Global Climate Change Science News

[macdoc]

And we should believe them because all their work has been so pin-point accurate so far? Not.

Yes as matter of fact they've erred on the conservative side. Do you really feel if ou repeat tripe it will smell better the umpteenth regurgitation????



and there is no doubt the weather is more extreme which was also shown to be a consequence.

There is no moral position that would naysay China from building fossil fuel plants as that's what the west did to build wealth.

China is ALSO building more carbon neutral power than anyone else - world's largest solar and 26 nukes being built and more in the planning stage and THAT will be their edge

The US is a fucking mess because of it's loonie toon political system paralysed by the idiotic rightwingdings that even the centrists republicans are getting fed up with. Nimby treehuggers on the left are just about as whacked as their right wing counterparts.
At one time the US led in engineering and get it done mentality.....that has been high jacked by loonies on both sides.

Sweden is second most competitive in the world AND THE GREENEST AND have had a carbon tax since 1990.....fucking dimwit deniers just don't get it.

Now can we get some science news back here instead brain dead denier rants.

[pErvinalia]

oooh there are bad people out there let's kill everyone You don't turn a $7 trillion dollar energy system into carbon neutral quickly and you certainly don't by wringing your hands in despair.

Nor do you by living in a capitalist fantasy land.

There is no moral ground to naysay China the right to build on cheap fossil energy especially when it is also bullding more carbon neutral than anyone else.

Who said there was? You seem singularly unable to follow a simple line of reasoning. THE PLANET doesn't give a fuck where the gas comes from. How much more simpler can I make this?!?

You have no solution so put or shut up.

You've got no solution either. You've got a fantasy. Good luck with that. Capitalism will save the day!

Start by getting out there and getting that fuck head abbot out of power

Sure, I'll just do that this afternoon. This point is exactly why we are fucked. We are a stupid stupid people. While ever stupid people are in charge of putting the politicians in power, we will continue to get bad outcomes. How this is even surprising to anyone is beyond me. You're smart enough to know this.

meanwhile this is NOT good news

now we're in it.....this is not good news....

Exactly. Maybe you are starting to get it...

[macdoc]

5th warmest without an El Nino

Toasty November Vaults 2013 Into Top 5 Warmest Years | Climate ...

www.climatecentral.org/.../toasty-novem ... nto-to...‎
by Andrew Freedman -
Dec 17, 2013 - That puts 2013 on track to be the warmest year on record without an El Niño event, depending on where December temperatures rank. El Niño ...

Last month was the warmest November since record-keeping began 134 years ago, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported Tuesday. The latest data, combined with more recently reported by NASA, showed a record global average surface temperature for November, particularly in Eurasia, where Russia experienced its warmest November in history.

According to NOAA, the global average surface temperature for November was 1.4°F above the long-term average for the month, and much of Russia, northwest Kazakhstan, south India, southern Madagascar, parts of the central and south Indian Ocean, and areas of the Pacific Ocean were record warm. That surpassed the previous record-holder of November 2004 by 0.05°F, and is the 6th-highest monthly departure from average of any month on record, according to NOAA.

Russia had its warmest November since records began there in 1891, with some parts of the country, including Siberia and the Arctic islands in the Kara Sea, seeing temperatures that were more than 14°F above the typical monthly average.

We'll see the final tally in a few days but not much will change for the year...

Welcome to 2014 of the Holocene.....

[macdoc]

and that's only the last weekend in December in North America....for those of you not so versed in Fahrenheit....that's a 49 C difference between Georgia and North Dakota.

The weekend before Christmas proved nightmarish for many travelers and surreal for holiday shoppers, as Winter Storm Gemini tied up air travel and record warmth forced East Coast residents to hang up their coats and don short sleeves instead.

Now, this freakish weather is being etched into the record books. Let's step through some of the highlights, starting with the record warmth.

Historic December Heat


Observed highs on Saturday, Dec. 21, 2013.


Observed highs on Sunday, Dec. 22, 2013.

Persistent southerly winds brought a massive influx of warm air north from the tropics, sending temperatures to record levels in at least 18 states. Dozens of daily records were broken.

