I can always find hot weather or a lot of rain. That all happened before Al Gore invented Climate Change. Look back in history! Real history. Further back that your lifespan.
Definitely maybe. What we know is that the typical pattern of winter storms is carried from west to east by the jet stream, which moves in a rambling zig-zag. We know that the jet steam has slowed by at least 11%, and as it slows, it becomes wavier and slower to change position. So we know that a change in the jet stream has caused arctic air to swoop unusually far south and unusually often. When this happens someplace in the Continental U.S. get blizzards while Alaska and the Arctic is unusually warm. This pattern has caused the whacky weather of the past five years including the blizzards far to the south and the blocking pattern that created the severe drought in California.
But why has the jet stream changed? One (good) hypothesis is that it is due to natural changes in ocean current. This would be good because it means it is a passing thing, just some whacky weather years. But the jet stream is created by the difference in temperatures between the Arctic and lower latitudes. That difference has decreased over the past couple decades due to global warming. One (bad) hypothesis -- first proposed in the scientific literature as far as I'm aware in 2009, the first year of this streak of cold in the heartland -- is that the warming of the Arctic is slowing the jet stream. This hypothesis proving out would be bad news because it would mean that the "nuts" weather we have been getting is a new normal. It means that you'll get cold weather more often in many years -- and at the same time the severe drought in California would become much more common. (This has been the most severe drought in the history of the state.) You'll not only get weather you don't like, the food production in the U.S. will be permanently reduced and food prices with continue to be very high as they are right now.
The northern hemisphere is particularly susceptible to wavy jet stream weather patterns because there are no east-west mountains to block arctic air moving south. This was the basis of the warming from the insurance industry several years ago, that the northern hemisphere will see more severe weather as we have since that warning.
Let's hope the jet stream somehow regains its energy, otherwise "nuts" is already here more frequently. This is what scientists have been warning since the 1950s: that by the time we become aware of actual permanent changes those changes will already be upon us.
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Cain thank you for the helpful article about food production in the U.S. ... from 1957. Things have changed a tad since then.
Those not quite as out of touch and those who actually buy food are aware the food prices are very high in the U.S. right now, and that the primary cause is the weather of the past year. To suggest that Spring blizzards and droughts do not affect crop production is astonishing loopy.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/beef-prices-...
http://online.wsj.com/articles/as-food-p...
There will be extreme hot summers and extreme cold winters during any cycle, going up or going down. Climate change is not a radical change you can notice. It is the average of the last set number of years. If the average temperature goes up, there is warming, if the average goes down, there is cooling going on.
Climate change deals with trends over many decades. What you are talking about is weather most likely caused by the shifting between La Nina and El Nino episodes among other things.
Climate and weather are different. Weather is unpredictable however if you go to Miami the climate there is warmer than say in Minnesota.
Changing weather used to be "weather". Now whenever weather changes, as it constantly does, it is "man made climate change". What you are experiencing is absolute proof of "man made climate change".
Actually no matter what takes place in the world is now proof of man made climate change.
99.9% of climate scientists agree with me (about something entirely unrelated) so what I am saying is fact, not opinion.
That is called weather. Weather changes. Blaming weather like extreme cold on global warming is silly.
Baccheus,
Oh goodie. Something measurable. I love it when you give me something measurable.
So AGW is causing crop to fail and crop prices will become high "like they are now".
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/21...
Oopsy daisy. So according to this article, US crop production has been increasing FASTER than population. But surely that is just crazy talk. I mean global warming is going to kill us all right??? One bad article, lets go look at what the USDA has to say.
http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/crops/cor...
WOW. So crop production has been increasing AND according to the article, the use of corn to make ethanol has been driving up the cost.
Now clearly you could not be possibly LYING and pretending that AGW is causing something that it is not causing. So it must be something else.
Fox News led by Rush Limbaugh took over the USDA and made them print lies.
Baccheus,
LOL, sure. Its all the drought. Droughts always occur, but NOW it must be caused by AGW and we can just ignore all of the crops going to make ethanol. I love the way you warmers find any way possible to pretend the stupidity you say is true, even when the crops and even crops per person is increasing.
But since you are talking about weather as evidence. We had a cold winter so there is no global warming at all. What??? Don't like the weather argument as much???
Definitely maybe, spoken like a true politician, and this genius wonders why people wouldn't take him seriously.
Its just weather
Baccheus explained it well.
I live in the NE/ Midwest USA.....We have been subjected to the worse weather shocks in our history. Actual temps of 19 degrees below zero this past winter, 36" of snow and 'torrential rains' and arctic type cloud deck overhead for 2 years now. Yesterday in one day it stormed for 3 inches of rain (when our average for one month is 3.5 inches in 30 days).
