Posted on 05/27/2011 2:51:35 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
““Why does it look like the shape of a balloon?”
...with water in it.
......frozen water.
..........with the balloon cut off.”
Well, it has a distinct pinkish hue, but when I significantly enlarge the image, I might agree that the lips of the balloon facing her have been cut off.
The first post to which you responded said: Must be global warming. :)
That is not an implication that global warming is, or is not happening. It is merely a statement to the effect that typical weather events, no matter whether they may or may not actually deviate significantly from the norm, are now being attributed to global warming.
It is irony.
You then proceeded to take the bait, lecturing another poster on elementary weather facts, which may or may not have anything to do with global warming. You now want to claim that you were not pointing out anything in particular, and so I was responding to nothing in particular, which is an interesting rhetorical technique for someone over the age of, say, five who does not have ADD.
The actual truth is that warmer storms are not more likely to produce hail. You are wrong on the science despite your snarky implication. Storms are considerably stronger in the tropics, where hail does not form. The largest factor in hail formation is the distance of extremely cold air through which the warm updraft passes, and how quickly. If the entire earth is warming, hail formation will probably become less, not more, likely.
The physics of meteorology is complex, and suggesting -- as you have -- that global warming is involved, or that global warming causes more powerful storms is in fact by no means a consensus position among meteorologists -- even among those who believe climate change is occurring. There are some who claim, in fact, that warmer weather in the Rockies will actually result in weaker rotational thunderstorms, just as there are some who have hypothesized that warmer, fast air aloft will result in weaker and more poorly formed Gulf hurricanes, and so on, and so on.
I had believed that making a connection between some of the more important reasons for hail formation other than simple warming was within your conceptual grasp; I am sorry I was mistaken. Those with more capacity are able to draw a straight line between additional pertinent facts and their implications. I did indeed refute your claims, but I didn't think I needed to draw you a picture to do so. I apologize for thinking more highly of you than you evidently deserve.
Check out the image for this stone (or do a search for largest hailstone by image search.) The record stones clearly pick-up other stones as they rise and are highly irregular. What’s pictured here is almost certainly not real.
The largest hail I’ve ever seen was about softball sized. Pretty much totalled three vehicles on our property. Went right through the roofs of the outbuildings. Took most of the north facing windows in our town out, along with the siding and the roofs.
And by the way, those hailstones looked NOTHING like the very questionable photo at the top of this thread.
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