More significant, however, are the monthly records that were broken in several large East Coast cities with very long periods of weather record-keeping. The following cities tied or broke all-time record highs for the month of December:

Augusta, Ga.: Saturday's high of 83 broke its all-time December record high of 82 previously set eight times, as early as 1967 and as recently as Dec. 6, 2013.

Norfolk, Va.: Sunday's high of 81 broke its all-time December record high of 80 previously set three times, as early as 1978 and as recently as Dec. 6, 2013.

Jacksonville, Fla.: Sunday's high of 84 tied its all-time December record high previously set eight times, as early as 1956 and as recently as Dec. 9, 2013.

Savannah, Ga.: Sunday's high of 82 tied its all-time December record high previously set four times, as early as 1967 and as recently as Dec. 6, 2013.

All four cities have weather records dating to the 1870s. Notably, in all four cities, the top 10 warmest December days on record have all occurred since 1956, and all four had just tied their December record high a few weeks ago – strong hints that climate change may be upping the odds of balmy December temperatures.

The record warmth wasn't limited to the daytime hours; the tropical air mass also kept nighttime temperatures unusually high. The National Weather Service in Sterling, Va., said Saturday night was "the warmest December night in the recorded history of the Baltimore-Washington metro area" by an impressive margin of six to nine degrees.

Since low-temperature records are measured from midnight to midnight – essentially capturing parts of two nights – the final numbers are not quite that extreme, but at least three major cities still set all-time December records for the warmest calendar-day lows ever observed:

Baltimore: Sunday's low of 62 crushed the previous December record of 59 set Dec. 23, 1990.
New York City: Sunday's low of 61 broke the previous December record of 59 on Dec. 4, 1998.
Philadelphia: Sunday's low of 59 broke the previous December record of 58 set Dec. 23, 1990 and Dec. 5, 1973.

All three of these cities have very long records of weather data dating back to the early 1870s, which means these monthly records are especially significant. Baltimore's record was even more impressive because it is the warmest daily low ever recorded there in all of meteorological winter – the months of December, January, and February.

Despite the exceptional warmth recently, the total number of record highs nationally since Jan. 1 remains slightly lower than the number of record lows. This is a radical departure from 2012, when record highs outnumbered record lows by a 5-to-1 margin, according to statistics compiled by NOAA's National Climatic Data Center.


24-hour rainfall ending 7 a.m. EST Sunday, Dec. 22, 2013. (Image credit: NOAA)

Unprecedented Rainfall

The air mass that brought the record warmth also carried extraordinary amounts of tropical moisture. This was wrung out by a large storm system, leading to a multi-state area of very heavy rainfall. Several locations broke December records for single-day rainfall:

Paducah, Ky.: Saturday's rainfall of 5.26 inches surpassed the previous December one-day record of 4.65 inches set Dec. 3, 1982. Records in Paducah began in 1937.
Pine Bluff, Ark.: Saturday's rainfall of 4.94 inches surpassed the previous record of 4.70 inches set Christmas Day, 1987. Records in Pine Bluff date back to the late 19th century.
Cape Girardeau, Mo.: Saturday's rainfall of 4.12 inches beat the previous record of 3.92 inches set Dec. 24, 1982. Here, the period of record is relatively short, back to only 1960.
In addition, Indianapolis picked up 2.57 inches of rain, second only to the 3.46 inches they saw way back on Dec. 3, 1873. Evansville, Ind., also had its second-wettest December day on record, narrowly missing a record set in 1932.

Not only were daily and monthly records broken, but the heavy rainfall pushed Macon, Ga., to its wettest calendar year on record; with exactly 4 inches of rain Sunday into Monday, the 2013 total of 70.47 inches has obliterated the city's old record of 67.80 inches in 1929.

The exceptionally moist tropical air mass also set all-time December records for total atmospheric moisture ("precipitable water" in meteorological jargon) as recorded by weather balloons at Wilmington, Ohio, and Nashville, Tenn. Saturday evening.

The widespread nature of the heavy rainfall – some of it falling on frozen ground – led to serious flooding from the Ohio Valley to eastern Arkansas, as many rivers quickly rose above flood stage in response to the runoff.

