Free Republic

China has put forth new rules to tackle overcapacity in its solar power industry. A document released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) specifies the thresholds needed to enter the (PV) industry and is sure to keep plenty of capital at bay. Under the new rules, access to the industry will be strictly controlled. For instance, investors who wish to enter the industry must now invest a minimum 20 percent of the value of the desired project. There are also minimum requirements for investment in research and development. Only a few domestic PV enterprises can meet the...

Please call CBS 1-212-975-4321and find out if they stand behind their comment. I did. Joe, who answered my call at CBS said that they got their information from the IPPC report which said the if the earth had no water the temperatures here would be the boiling point of water. The fact that oceans cover 71% of the earth and contain 97% of the earths' water had no affect on CBS. I'm not kidding. This is CBS.

Typhoon Usagi came closest to Taiwan yesterday afternoon and is moving away from the nation in the direction of Hong Kong, but heavy rainfall is still expected to continue throughout today, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. As of 7:15pm, Typhoon Usagi had weakened slightly, with its center 140km southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻). The wind speed near its center was 48 meters per second in a radius of 280km and the typhoon was moving west-northwest at 19kph. The bureau said that the land alert for Usagi may possibly be lifted as soon as this morning. The center of the typhoon...

Photo taken on Sept. 20, 2013 shows the moon halo over the sky in Changchun City, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province. The halos are caused by both refraction (splitting of light) and reflection (glints of light) from ice crystals in the air. [Photo: Xinhua/Xu Chang]

It’s 08:30 in southeast China. And people from Hong Kong to Shenzhen are bracing for what will likely go down as the strongest storm of 2013. Typhoon Usagi, called a “monster super storm” by the Washington Post, and the “hell storm” by the Drudge Report is already bringing rain to Taiwan and an eerie calm before the storm in the Guangdong province in China. Usagi is expected to hit landfall in the next 9 hours, according to the China Meteorological Administration (CMA). Usagi was centered about 175 kilometers (108 miles) southeast of southern Taiwan with a maximum wind force up...

Why are U.S. hurricanes given names? Names are actually given to tropical storms but if they reach a sustained wind speed of 74 miles per hour, then they are deemed hurricanes. These types of destructive storms are given monikers because naming them makes it much easier for meteorologists, researchers, emergency response workers, ship captains, and citizens to communicate about specific hurricanes in a clear manner. So after decades of hurricane and storm names, did a Black Congresswoman demand that African-American names be included? ... In July 2003, Sheila Jackson Lee (pictured), a Democratic member of Congress who represents the 18th...

Such a “Nasty Euro Winter” Would Be Spectacular Sixth In A Row! Meteorologist Joe Bastardi in his Saturday Summary at the 7-minute mark looks at the latest NCEP NCAR global winter forecast for 2013/14. The charts point to another “brutal winter for Europe.” The forecast sees blocking and a negative NAO. Joe also tweeted that “SST analog package combined with low solar, and climate cycle (similar to early 50s) argue for nasty Euro Winter.” Joe is not alone in pointing out that weather services are looking at a brutal European winter. German meteorologist Dominik Jung tweets that a bitter cold...

National plan considered to enhance coordination Man can conquer nature, so goes an ancient Chinese saying that highlights human power. In a move appearing to support that saying, China plans to boost its weather intervention through a national plan. The plan, running from 2013 to 2020, will divide the country into six regions and set up an interprovincial mechanism for weather control, Yao Zhanyu, a senior researcher of the Weather Modification Center under the China Meteorological Administration, told China Daily. Each region will build infrastructure and a command center for weather intervention, according to Yao. Programs in northeastern, central and...

TOKYO - Tornados hit cities in eastern Japan on Monday afternoon, injuring dozens of people and damaging buildings, local police said. In Koshigaya, Saitama Prefecture, residents reported to the police that power poles collapsed and roofs were blown off residential buildings. Police said they have confirmed six buildings were completely destroyed and around 80 were badly damaged in the city. Among the injured, a man suffered a skull fracture, according to the Shock Trauma Center at Dokkyo Medical University Koshigaya Hospital. Flying debris smashed around 50 windows at Sakuraiminami Elementary School in the city, injuring two third-grade boys, the school...

The departing US Homeland Security Secretary used her farewell speech to warn the nation’s leaders of an impending “serious” cyber-attack as well as a natural disaster, the impact of which will dwarf Hurricane Sandy and other disasters in recent memory. Janet Napolitano, after four years at the helm of the Department of Homeland Security, delivered her final speech Tuesday morning before she formally exits her position next week. “Many things still need tending, and my successor will most certainly have a full plate on his or her hands,” she said, adding that she faced “many challenges” over the past four...

