In the UK this has been an exceptionally mild winter and feel so sorry for those of you in the US with such freezing weather. Locally [Cornwall SW] we had 250 out-of-season species flowering on New Year's day [figures from local paper] not counting those remaining from last year~~ Roses,fuchsias, chrysanthemums, cyclamens and lilies etc. Roadsides have miles of full flowering gorse. All of the UK is well above the 50 degree latitude and without the Gulf Stream would be similar to mid Canada~~ though without Polar Bears! I hope your Spring is not too far away. Best Wishes.
Please KNOCK ON WOOD NOW! With global warming what you get is more extremes in weather (which most people don't seem to understand for some odd reason) which means you could easily get the same weather we are having next week. I believe it was 54 degrees here a couple of weeks ago... I was off in CA visiting family so I can't say from my own experience. I'm now sitting by my little space heater watching the snow fall. At least it has warmed up and the winding isn't howling today.
"D Kat" wrote in news:2OFOb.5288$ snipped-for-privacy@news4.srv.hcvlny.cv.net:
Well, duh! It's called "global warming", not "global warming except when it is cold, and man, is it gonna be COLD ... unless you live in an area where water moderates the climate, in which case the weather will be strange but not too extreme, but still strange enough that if you've been around long enough that you start to think something is seriously abnormal, but if you haven't then you just think well, this is kind of weird, but not as weird as the boss will be if I don't get to the sprocket factory on time ...."
I'll try this again (I should write a book called "Global Warming for DUMMIES"... I don't mean that as an insult by the by).
Most of the earth is covered in water. The oceans and great lakes are heat sinks and it is the large bodies of water that drive our weather. For all practical purposes ALL of our weather. If you have heard of El Nino (unusual weather for the year because part of the Pacific is warmer than usual), think of it in those terms only think SUPER El Nino that never ends. The last ice age occurred because of just a 5-9 degree weather change. Having your yearly average temperature drop only a few digress is not going to give you massive glaciers if all you're talking about is the earth's air temperature dropping a few degrees. It is the change in the oceans that change the climate. What keeps the West coast so much warmer than the East coast is the pattern of the ocean's currents. The storms we get are from high and low pressure, water in the atmosphere, etc. - all of which come from the ocean. Scientist from several different fields (geology, paleontology, biology, etc.) all concur that the earth is warming at a faster rate than seen before and that it is due to man's production of chemicals that he is putting in the air. At this point you are not seeing anyone disagree with the data or the theory (none that have gone through peer review that is.... those papers are all most all coming from the industries that will be hurt if we ever get the balls to put things right or by nuts that say the earth is flat).
I have no vested interest in supporting the theory. I in fact don't care much that it is happening. Life in geological time frame will do just fine. For humans it will mean more disease of the tropical form, plants and animals will go extinct which is already happening at the fastest rate since Dinosaurs because we are destroying their habitat, we will more than likely have to give up eating meat (I already have), etc. I will find it sad to see animal types disappear but others will take their place..... they just may be all of the cockroach, rat, tumbleweed, etc. variety (those that thrive under adverse conditions..)
Yeah... we need spring soon before I continue with these long winded monologs....
"D Kat" wrote in news:wuZOb.23008$ snipped-for-privacy@news4.srv.hcvlny.cv.net:
Well most of what you said sounds reasonable, but I guess my point about water is probably more or less your point without the geologic scale. I'm guessing the ridiculously high specific heat of water will moderate the temperature extremes of any local climate a lot better and therefore someone (like me) who lives in a coastal region is more likely (but not like me) to say "global warming? what global warming" even though the weather is nutty, but because of the moderating effect of the ocean, not as nutty as it could be.
The only things I would disagree with are, it's not just the pumping up of CO2 and other chems, that are screwing things up, it's also the deforestation. I imagine forests not only act as a significant heat sink on land but also have the added benefit of locking away any excess CO2 and maybe even some chemicals.
The other thing is why the west coast is warmer. Maybe the ocean currents have something to do with it (and the larger surface area of the Pacific), but having the Rocky Mountains to block warm ocean air from moving east has got to have some effect, too.
They do, sprocket master. Carbon sequestration into soil and bio-mass can reduce it from the atmoshere and alleviate warming in addition to other factors. Why can't we convince the profiteers that?
J Kolenovsky wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@hal-pc.org:
haha, I think you answered your own question. Repeat what you just wrote to your average Captain of Industry and observe as he stares blankly at you for several minutes before suddenly announcing he's late for his fund raising luncheon with Senator Bling-blang.
Anyway, I think it took the Civil War and thousands of soldiers crapping into rivers for people to figure out indoor plumbing is a good thing. Unfortunately, global warming doesn't have such a clearly defined cause- effect. Not as clear as "doody water + you downstream = cholera = bad" anyway.
(oops, watch it - Ha Ha Budys Here might be lurking)
Yeah, I know a gearhead who tunes Maserati's and Lamborghini's. He's got a Senator as a customer. A Senator driving a $300,000 car? Right. I'm glad I'm a landscaper. At least, that's honest owrk.
Yeah, I keep telling people who live north of me on the watershed to quit dumping toxins into the watershed which ends up in Galveston Bay and the Gulf. That's my shrimp and fish that I eat swimming in that stuff.
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- this is awesome for little children to study and read
The message from J Kolenovsky contains these words:
Sorry to pour cold water on your hopes, but you've missed one of the points that DKat made in her excellent explanation. She said " What keeps the West coast so much warmer than the East coast is the pattern of the ocean's currents."
As well as being vulnerable to atmospheric changes over the ocean affecting wind-speed and rainfall, coastal climates (even on a large continent) depend on the temperature and direction of adjacent ocean currents.
Global warming is melting the polar icecaps fast, and a flood of cold water with a different specific gravity, running into an ocean from one direction, is thought likely to change the temperature and/or direction of existing currents. Those changes would affect coastal regions first.
Janet. (Isle of Arran, west Scotland, at present warmed by Gulf Stream)
Janet Baraclough .. wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@flobalob.zetnet.co.uk:
I saw that, but I question whether ocean currents is the main factor in the temperature difference. After all, you note that the east coast (well, east coast of US) has its own well known current, the Gulf Stream (although it may be famous for historical reasons and not because of the temperature gradient). To me, having a large mountain mass blocking air (and therefore heat) from escaping east makes more sense, (the Rockies being significantly higher than the Appalachians).
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