We still have ice for you
OK class. Today’s pop quiz question is a simple one:’
If this climate change?
Is bitter cold that keeps our furnaces running 24/7, the driveways ice ski runs runs and Santa Claus in long johns proof that our climate has changed — and changed for the worst?
If it isn’t, this is the greatest hoax since Taco Bell convinced a gullible nation that it has purchased the Liberty Bell for promotional purposes and planned to rename it “The Taco Liberty Bill.:
When a talk to the mailbox turns into an adventure that rivals the scaling of Mount Everest and layering up to go outside becomes a task that takes longer than poliitcal speech, you know you’ve got climate change in spades.
Of course, there are those who say this isn’t climate change at all — that it’s all a bix hoax played out by scientists looking for grants.
We had doubters like those before. They were called dinosaurs denying the coming ice age.
Baby, it’s cold outside and if the forecasters finally get it right this year, it will get even colder. The indicators suggest the next couple of months will not master the monster snow storms that buried the area for thee months last year but most agree that what is coming will be bad enough to make some consider looking for a new paradise to call home before next winter.
Paradise, like the grass that is always supposed to be greener on the other side, is more myth than reality. But myth or not, a place with warmer weather and fewer extremes, sure looks appealing this time of year.
But this too shall pass…when Spring comes.
I guess the climate has been changing as long as this world has been existence and it will continue until the world ceases to exist. There have been ice ages before and I see no reason that we couldn’t end up there again. Is man suddenly the reason for this, maybe but my question is what caused the climate to change before man? In my opinion we would be better off not worrying about man made global warming and instead focus on leaving this earth cleaner then we found it. Many pollutants have been forgotten because people are focused on carbon.
I am one of the few people who welcome the colder winters. Wood furnaces sure are in high demand!
We should all make sure we know the difference between weather & climate, so we don’t confuse the two…………
One critically important link for every climate change denier out there to read and study: http://www.chrismartenson.com. Time to take off the rose-colored glasses and take a hard look at what the future is going to be. Hint: it ain’t gonna be pretty.
Climate change is more influenced by the “thermohaline circulation” of ocean currents. We have surface currents and mighty subsea one’s that act like a conveyor belt on a worldwide basis. The recent warming caused by mankind’s technology, resulting in polar cap melt especially the Greenland glacier will cause massive amounts of fresh water to eventually slow the Gulf Stream to a standstill due to dilution of the heavier cold freshwater causing Europe to plunge into a cold as found in northern Canada and Siberia. So nested within the current warming cycle is the seed for the next “ice age”. In addition cold water can absorb greater amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_current
The wild and wooly weather is a function is a function of greater atmospheric moisture being present due to cap and glacial melt. There’s also many smaller nestings of both hot an warm periods within the greater climatalogical cycles such as the “Medieval Warm Period” that lasted from about 950-1250 A.D. and the “Little Ice Age” to follow from 1300 to the mid 1800’s in Europe.
At this time we are enjoying a period of warmth between major glaciations; ie., “Ice Ages”. Plate tectonics, the movement of continents upon the earth’s mantle also change the shape of these aforementioned currents and therefore the cycles of the ice ages themselves. If the continents are clumped as in an ancient Gondwanaland configuration there are no ice ages per se except as a function of solar output. Continents have been arranged in the past where there were minimal currents and the earth became either very warm or cold as a function of solar output and the outgassing from surface and subsea volcanoes. At this time the outgassing of methane found in the frozen regions of Siberia and Canada are causing concern because methane is one thousand times more effective in terms of trapping long wave, heat related radiation causing the “greenhouse effect. What is disconcerting is that if the “thermohaline circulation” is changed in our lifetimes as mentioned concerning the Gulf Stream we could find ourselves plunged into endless winters and a new mini ice age would be upon us within ten years or less. So we best enjoy the heat while its here. : )
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Be careful taking hikes down to the mailbox. I have a lengthy driveway and have taken a few headers while walking on ice which happened to be under the snow pack and not visible. Luckily I rolled it out, but felt quite stiff for a few days afterwards. Then I thought how many people have died going to fetch their mail under icy conditions with simply their leather soled street shoes trying to follow the tire tracks etc.
I’m assuming both you and your wife have boots with an aggressive sole and if not then you can put old socks perferably wool over the front part. The fibers will grip the ice or slushy slick snow on the way down and back. They also sell rubbers with cleats on the bottom like golf shoes that can be snapped over shoes or boots like “crampons” used for negotiating glacier ice. Also consider using a ski gig or walking stick with an aggressive metal point to steady yourself. We get “silver thaws”; i.e., freezing rain on a fairly regular basis in the SW Washington, Columbia River gorge to coast area making for incredibly hazardous driving and walking conditions.
A broken hip or leg can many times push seniors over the edge concerning their health with no return to be had concerning their general health.
Merry Christmas to you and yours Doug Thompson and the loyal readers and participants to BRM. : )
Carl Nemo **==