Posted on 07/18/2009 6:26:00 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
1816 was the "year without a summer." There were several causes of the abnormally cold weather that year, as this source recounts:
The year 1816 is still known to scientists and historians as "eighteen hundred and froze to death" or the "year without a summer." It was the locus of a period of natural ecological destruction not soon to be forgotten. During that year, the Northern Hemisphere was slammed with the effects of at least two abnormal but natural phenomena. These events were mysterious at the time, and even today they are not well understood.
First, 1816 marked the midpoint of one of the Sun's extended periods of low magnetic activity, called the Dalton Minimum. This particular minimum lasted from about 1795 to the 1820s. It resembled the earlier Maunder Minimum (about 1645-1715) that was responsible for at least 70 years of abnormally cold weather in the Northern Hemisphere. The Maunder Minimum interval is sandwiched within an even better known cool period known as the Little Ice Age, which lasted from about the 14th through 19th centuries.
But the event that most severely shaped 1816's cold phenomena was the cata-strophic eruption the previous year of Tambora on the island of Sumbawa, in modern-day Indonesia. The ash clouds and sulfur aerosols spewed by this volcano were widespread, chilling the climate of the Northern Hemisphere by blocking sunlight with gases and particles.
If this account is correct, the "year without a summer" played a role in the development of the American Midwest:
In 1816, it snowed in June in the United States and Europe. Crops failed, there was starvation, people lost their farms, and it touched off the wave of emigration that led to the settlement of what is now the American Midwest. In the meantime, hundreds of thousands more starved around the world.
New England and Europe were hit exceptionally hard. Snowfalls and frost occurred in June, July and August and all but the hardiest grains were destroyed. Destruction of the corn crop forced farmers to slaughter their animals. Soup kitchens were opened to feed the hungry. Sea ice migrated across Atlantic shipping lanes, and alpine glaciers advanced down mountain slopes to exceptionally low elevations.
I don't think things are quite so bad this year, but if something doesn't change pretty soon 2009 may go down in history, in some parts of the U.S. at least, as another year with barely any summer. Here in Minnesota and across the Midwest, temperatures are abnormally cold. I don't know whether the phenomenon is world-wide--data that will answer this question have probably not been assembled, and may not be honestly reported--but the current low level of solar activity suggests that the cooling trend could indeed be universal.
Here in Minneapolis, the temperature never reached 70 degrees today--rather astonishing for the middle of July, our hottest month. Most days recently, it hasn't been comfortable to be outdoors in the evening without a fire and a sweatshirt. It feels more like October than July. Thankfully, and unlike 1816, it hasn't snowed; the worst consequence we fear is not getting any ripe tomatoes.
Today, walking down the street in downtown Minneapolis at 5:30, en route from my office to my parking ramp, I saw something I've never seen before: a man wearing a winter coat in July. Well, maybe not quite a winter coat, but definitely a fall/winter semi-parka with an unzipped, faux-fur lined hood. He was carrying a briefcase and looked like a businessman who was tired of being cold every time he went outdoors. In the summer.
I personally don't think that we (all of humankind, let alone we Americans) can control the weather, but for those who do think we possess that Godlike power, here's a request: can we turn the thermostat up a little?
It’s been in the low 70’s or upper 60’s most recently.
I think it’s great. :)
It’s 72 back home in Ann Arbor, but 57 here in Roscommon.
At least we haven't gotten to monsoonal moisture season yet, so we thankfully still have that old "it's a dry heat" thing going on.
Includes the cities: Ellsworth, Bar Harbor, Blue Hill, Eastport, Machias, Cherryfield
Today...Periods of rain until early this afternoon...Then tapering off to isolated showers mid to late afternoon. Areas of widespread fog along the coast. Highs in the upper 60s. East winds 5 to 10 mph...Becoming south this afternoon. Chance of rain near 100 percent.
Tonight...Partly cloudy in the evening...Then clearing. Areas of fog after midnight. Lows in the upper 50s. Southwest winds 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday...Sunny. Highs in the lower 70s. Southwest winds 10 to 15 mph with gusts up to 20 mph.
Sunday Night...Partly cloudy in the evening...Then becoming mostly clear. Lows in the upper 50s. West winds 10 to 15 mph with gusts up to 25 mph.
Monday...Mostly sunny. Highs in the mid 70s. Southwest winds 10 to 15 mph.
Monday Night...Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of showers. Lows in the mid 50s. Highs in the lower 70s.
Tuesday...Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of showers. Lows in the mid 50s. Highs in the lower 70s.
Tuesday Night...Partly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of showers. Lows in the upper 50s. Highs in the mid 70s.
Wednesday...Partly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of showers. Lows in the upper 50s. Highs in the mid 70s.
Thursday...Partly sunny with a 30 percent chance of showers. Highs in the mid 70s.
Thursday Night...Partly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of showers. Lows in the upper 50s.
Friday...Mostly cloudy in the morning...Then becoming partly sunny. A 30 percent chance of showers. Highs in the mid 70s.
Now that I think of it, didn’t Barry say in San Francisco “I’m going to have to bankrupt the energy industry”?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V22BN4-845A
If he does, should it be reasonably concluded that users trying to cool or hear their homes would also be bankrupted, as the cost of energy is to high?
Wouldn’t it be reasonable to conclude that there will be people, who being unable to afford heating/air conditioning, will die from exposure?
What about the children. Why should they be made to suffer?
Is this humane to old people?
Also the most remarkable June-July so far here in Virginia. We hit 90 maybe twice, and barely 90 at that. Otherwise, it’s been just perfect, 80s in the daytime, upper 60s at night. That compares favorably to our normally hot and muggy summers. Very little need for AC, which is usually a staple here from June through September and sometimes May through October.
What happens when you start getting rain, does the temperature drop very much?
If one believes man causes global warming, will he or she admit that the Clean Air Act added to global warming by removing light energy adsorbing particulates from the atmosphere?
Recently, I was saying on the campaign trail that it’s a cooler summer in most places and that’s not related to CO2. It didn’t go over very well because I was speaking to a crowd standing in the 103 deg TEXAS summer.
I had to say, “No really - I don’t mean it’s cooler HERE!”.
If we get any rain between March and November it’s a very rare passing t-storm. If it happens in summer, it might drop the temp a few degrees, but then it gets muggy.
We’re having an atrocious summer in Scotland as well. July and the temperature is around 60 in the day. People are still wearing their jackets.
Here in South L.A. County where the air is dirty and the gangbangers wear big saggy pants, it was 85 degrees today with hideous 70% humidity. Ugh. It feels so hot I’d love a little of that global cooling right about now.
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