UPDATE: 8/23/13 1:00PM PDT Its seems there’s blunders to go around. The Washington Post now says they “misquoted” Gore. Given his penchant for saying and doing dumb things in the past related to his views on climate, color me “skeptical”, especially when he makes ugly comparisons about people like he did below. It may be more of a case of some deal was worked out behind the scenes to salvage Gore’s waning credibility. I suppose we’ll never know, but I have asked WaPo to put the relevant audio of the tape recorded session online so we can verify that Gore...

Snow hits Xinjiang in Aug. as heatwave scorches many parts of China

HONG KONG: Hong Kong battened down Wednesday as Typhoon Utor forced the closure of the city's financial market and schools and disrupted hundreds of flights after leaving six dead in the Philippines. Gusts of more than 100 kilometres (62 miles) per hour were recorded, with rain lashing down, as the Hong Kong Observatory issued a "Number 8" storm warning -- the third highest level. The Airport Authority said it expected 100 flights to be cancelled, with another 174 delayed. Ferry services to outlying islands and mainland China were halted, stranding passengers at various terminals. In one part of town the...

MANILA, Philippines -- A powerful typhoon battered the northern Philippines on Monday, toppling power lines and dumping heavy rain across cities and food-growing plains. The storm left at least two people dead and 44 missing. (MORE: Typhoon Utor Forecast) Typhoon Utor, described as the strongest globally this year, slammed ashore in mountainous eastern Aurora province with sustained winds of 175 kilometers (109 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 210 kph (130 mph). Footage from ABS-CBN TV network showed a woman swept away by a raging river in neighboring Isabela province. The woman waved her hands for help as...

Japan’s temperature hit 40-degrees over the weekend, reaching a record high in 6 years and claiming the lives of four people. Back in August 2007, the Japan Meteorological Agency reported two cities reaching an all-time high of 40.9 degrees. Last month also caused more than 700 people hospitalized and one dead because of heatstroke. On Saturday, two senior citizens from western Japan passed away due to the intense heat. A 66-year old man and an 84-year old woman were both reported to have collapsed in the fields. The weather bureau warned 39 prefectures early Sunday of another past-35 degree temperature....

SEOUL, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- South Korea on Sunday warned of a possible power-shortage crisis that may lead to a rolling power outage as seen in Sept. 2011 amid a scorching heat wave across the country. Nationwide heat wave was expected to cause the most dangerous crisis in supply and demand of electricity here for three days through Wednesday, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE). Last Friday, power demand reached a record high of 79.35 million kilowatts (kWs), surpassing the country's power-generation capacity of 77.15 million kWs. Power reserves temporarily dropped to 3.29 million kWs, below...

REPORTER: "Would anything stop you (from running)?" WEINER: "(laughs at question) I just have a feelling I  -like- stepped into a Monty Python bit!" "Anything else I can do for ITV- can I do the weather, or something?" REPORTER: If you can do the weather  -you can do the weather here in New York. WEINER: "...No, no, I'll do yours: Where's this from, England?  OK, it's going to be raining, cloudy, and grey, so do what you can, guys... keep a -what is it?- keep a stiff upper lip!" _______________________________________________________ Video at Reaganite Republican

Another uncertainty for climate models – different results on different computers using the same code Posted on July 27, 2013     |     by Anthony Watts New peer reviewed paper finds the same global forecast model produces different results when run on different computers Did you ever wonder how spaghetti like this is produced and why there is broad disagreement in the output that increases with time? Increasing mathematical uncertainty from initial starting conditions is the main reason. But, some of it might be due to the fact that while some of the models share common code,...

What if your home could protect itself from dangerous weather  by retreating underground automatically long before it hits? If you think about it, a house -or entire neighborhood/town- that could withstand higher winds than boxy, frail wood structures -and actually hide underground if necessary- could have one heck of a lot of applications: not just in tornado alley, but avoiding fires in California, tsunamis in Japan, or of course hurricane season in the Carolinas. Why build an expensive underground shelter only to watch your house and belongings be scraped from the face of the Earth, washed-away, or turned to...

After I retired from UAL as a Standards Captain on the -400, I got a job as a simulator instructor working for Alteon (a Boeing subsidiary) at Asiana. When I first got there, I was shocked and surprised by the lack of basic piloting skills shown by most of the pilots. It is not a normal situation with normal progression from new hire, right seat, left seat taking a decade or two. One big difference is that ex-Military pilots are given super-seniority and progress to the left seat much faster. Compared to the US, they also upgrade fairly rapidly because...