It was kind of chilly today

[hellziggy]

-15ºF when I left for work today. Yeah, it was cold.

We live in Minnesota. Deal with it!

I'm so tired of seeing "Oh, it's really cold out. Where's the Global Warming now?" posts & comments all over the internet. Grrrr.

A few cold days do not disprove the fact of global warming or climate change.
No conclusion about climate can ever be drawn from a single data point, hot or cold. If that was the case, the argument that "It's really cold now, global warming must not be real" would be totally negated by those July days where "It's really hot now. It must be global warming!"

Weather ≠ climate. The temperature of one place at one time is just weather, and says nothing about climate, much less climate change, much less global climate change. As WCCO's Chief Meteorologist Paul Douglas says, "Don't confuse weather with climate. Weather is a snapshot, climate is a long term trend."

Since the mid 1970s, global temperatures have been warming at around 0.2°C per decade. Over the last decade, daily record high temperatures occurred twice as often as record lows. This tendency towards hotter days is expected to increase as global warming continues into the 21st Century.

Climate change is real and a few below zero days don't change that.

Comments

[ltlpengy.livejournal.com]

Hear Hear!

[ninja-tech.livejournal.com]

Heh. I am glad there are others who get sick of the cold and snow complaints in Minnesota. :D

[snowcalla.livejournal.com]

"Since the mid 1970s, global temperatures have been warming at around 0.2°C per decade. Over the last decade, daily record high temperatures occurred twice as often as record lows. This tendency towards hotter days is expected to increase as global warming continues into the 21st Century."

Well...we used to THINK we knew that. Until we found out the data we were relying upon had been manipulated. Since then, the raw data has been checked in at least 2 countries - Russia and Australia - and in BOTH the data was wrong, manipulated, etc. That the temps haven't been rising since the 80's and perhaps the 70's.

Now we have a study in (that needs to be cross-checked) that finds there has been no rise in CO2 levels in the atmosphere for the past 160 years. This is the underlying cause (in the theory) of AGW - that we have caused more CO2 to be in the atmosphere which is the "greenhouse effect" which then causes global temps to rise.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091230184221.htm

None of this means anything conclusive one way or another as far as AGW. What it means is scientists need to be looking into this more - but AGW is far from a proven fact. Climate change is, of course happening and has happened and will continue to happen. The questions deal with what impact, if any, humans have on climate and what we can do about it, if anything.

[hellziggy.livejournal.com]

I hadn't seen that study yet. I'll have to go check it out.

[scubagrrl.livejournal.com]

Awww, why let reality and facts get in the way of a good sound-bite? Besides, if global warming is real, we might have to change our ways, and we can't have that. :)

I knew WCCO was a good source! I'll have to make sure I read their website more often.

[hellziggy.livejournal.com]

The part that freaks me out the most is the rate that the ice caps are melting. Regardless of how or why, that tells me the climate is changing.

[whimsywinx.livejournal.com]

Do you follow Adam Baldwin on Twitter? Cuz your mood indicator is all kinds of ironic.

[hellziggy.livejournal.com]

I don't. When I heard he was on Twitter I also heard he was a rabid Republican. I already have too many of those in my online lift. :)

[whimsywinx.livejournal.com]

I haven't unfollowed him yet because occasionally there are pictures from the Chuck set, but he's not a believer in the Global Warming thing, which makes me want to smack him. He also baits the liberals when he's bored.