Horrible effects of global warming: Nice weather, more crops

Analysis of various reports ^ | 2/19/07 | dangus

[dangus]

Is global warming all that bad? The first map (below) is the trend of temperature anomalies in the United States during the period of so-called "global warming," for the months of August through October. The white areas are the areas where the there has been no trend. The blue areas are where the climate has been cooling. Yes, cooling. The yellow-to-red areas are where the climate has been heating. Note that most of the country has been holding steady or actually cooling, except the sparsely populated areas West of the rockies.

Now, look at the second map. That shows precipitation during these months, which are the most drought-prone. Notice how most of the country is experiencing an increase in precipitation.

Now, you might think I'm using the data I presented to challenge global warming. But the same source does in fact show global warming. Look at this map, of the coldest months (December through February):

Across most of the country, temperatures are, indeed, getting warmer. In most of the Gulf states, it hasn't gotten any warmer at all. In the extreme North, it's gotten about 4 degrees Farenheit warmer since 1976.

This is what Global Warming is threatening us with: Nice weather, and longer growing seasons. That's right: Al Gore forgot to tell you that global warming mostly means warmer winters in frigid climates. Oh, the horror! And notice that the bottom picture shows there's no drying out, here, either, except some very modest drying in the northwest (Oh, no! The sun might come out in Seattle!)

Even this "warming" is largely an illusion. The NOAA created these graphs to include as the in the average temperatures the entirety of a severe, thirty-five-year-long cooling trend. The baseline for the warming trend is the late seventies, a time in American history so cold that the mainstream media was ranting about the return of the ice age!

But what about the ice melting and flooding the world??? No need to worry. It's the arctic that is melting. Arctic ice is floating on water, already, so when it melts, the sea level won't rise. The Antarctic is not experiencing global warming A British government report officially concludes, "Current evidence indicates that the remaining 96% of Antarctica has had a stable climate for the last 40 years." Further, the average temperature of Antarctica is forty degrees below zero. Even if the climate warmed one hundred degrees, it would take 10,000 years for Antarctic ice to melt.

But what about the gulf stream stalling, creating an ice age in Europe, like in that movie? No reason to fear, here, either: Even though the UN's alarmists predict global temperatures will rise only 1 to 4 degrees, the drop in temperatures experienced by the West coast of Europe that would result from the loss of the Gulf Stream would only just barely cancel out the "global warming."

But aren't we risking droughts? There is a chance that global warming, if such a trend persists, would increase the rate at which climates shift. That much is unpredictable. But, the areas with the most warming (shown below as red) are precisely the areas which are otherwise extremely fertile, ideal farmland, except that they lie under permafrost. The Canadian Shield and Siberia, if warmer, would provide most of the world's top fertile plains!

Further, one must remember that heat doesn't cause drought. Surprisingly, aridity doesn't even, since cacti can thrive in most very arid conditions. What makes arid regions difficult to grow crops is the fact that while cacti keep their pores ("stomata") shut during the day, most plants leave their pores wide open in the driest parts of the day, so starving for CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) that they allow the air to rob them of precious moisture. While we don't know for sure that CO2 will cause global warming (even the alarmists concede that other gasses play a much greater role), we do know that raising CO2 levels will make plants far more able to persist in dry conditions.

[Mr_Moonlight]

Ahhh, this post just warms my heart ;)

[dangus]

I switched computers, and now my own page's .gifs aren't showing up... Did you get the illustrations?

[Mr_Moonlight]

No illustrations or GIF's ... but it doesn't matter, the text of the post is just fine, it sez all it needs to say without graphics

[xcamel]

FReepmail me to get on or off
Click on graphic for full GW rundown

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[Fraxinus]

But what about the gulf stream stalling, creating an ice age in Europe, like in that movie?

Anyone who bring this canard up is not a climate scientist. The Gulf Stream only affects the immediate coast in a couple of areas (Iceland, Ireland, and parts of Norway), the rest of Europe is not affected by the Heat brought in by the Gulf Stream. It is air currents that bring in most of the Heat. The Source of Europe's Mild Climate

[AFPhys]

Excellent graphics in this article demonstrating how wonderful for the United States " Global Warming " would be.

I could use it.

As I understand it, too, the Gulf Stream "stalling" would come as a result of a couple orders of magnitude more fresh water induction into the Atlantic than any melting contemplated would bring. I would love to have more data about that possibility, though.

[cogitator]

Anyone who bring this canard up is not a climate scientist. The Gulf Stream only affects the immediate coast in a couple of areas (Iceland, Ireland, and parts of Norway), the rest of Europe is not affected by the Heat brought in by the Gulf Stream. It is air currents that bring in most of the Heat. The Source of Europe's Mild Climate

"Gulf Stream stalling" is really not a picture of the potential (but probably unlikely) drastic cooling scenario. It would not be caused by a change in the Gulf Stream flow, but by a reduction or termination of deepwater formation in the far North Atlantic. The Gulf Stream does supply saltier water to the North Atlantic, and the salinity of this water is one of the factors allowing deepwater formation -- the other factor is temperature. Higher winter temperatures combined with increased meltwater in the North Atlantic might slow down deepwater formation. However, there is pretty general agreement now that the predicted global warming scenario ranges are unlikely to cause this.

[Continental Soldier]

While I don't believe the earth is entering a severe warming period, I can't help but ask, what would be so bad about a warmer climate? Lower heating bills, more walks in the sun, longer crop seasons, higher crop yields, less money spent on scarves and gloves, longer use of outdoor decks and saunas, hell, the list of advantages is almost endless! So why are Algore and other fools trying to cut it off at the pass? :)