Climate scientists widely agree that the frequency of heavy precipitation events such as this will increase as the average global temperature increases due to climate change.

http://www.weather.com/news/weather-for ... l-20131223

[pErvinalia]

Australia has pretty much broken every heat record on the book for the last year (by year, by month, by day, by anything). We've never had a hotter day, month, year, consecutive days, etc since records began. Somewhere in central Australia has already had 47C, and summer has just started. It's going to be another shocker this summer, I expect.

[macdoc]

Got any links on it.?...have a couple of denidiots elsewhere who need a whack aside the head....

[pErvinalia]

I'd have to google. The CSIRO or the Climate Council might have a good article about it.

[macdoc]

I got it

Experts see more freakish hot weather
Date
January 1, 2014

Australia's hottest-ever year, and Canberra's second-hottest year on record, could have been even worse were it not for neutral El Nino conditions and early monsoons, according to weather experts, one of whom described 2013's extremes as "freakish".

And after a hotter and drier-than-usual December, Canberra's fire services are geared up for a potentially dangerous month to come as the outlook for January predicts a higher chance of dry conditions.

For Canberra, 2013 narrowly missed being the city's hottest year on record, with an average temperature across the year of 21.7 degrees - just .05 degrees cooler than the record-breaking 2006.

Around the country, all capital cities recorded temperatures in their top-10 hottest for the year. Sydney and Adelaide sizzled through their hottest years ever. Despite "blitzing" hot weather records, University of NSW climate expert Sarah Perkins said 2013's heat was not a surprise after a pattern of more heat extremes and fewer cold-weather records over the past three decades.

Dr Perkins said the multitude of records broken in 2013 (hottest year, hottest month, hottest day) was made extraordinary by the fact that the El Nino Southern Oscillation index was neutral, with no tendency for the hotter, drier weather typically associated with El Nino summers.

"The last two summers have both fallen as neutral summers, and we've seen quite record-breaking conditions. So if we were to have an El Nino year in one of these two summers it certainly would have seen more amplified extremes," she said. "If it weren't for human-induced climate change, occasionally a record would be broken here or there, but you certainly wouldn't get nearly as many in one year. That's a very freakish thing to have."

Read more: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-new ... z2p7dzNFLK

what was that about global warming isn't real?? :rolleyes:

[pErvinalia]

2013 is the year Australia marked its hottest day, month, season, 12-month period and, by December 31, hottest calendar year.

"We're smashing the records," said Andy Pitman, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science at the University of NSW. "We're not tinkering away at them, they're being absolutely blitzed."

Global interest in Australia's weather flared early. In January, when models predicted heat that was literally off the charts, the Bureau of Meteorology added colours to maps - a deep purple and pink - to indicate maximum temperatures of 50-54 degrees.

But for David Jones, head of climate analysis at the bureau, 2013's stand-out event was a month largely overlooked by a media diverted by football finals and federal elections: "From a climate point of view, what happened in September was probably the most remarkable." September's mean temperature soared to be 2.75 degrees above the 1961-90 average, eclipsing the previous record monthly deviation set in April 2005 by 0.09 degrees.
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Maximums were 3.41 degrees over the norm, with South Australia's out by 5.39 degrees and NSW's by 4.68. Victoria's mean and minimum temperatures exceeded previous anomalies.

Nationally, the warmth broke the previous September mean record by 1.1 degrees.

January baked, Australia's hottest month in its hottest summer. "January was incredibly hot for such a long time for such a large area," said Jones. "In many ways we were very fortunate not to have had a frontal system like Black Saturday (in 2009) to draw down that hot air into a coastal zone with a gale force wind."

Fires destroyed hundreds of properties in Tasmania in January and a similar number in NSW in October. Hot years are now about 2-3 degrees warmer than cool ones 100 years ago. "It's a very large change," Dr Jones said. "That's the equivalent of moving in the order of 300-400 kilometres closer to the equator."

...............

Global temperatures are rising too. Last month was the hottest November in data going back to the 1880s, the US government said. That puts 2013 on course to be the fourth hottest on record.

Jones dismissed claims regularly aired by climate sceptics that the planet stopped warming in 1998: "Certainly there is no global surface data set which shows 1998 was the warmest on record."

Professor Pitman said 2013's likely rank as the world's fourth hottest year is more remarkable because the most significant driver of climate variation - the El Nino-Southern Oscillation in the Pacific - remains in neutral mode.

