Posted on 01/11/2010 2:16:38 AM PST by justa-hairyape
According to the Rutgers University Global Snow Lab, last month had the second greatest December Northern Hemisphere snow cover since records were started in 1966. Snow extent was measured at 45.86 million sq. km, topped only by 1985 at 45.99 million sq. km. North America set a record December extent at 15.98 million sq. km, and the US also set a December record at 4.16 million sq. km.
A favorite mantra of the global warming community is that reduced snow cover will reduce the albedo of the earth and provide positive feedback to global warming – causing additional warming. Clearly that is not happening, at least not during the October through January time period.
(Excerpt) Read more at wattsupwiththat.com ...
Man decides “the earth is warming”
God sends us the one of the coldest winter on record.
Of course God is planning on warming soon.
It’s called Spring.
We will definitely have a spring. Its summer that is still in question. Solar activity is still low.
The snow trend in the 2008 to 2010 period, suggested by the images reflecting snow depth and coverage suggest both jet-stream and temperature changes, with less precipitation directly on the Rocky Mountains, later in the period (greater snow depth there, earlier in the period) but that precipitation that did not fall on the Rocky Mountains did fall in an increased and broad area east of the Rockies, with temperatures there cold enough for it to snow, in a pattern that suggests many record breaking temperatures east of the Rockies recently as well.
As long as the temps in summer stay around the high 70s low 80s, I am happy with that....
Thanks for that insight. In the UK they are blaming the Jet Stream and the high pressure over Greenland for their abnormal snow cover. The Jet moved south and is traveling over North Africa. Think the blocking high pressure over Greenland moved it south and is creating the kinks back behind it over the US. The past few weeks has seen the systems traveling down the eastern Rocky slopes. Will be interesting to see what happens the last half of the winter. Flow patterns have changed and the Gulf of Mexico just cooled.
Forget about the Gulf Stream: Britain is really kept warm in winter by the Rocky Mountains
Great images. Takes me back to my college days in a Great Lakes snow belt. We built an actual igloo in a field next to our dorm. Crazy days.
I'd have been more impressed if you'd built the igloo in your dorm.
Well, the igloo had a purpose and we did not want to do those activities in the dorm, if you know what I mean. Crazy Days, to say the least. The worse part was being the first one to enter the igloo. Was a good 5 foot slide down a chute into the inner chamber. Never knew what might be in that thing.
It's not screwy.
In general it explains the weather in the sub-arctic northern latitudes for the western edge of both great continents in the northern hemisphere.
The winter weather for the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington (at about the same latitudes as New England up to Maine) has, compared to New England up to Maine, generally “balmy” winters, similar to what is often found on the western coast of Great Britain.
The researchers confirmed the similarities in the weather patterns between the western coasts of North America and Europe, and confirmed the general cause of that similarity by studying the ocean currents, temperature records and the high altitude wind patterns across the sub-arctic northern latitudes.
They found that the ocean currents were not capable of acting as the source of the weather patterns received at the western coasts of the two big continents in the northern hemisphere - that the major wind currents were. And the biggest source of altering those currents (affecting their course and thereby affecting the weather) when they cross the two big continents is the mid-continent mountain ranges - the Rockies in North America and the Urals in Eur-Asia.
Current conditions confirm the theory as the western edge, in the sub-arctic northern latitudes, of the two big continents in the northern hemisphere - Oregon and Washington here and Great Britain on the other side - again share similar weather patterns, with, this year, both areas experiencing colder than usual temperatures and greater snowfall. Thee answer to why their weather is usually similar - colder this year, and normally balmy most years - does not reside in the Gulf Stream, but in the jet stream and the land masses that affect it.
Their theory and their study debunked, even in historical data, the idea that excessive melting ice in the arctic will shut down the “source” (the Gulf Stream) of Britain's balmy winters. It was proven to be a commonly accepted but unproven, and now disproved scientific theory.
It takes just one air current shifting southwards to plunge Britain into this Siberian winter
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