One particular graphic that was popular on the Web on Tuesday showed the average snow cover during December, January and February. It showed that snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere was about 45.5 million square kilometers — at least 1 million square kilometers more than what it was in most of the 1990s.
“If you wanted to say that there’s no global warming, then, yeah, look at December, January and February,” said Kevin Trenberth, a distinguished senior scientist in the climate analysis section of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. “But as soon as you look at March, April, May and June, you have a very different picture.”
What’s at play with the high winter snowfall, he said, is increased moisture in the air, which leads to bigger snowstorms. And that, says Trenberth, is not a result of colder air, but of warming ocean temperatures.
Winter snow cover must be weighed against springtime lack, scientists say – LA Times
The high winter snow extent is due to cold air pushing the snow line further south. Trenberth is suggesting that snow in Florida is due to an increase in humidity? It doesn’t get much stupider than that.
Exactly. He is confused about the difference between snow cover and snowfall amounts. As if extra snow in Quebec increases snow cover for the hemisphere.
Don’t Phil and Kev talk to each other any more?
“The study also examined anomalies during the pause in global warming that scientists have observed since 1998. They found that warming continued at most locations on the planet and during much of the year – but that warming was offset by strong cooling during winter months in the Northern Hemisphere.”
http://www.uea.ac.uk/mac/comm/media/press/2014/December/extreme-temperatures-CRU
I don’t think they care any more. Just fob off the news reporter with a few one liners and put no thought into it at all. That’s all the effort it’s worth when you think about it… the believers will still believe.
I totally agree. The believers have made up their minds. Even conservatives are ignoring any empirical proof. They continue to chant the “cut GHG emissions” mantra.
Their latest attempt: Warm air equals more snow. But snow is a thing of the past thanks to the magic of AGW. Which is it boyos?
They are losing their collective minds, but sadly have a large audience. What are the odds of the current Republican leadership in Washington gutting them………. I mean gutting their funding.
The argue that cold ‘dry’ areas fill in with snow that otherwise didn’t have any. The historical images I’ve seen, although limited, suggest that the snow line simply moved south. It really only takes a dusting on one day of winter to give these ‘cold and dry’ areas snow cover for the whole winter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXl1GkWWGmA
As Gail pointed out, the new snow falls when it is 40+ degrees! So this is warm snow.
Spring snowfall cover quantities are extremely sensitive to slight shifts in time of melting. Move the melt forward just a few days and the seasonal “amount” declines precipitously.
Trust me, you can’t increase our humidity much in Florida. It stays maxed out for most of the year.
I am sure that a properly parametrized computer climate model can exceed your real world observations. There are people who argue that the sine function cannot exceed 1 but they are just rigidly applying the laws of nature.
Sine, tangent, secant… at this point what difference does it really make anyway?
Just freeze some of it out the air. 😉
“What’s at play with the high winter snowfall, he said, is increased moisture in the air,”
Not according to this from Solomon et al.
Abstract
Stratospheric water vapor concentrations decreased by about 10% after the year 2000. Here we show that this acted to slow the rate of increase in global surface temperature over 2000–2009 by about 25% compared to that which would have occurred due only to carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. More limited data suggest that stratospheric water vapor probably increased between 1980 and 2000, which would have enhanced the decadal rate of surface warming during the 1990s by about 30% as compared to estimates neglecting this change. These findings show that stratospheric water vapor is an important driver of decadal global surface climate change.
https://www.sciencemag.org/content/327/5970/1219.abstract
He can say stupid stuff because the majority of Americans are stupid and will believe it.
For the last several years, I have looked at ocean temperatures when there has been significant weather events such as droughts or unusual snowfall. Moisture that falls in the west comes from the Pacific Ocean. Moisture that falls in the Midwest comes from the Gulf of Mexico. The Eastern seaboard can get moisture from both the Gulf and from the Atlantic. When there has been droughts in California, the ocean temperatures have been warmer than average. When there has been unusual occurrences of snow in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, etc., the Gulf and the Atlantic have had temperatures lower than average.
So much for the theory that increased ocean temperatures are responsible for increased snow and wet weather.
http://sparkleberrysprings.com/v-web/b2/images/climate07/04mcabefig4lg.png
The scientists are smarter than you are.
The personal and individual arrogance evident on this blog is beyond belief… with the blog owner being the pre-eminent example. Selective quotation, recollection and application of logic do not trump reality. Baghdad Bob would be right at home here.
The planet is warming.
Try dealing with it instead of denying it.
Try dealing with the fact that every alarmist model has failed. Try dealing with natural climate change, and feed some hungry kids.
Only a moron would deny that climates change, but it takes a special kind of moron to deny natural variability.
So you believe that snow in Florida is due to an increase in humidity? You are a genius.
Are there any any actual scientists working for the White House on climate? I doubt it
http://www.woodfortrees.org/graph/rss/from:1996.5/plot/rss/from:1996.5/trend
Dear bjchip, the posts and discussions at this blog deal regularly with the question of how we know that “the planet is warming”, what data we have and what assumptions we make.
How do you know that “the planet is warming”? Your comment suggests that you think so because “the scientists are smarter” but since you mentioned the application of logic I assume you know what “argumentum ab auctoritate” fallacy is.
Do you have other reasons to think so? Did you study the data and the methods?
“The scientists are smarter than you are.”
As if you would know…
“The scientists are smarter than you are.”
That is the stupidest comment I have seen in years. Is the guy going to go down and kiss their feet?
Actually from all the PhD’s I worked with through the years I really really doubt that. I would not have gotten picked out by the VP of a major company to troubleshoot and help Phds at other plants if they were ‘smarter’ than I was.
The only reason I do not have a PhD is because I chose to marry instead. I had three offers in two different countries to pursue a PhD in Geology and I am a chemist!
I should add the biggest problem with PhD’s is specialization. They can not see outside their own little box.
Science is denying it. So you are arguing against science? Morons often do.