Posted on 07/25/2006 3:19:19 PM PDT by bkwells
In the quaint old days, when a heat wave like the one we're experiencing hit, you didn't worry about, oh, the planet's health or Earth's ability to sustain itself.
You got a fan.
But now when temperatures soar to record-breaking highs, as they did in San Diego County on Saturday, one of the first things that comes to mind is global warming.
One can't help but wonder: Is that the cause of the sweltering heat? Are the record highs a sign that global warming is not the imagination of former Vice President Al Gore and so many nerdy scientists?
Taken by itself, the current heat wave is not out of the ordinary, said Don Whitlow, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Diego. It's summer. And it's hot.
“Natural cycles happen,” he said.
In El Cajon, it was 113 on Saturday, beating the day's all-time record by a whopping 12 degrees. In Escondido, where the previous record high was 96, it hit 112.
Even yesterday, when temperatures dropped a bit, the city of San Diego recorded its hottest and wettest July 24 in history. The high of 85 broke the 1959 record, and the 0.01 of an inch of rain broke the record of a trace, which last occurred in 1990.
One could look at yearly temperatures over the past 100 years and find similar variations, Whitlow said.
But climate experts say such temperature spikes may be happening more frequently and more fiercely because of the many decades we've spent burning fossil fuels.
Kerry Emanuel, a professor of meteorology in MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, said global warming can't be pinned on any particular weather occurrence.
Instead, it's sort of like a smoker's chances of coming down with lung cancer, he said. “It ups the probability.”
Claudia Tebaldi, a project scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., agreed.
“These things happen. They're called extremes,” she said. “But the conditions are more conducive for them to happen more often.”
Whitlow said San Diego County's current heat wave is the result of a large high-pressure system that has stalled over the region. It will go away in a few days or so, he predicted, as soon as the high-pressure system is disrupted by another weather system.
Global warming? Chances are, that won't go away. Skeptics remain, but the scientific community is pretty much consistent in saying it's for real.
Experts like Tebaldi say Saturday's record highs may be superseded by new record highs. And sooner than in previous times.
“The odds of these kinds of events are increasing because of climate change,” she said. “Just as the base line is getting higher, the extremes are shooting up.”
The heat wave arrived when global warming was already a hot topic. Gore's book and movie, “An Inconvenient Truth” – which warns that the phenomenon is about to reach a tipping point, leaving humankind virtually helpless to stop it – has received excellent reviews and has grossed nearly $20 million nationwide.
In addition, some scientists, including Kerry Emanuel, are linking powerful storms such as Hurricane Katrina to global warming. Such monstrous weather occurrences will become more common, experts say.
The one bright note?
The unusual weather may help spur change.
Every time temperatures spike, people might begin wondering if global warming just may be the cause. And that's a good thing, experts say.
“We need to be more cognizant,” Emanuel said.
Michael Stetz: (619) 293-1720; michael.stetz@uniontrib.com
Nope....
Taken by itself, the current heat wave is not out of the ordinary, said Don Whitlow, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Diego. It's summer. And it's hot.
“Natural cycles happen,” he said.
Whitlow said San Diego County's current heat wave is the result of a large high-pressure system that has stalled over the region.
There you have it.... STRONG HIGH PRESSURE.
Ping.... this was in my local paper this morning.
Professor Bob Carter comments on Al Gore and his hysterical fairytale titled “An Inconvenient Truth.”
“The man is an embarrassment to US science and its many fine practitioners, a lot of whom know (but feel unable to state publicly) that his propaganda crusade is mostly based on junk science,” says Carter, from the Marine Geophysical Laboratory at James Cook University, in Australia.
“Gore's circumstantial arguments are so weak that they are pathetic. It is simply incredible that they, and his film, are commanding public attention.”
Furthermore..........
“We've got to ride the global-warming issue. Even if the theory of global warming is wrong, we will be doing the right thing, in terms of economic policy and environmental policy.” - Timothy Wirth, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs in the Clinton Administration
Given the fact that the other globes in our solar system appear to be warming too, I think we should be pointing fingers at the sun.
Is this the purpose of this piece, to further shove Gore's narcisstic mental masturbation down our throats?? And the "good reviews" of Gore's nonsense are from fellow liberals in the left wing amen chorus mainstream media. Their zombie like approbation of Gore's film is meaningless. It's a bunch of leftists touting another leftist.
By the way, $20 million is good box office? On what planet??? Even "Little Man," "Benchwarmers" and "Basic Instince 2" made more than that.
I believe that Global warming is a natural cycle and has happened before. The most reasonable "something-other-than-humans-caused" of global warming is that the sun's energy output is increasing, this would also explain Martian global warming. The martian polar caps are "melting" or "vaporizing" are not refreezing to former size. Worse, they are melting away at an alarming rate.
I just think the idea that just because it is warmer today that it ever has been in history on this particular day is stupid. History is really such a short time.
I am 59 years of age, and without fail every July/August in the northern hemisphere it has been hot. Sometimes very hot. I remember two years in a row, the plant that I was working at had electricity taken for rolling blackouts during out fiscal year end process which happens on August 1st. This is just not a unusually phenomenon.
If not that, then what caused temperature changes shown in these graphs? They show that Earth is in a brief period of global warming called an interglacial. The longer time spans, the deep troughs are glacial periods. The line that runs across the graphs is the temperature in 1950 and listed as "0" on the left axis.
I'm more concerned with sustaining global warming to offset global cooling and the next ice age.
|
Ice Ages & Astronomical Causes Origin of the 100 kyr Glacial Cycle
Figure 1-1 Global warming
Figure 1-2 Climate of the last 2400 years
Figure 1-3 Climate of the last 12,000 years
Figure 1-4 Climate of the last 100,000 years
Figure 1-5 Climate for the last 420 kyr, from Vostok ice |
How are you doing? Haven't seen rain like this in over a decade. The drought is OBVIOUSLY over. Summer temps seem reasonable. Should be a great tobacco crop on the right coast...
The kind of change the left has in mind is more envy driven taxes, regulation, and government programs.
But climate change will spur technology instead, and greatly benefit the mostly conservative voting male engineers that invent technology.
Just a few ideas:
Fog, cloud, and snow making machines that convert water into white heat management reflectors.
Fusion power.
Saltwater algae farms that absorb CO2 and emit oxygen or hydrogen fuel gas. The grown algae would be used for biodiesel and alcohol generation. Related to this, genetically engineered saltwater plants could become sea-cactuses, converting saltwater into unlimited freshwater.
It spurred a change with me.
I had some ice cream.
mmmmm global warming
You can talk people into anything these days. Of course, they are looking to be talked into something to worry about.
Interesting graphs. Thanks for posting them.
Cool.
It's hot because ......... It's Summer!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