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/clima ... 2zqpf.html

[pErvinalia]

Here's a good article with some temperature maps for both land and sea:

The last 10 months have been abnormally warm across Australia and we’ve seen a notable lack of unusually cold weather this winter. Are we heading for the hottest year on record?

Australia’s hottest day on record
Australia’s hottest week on record
Australia’s hottest month on record
Australia’s hottest summer on record
Australia’s hottest September to June (10 months) on record

http://www.australasianscience.com.au/a ... ecord.html

[pErvinalia]

Holy shit, it's looking like an evil summer this year. Summer has just started, and all-time records are under threat :

Scorching start to 2014
Ben McBurney, Wednesday January 1, 2014 - 15:34 EDT

2014 will begin very hot over parts of Australia, as a band of intense heat sweeps across the nation putting records in serious danger with temperatures likely to near 50 degrees in parts.

The focus of the heat on New Years Day will be over the country's interior with temperatures likely to push into the mid-to-high 40s.

Coober Pedy in South Australia's Northwest Pastoral is forecast to hit a sizzling 48 degrees, and if it is reached, will be a record for any time of the year. Roxby Downs is also set for a high of 48 degrees, while Oodnadatta can expect 49 degrees. A bit further south, Leigh Creek should soar to a high of 46 degrees, which will put the record of 46.3 degrees set 25 years ago in danger.

Tomorrow, the heat will shift a little further east. Birdsville in western Queensland is forecast to reach a toasty 48 degrees, while Moomba in northeastern SA may experience even hotter temperatures, with the town's record of 49.5 degrees at risk of being challenged. Alice Springs is predicted to reach 43 degrees, however there is the risk it could get even hotter with the town's record of 45.2 degrees in danger.

By Friday, the most intense air mass will be centred over northern New South Wales and western QLD. Anywhere from Mount Isa to Longreach to Charleville to Moree to Narrabri and possibly Dubbo are likely to sizzle in temperatures in the mid 40s. Windorah in QLD is set to reach 47 degrees, just shy of its record of 47.6 degrees, while Bourke and Walgett in northwest NSW can expect to soar to 47 degrees.

On Saturday, the air mass will begin to break down a little. However, intense heat will still be experienced across much of QLD, with only the southwest and far north likely to escape. It will likely be the hottest day Brisbane has seen in more than half a decade with it expected to soar to 39 degrees in the city. Western suburbs will be even hotter, with some parts possibly seeing their hottest day in almost two decades with a forecast of 43 degrees.

From Sunday, a high pressure ridge will contract the scorching conditions to far northwestern QLD. However, some parts could see their longest stretch of heat on record, with Longreach on track to see nine consecutive days of 43 degrees.

http://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/scor ... 2014/26268

[macdoc]

A year of weather extremes for Northern Ireland
Barra Best
By Barra Best
BBC Weather

Livestock and wild animals were affected by the snow storms in March
Continue reading the main story
Northern Ireland review of 2013

It has been a remarkable year for Northern Ireland weather.

We endured the coldest spring for more than three decades, we finally enjoyed a barbecue summer, and winter storms battered the coast.

Winter hit hard in mid-January when snow led to power cuts for thousands, it delayed and cancelled flights and provided the first big test of winter for gritters.

Speaking on the day the snow hit, Colin Sykes from the Roads Service said: "We've had more than 300 staff and 132 gritters on standby.

"We have been gritting all this morning and today, and we expect to grit all through this evening and night."

The bigger snow event hit two months later in March which, incidentally, was the coldest March in 50 years.

It provided postcard scenery and lots of fun, but it also caused devastation for sheep and cattle farmers who lost thousands of animals to the elements.

Army helicopters were drafted in to deliver food to livestock.

"Farmers are nothing if not resilient and with the help of the government's fallen stock and fodder transport schemes many began to rebuild their businesses," Harry Sinclair, president of the Ulster Farmer's Union said.

"Fortunately, the weather for the rest of 2013 was much kinder to farmers. The good summer weather and mild autumn/winter has meant that harvests have been good, fodder stocks replenished, slurry spread and livestock were out in many fields well into November.

"For the most part farmers are ending 2013 on a high and are hoping that 2014 brings with it good weather."

