton. The comparison just don't compute.

Posted by: swatter on October 3, 2007 04:34 PM
16. Did anyone read The New York Times yesterday.

Posted by: Luigi Giovanni on October 3, 2007 05:18 PM
17. I'd show those lame Glacier Bawlers and leave my Denali idling in my living room 24/7 if I could fit it through my front door! These stupid sandal wearing, goracle worshiping, green-nik, owl-loving, hippie, pansies will mess everything up!

Breathe in a bag... aren't those Polar bears supposed to be good swimmers anyway? WTF?

Posted by: Acid Brain on October 3, 2007 05:57 PM
18. So what is the ideal temperature for the earth? Why is the last 50 years or so out of millions the one we want to keep? Why is it that the energy output of the thing that actually provides earth's heat, the sun, not important, but CO2 levels are? Why is it not important that the Antarctic is actually cooling? How do you calculate an average Earth's temperature that's statistically accurate? How do you know the Earth's (nature's) reaction to higher CO2 levels?
Just a few questions I would like to have answers for before I give up my lifestyle and thousands of dollars of my money every year.

Posted by: RJK on October 3, 2007 06:20 PM
19. Luigi at #16,
I did, for one. Even saved a link since the data was so interesting. Especially liked the cloud cover data (or lack of cloud cover, to be more precise) that so squarely aligned with the areas of melted ice. Looking forward to the satellite pics of this winter's extension of ice, showing the entire polar region ice-locked down to the continents, but since that won't be sensational news, I don't expect to see it.

Also remember that the melting of floating ice cannot raise ocean levels, and that there is evidence (sea bottom fossils, mammoth tusks being revealed as glaciers retreat, etc.) that the arctic sea ice has melted completely before and that the arctic regions were much warmer than they are now. Before human activities could possibly have contributed to the warming cycle . . . .

Polar bears can and will adapt to a changing environment, that is, if complete summer melting of the arctic sea ice is indeed in store for the relatively near future. Who knows?

Posted by: srogers on October 3, 2007 07:13 PM
20. Dayumn...all those wasted carbon credits...

Polar bears can and will adapt to a changing environment, that is, if complete summer melting of the arctic sea ice is indeed in store for the relatively near future.

Even if they can't, does it warrant spending TRILLIONS of dollars on something that MIGHT keep polar bears alive? Methinks, no.

When it's a choice between humans and polar bears, I'll take Humans for a thousand, Alex.

Same with the ANWR caribou. Mmmmm, caribou sausage.

Posted by: Palouse on October 4, 2007 08:44 AM
21. I agree with you in general, Palouse, but its not necessary to be quite so divisive. All known evidence suggests that the existing oil industry at Prudhoe Bay has had no deleterious effect on Caribou at all. I've been there, too; to a certain extent I can corroborate the studies with personal observations. There is no reason to expect modern exploratory drilling in ANWR to hurt caribou in any way - that's a red herring argument for folks that are opposed to opening ANWR because doing so offends their aesthetic sensibilities, or because they believe exploiting the energy stored in oil is evil (for a plethora of stupid reasons).

Likewise, evoking the image of dying Polar Bears is a way to reach people emotionally to get them to agree with a dubious rational argument (that we need to sacrifice our economy to "stop" "AGW"). The image is false (polar bears won't die off), and the argumentative tactic is disingenuous, but the preachers of this new religion just don't care.

Posted by: srogers on October 4, 2007 09:09 AM
22. I agree...I think I read the caribou herds have actually increased in the Prudhoe Bay area, and they like congregating nearing the pipeline for warmth. Most rational people don't buy the AGW emotion based arguments. Unfortunately, we're dealing with alot of irrational people in that regard. They'll drive around in their SUV and purchase carbon credits on their way to Starbucks.

My previous post was somewhat tongue in cheek to those irrational AGW folks who like choosing animals above humans, even when the animals in question aren't really going to be harmed.

Posted by: Palouse on October 4, 2007 09:42 AM
23. Global warming? Isn't it more like Globaloney?
Al Gore is sure getting rich off this alarmist swindle. I know it may be a problem in the future since I'm afraid Baskin and Robbins may be swamped with customers who crave their ice cream in mid-January...how about a giant sale on air conditioners for December's warm weather. What a nice Christmas present that would be, sitting in front of the air conditioner and drinking ice tea.

Posted by: Yvette Demieux on October 7, 2007 11:08 AM
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