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Birdwell57 · 12-06-2009, 10:30 AM

Extreme winter weather LOL. Photos taken Saturday a.m.. Some places south of us had over 2".

Road Ruler · 12-06-2009, 10:43 AM

On the other side..... I mowed our lawn last week. We live in Canada!

Birdwell57 · 12-06-2009, 12:32 PM

Maybe it's a climate shift.

Gene · 12-06-2009, 12:51 PM

The tectonic plates have shifted again and now North America is upside down. This will result in Canada's Yukon, NWT and Nunavut being tropical paradises. Floridians tired of the long winters will go to Hudson's Bay for relief. Palm trees will be growing along the MacKenzie River. Meanwhile, Mexicans will be shivering and we will be sending them coats Minnesotans no longer need. The Yucatán will be over the North Pole soon and Santa will wear a Mariachi outfit. Ski Mississippi!

Gene

slowmover · 12-06-2009, 01:22 PM

Houston and Beaumont both had snow. Even in North Texas "winter" generally does not arrive until New Years. 40F is about the coldest one expects, overall, down here near the coast.

Bowmans · 12-06-2009, 06:30 PM

Maybe that 2012 stuff about the polar shift IS happening

!

Gene,
Your post was perfect!!

whitelight · 12-06-2009, 07:08 PM

. . . seems to me more like "Global Weirding!"

Silverwanabe · 12-06-2009, 10:08 PM

Strange stuff......

eubank · 12-07-2009, 07:58 AM

It does seem strange that global warming could result in colder temps, but that's really just part of it. The warming part is so slight that you probably wouldn't notice it on your skin on a day-to-day basis. The main effect of this part of the story is the melting of ice in locations where it wouldn't melt before.

However, the other part of the story is the alteration of predictable weather patterns. This most recent storm, for example, came in from the northwest, as you'd expect, and was cold, also as expected. Then came the exceptional part, as predicted in some global-warming scenarios: It dropped all the way down into northern Mexico and then moved east. As a low pressure system, it pumped lots of moisure into the US area. The end result: Snow in southern regions.

Lynn

Isadora · 12-07-2009, 08:23 AM

The thing that is hard to grasp about global warming is that the melting of the polar caps disrupts the Gulf Stream, and the "Atlantic Ocean Pump", which drives our weather, and makes North America cooler and rainier, moderating some of the hot summers and warm winters, and further south, makes it hotter and drier, making tropical moisture disappear. So global warming makes new weather patterns all over, and snow in Mississippi. It has been at least 10 years since we had a really good snowstorm in Missouri, but in recent years we get winter rains and lots of ice. Our agriculture zone is changing, and armadillos are as far north as Nebraska and roadrunners are seen in Missouri. I can grow zone 8 plants here that I couldn't grow just a few years ago.

kennethowens · 12-07-2009, 08:31 AM

The main effect of this part of the story is the melting of ice in locations where it wouldn't melt before.

It would seems that our knowledge of the polar regions
is too limited to know this for certain. Less than 100 years
of recorded data hardly seems enough data to reach
this conclusion. We know that trends in the short-term
do not necessarily led to absolute conclusions in the long term.

Quote: "If you don't know what will happen, how can you say
when it will happen".

Gene · 12-07-2009, 08:33 AM

In the past few years we are seeing insects here we never saw before. For the past several decades, snowmelt at high altitude in Colorado has been happening earlier and earlier. That snow stores water for later use, but if it melts early, it disappears too fast leaving aquifers unfilled and rivers drier than ever by late summer. Reoccurring droughts are weakening tree sap production allowing beetles to bore into trees and kill them—many, many trees are being lost to extreme beetle infestation unknown before the last few decades. In normal years the sap encapsulates the beetles and kills them; no precipitation, very little sap.

Gene

Freeheel · 12-07-2009, 08:33 AM

I think you can "blame Canada" for this latest bout of chill. Here's the view of the Calgary skyline outside from my office this morning - somewhere near -30ish I think. Tomorrow they're calling for -42 higher up in the mountains. Doesn't matter what system you use F or C, that's a chilly day!

Gene · 12-07-2009, 08:34 AM

By taking ice cores in Greenland, weather patterns and CO2 in the atmosphere can be determined for 10's of thousands of years in the past.

Gene

eubank · 12-07-2009, 08:40 AM

I wish I could blame the return of prairie dogs to this valley on global warming, but that's not in the cards. Can't wait until another outbreak of the plague to wipe this population out.

Lynn

Isadora · 12-07-2009, 08:56 AM

Lot of interesting stuff on here from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute

Common Misconceptions about Abrupt Climate Change : Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

kennethowens · 12-07-2009, 08:56 AM

the plague to wipe this population out.

You included, or just other people!

Must be one of those "Nuclear 'Streamers"

Gene · 12-07-2009, 05:02 PM

Lynn, the Black Plague in Europe came during the Little Ice Age. You have a long wait.

Gene

Birdwell57 · 12-07-2009, 05:22 PM

You guys are freaking me out. I'm too young to freeze to death or be black plagued. I should have titled the post "snow on airstream in Mississippi".

OB Bambi · 12-07-2009, 05:25 PM

I think (hope) Eubank was referring to the Prairie Dog Plague.

I was just reminising about the good old days of the North American Ice Age. (When the glacier went as far south as New Mexico).

Randy Bowman