Portstewart
In December, a children's playground in Portstewart was flooded by waves crashing over the sea wall
Emergency services were also used to deliver food and medical supplies to homes in the countryside that were cut-off by the snow.

"We've had people who haven't been able to get their medication, so we've been arranging to have that delivered," PSNI officer Alison Ferguson said in March.

"We've also used the helicopters in the most inaccessible areas to try to get supplies to those homes."

Mediterranean temperatures
It was in July that the weather went from one extreme to another, with the summer heat-wave most people had been waiting for.

For two weeks we basked in temperatures normally recorded around the Mediterranean.

At one point, temperatures soared to 30.1C - that is just below the all-time record high of 30.8C set at Shaws Bridge in Belfast on 12 July 1983.

more
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25491923

and Merrie Olde is still getting hammered...

The Environment Agency has said there are 46 flood warnings in England and Wales, 26 of which are in the south west of England.

Devon battered by severe weather

New Year's Day brings heavy rain

Rain and winds bring new year misery

Search for man washed out to sea

Cork city centre flooding alert

New Year's Day flood warnings for UK

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25567975

what was the bit about tidings of comfort and joy ???

[macdoc]

AGW and the Arctic Dipole ...see where the jet stream is?? That is driving insane weather in North America and Britain



Greenland and Alaska are both warmer than central Canada as is a good chunk of Mars.
still heading down here



warmer to the north

Nuuk, Greenland
Friday 8:00 AM
Clear
undefined
[HILITE]-5°C | °F[/HILITE]
Precipitation: 0%
Humidity: 46%
Wind: 16 km/h
TemperaturePrecipitationWind

While this is not climate....it IS climate driven as the Arctic warms. Good read for those inclined to understand..

http://www.polarresearch.net/index.php/ ... 15787/html

snip.....

Arctic amplification is a consequence of the atmospheric general circulation on the planet, enhanced locally by sea ice and land processes. Ice albedo feedback (insolation) is well known, but a main feature in recent years is the change in upper ocean heat storage in newly sea ice-free ocean areas, the sea-ice insulation feedback. The release of this stored heat to the atmosphere affects tropospheric wind fields which in turn impacts atmospheric and oceanic advection of heat and thus the distribution of sea ice.
Direct observations of such changes were made on recent cruises of the Japanese research vessel Marai (Inoue & Hori 2011).

The sensitivity of one-way shifts in Arctic climate to multiple amplification processes may be greater than previously recognized (Miller et al. 2010; AMAP 2011; Serreze & Barry 2011). This amplification can be driven by internal or external forcing or both, as observed during the ETCW and in the previous decade.

Increased atmospheric temperatures over loss of sea ice areas, creates a meander in the polar vortex flow which will have different downstream effects in different years. Given a continuing trend for increased temperatures and thinner sea ice in the Arctic, modelling results and the data from recent late autumns, December 2008, 2009 and 2010, [HILITE]suggest that the frequency of an autumn warm Arctic—cold continents climate pattern will increase[/HILITE], but because of competing processes, such as changes in Arctic stratospheric flow and the chaotic nature of atmospheric circulation in the sub-Arctic including blocking events, it will not be clearly manifest in the same way in every year.

Sure is manifest this year......brrrrrrr

Climate change means extremes....we certainly are seeing it and the insurance companies are wincing.

[cronus]

Polar Vortex Alert - Polar Vortex Alert - Day After Tomorrow Scenario - Polar Vortex Alert - Polar Vortex Alert

N America weather: Polar vortex brings record temperatures

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25609411

Parts of the US are braced for potentially record-breaking low temperatures as a "polar vortex" brings more freezing weather.

A winter storm has already blanketed areas of Canada and the north-eastern US with up to 2ft (60 cm) of snow.

It has been blamed for 16 deaths and the cancellation of more than 5,000 flights since Wednesday.

A plane from Toronto has slid into snow as it turned onto a taxiway after landing at New York's JFK airport.

No-one was hurt in the incident but all flights at the airport were suspended for two hours because of icy runways.

The plunging temperatures result from the polar vortex, a counter-clockwise-rotating pool of cold, dense air.

(continued)

[macdoc]

With the fronts stalling for long periods and the jet stream waggles these swoops of dense cold air are getting common place.... - we are sitting on hinge point - looks like the major storm skidded by to the north.