Real Climate Science

Five weeks ago, the morons at the LA Times warned that New Mexico would never recover from the drought.

As an extended drought bakes the West, nowhere are ravages of changes in the climate worse than in New Mexico.

Aug. 6, 2013

But nowhere is it worse than in New Mexico. In this parched state, the question is no longer how much worse it can get but whether it will ever get better — and, ominously, whether collapsing ecosystems can recover even if it does.

Chuck Jones, a senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque, said even the state’s recent above-average monsoon rains “won’t make a dent” in the drought; deficits will require several years of normal rainfall to erase, should normal rain ever arrive.

In New Mexico, water levels in the once-mighty Rio Grande are so low that it is often referred to as the “Rio Sand.” In some parts of the state, officials fear ecosystems are collapsing.

New Mexico is the driest of the dry – latimes.com

And five weeks later, New Mexico is flooding

Bandelier National Monument experienced two large flood events, one late afternoon Thursday, Sept. 12 and the other this morning.

Flooding in Frijoles Canyon prompted Superintendent Jason Lott to close the monument for the safety of visitors due to debris on trails and the potential for flooding throughout the weekend.  Bandelier staff will begin clean-up efforts as soon as rains subside and hope to re-open the monument by Monday, Sept. 16.

Los Alamos Daily Post | Your locally owned community news source…

• State Parks Temporary Closures:  Morphy Lake, Coyote Creek, Brantley Lake, Elephant Butte Lake main boat ramp.  Open with possible debris issues:  Santa Rosa Lake (risen 20 feet in last 48 hours), Sumner Lake (+ 24 feet last 48 hours), Conchas Lake (+ 5 feet last 24 hours).  Other temporary closures possible as necessary.  (3:51 p.m.)
• Rio Grande is at 8 feet, 1 foot below flood stage at Otowi between Pojoaque and Los Alamo, National Weather Service reported just before 3 p.m.  Also warning people to stay away from the river from San Felipe downstream through Bernalillo County as flood surge expected.  (3:30 p.m.)
• West Road in Los Alamos is CLOSED.  All other roads in Los Alamos County are open. Los Alamos County crews will continue to deal with all flooding and road issues by priority. NMDOT also has crews on site to clear any rock fall on Main Hill Road. Please be patient as we work through the issues and avoid travel if possible.

KASA – Rains cause evacuations, flooding in NM

Is there no way to shut these climate nincompoops up?

There must be federal money to be had in a big flood, because the flood information being released by the City of Fort Collins is utter nonsense.

According to the National Weather Service, the Poudre reached 14.56 feet — nearly seven times its average during the previous four days — at 8:15 a.m. Friday. At that peak, more than 420,000 gallons of water passed a stream gauge every second.

City officials says that the Poudre’s flow through the city has decreased to less than 9,000 cubic feet per second — or about 67,000 gallons per second. The city hasn’t used Poudre River water in its drinking water system since Sept. 6, and advises people not to play in or drink untreated flood water.

North Fort Collins shelter to open at 3 p.m. as bridges remain closed | The Coloradoan | coloradoan.com

According to the city, the flow is down 85% since the peak.

I surveyed and photographed most of the Poudre’s 15 mile path through Fort Collins today, and there is no evidence that water was ever more than a few inches higher than it is now. No mud, no debris, no foliage damage more than a few inches above the current water line.

This next photo shows mud several inches above the current water line.

The next photo is of a different drainage – Spring Creek. It is obvious that the high water mark was a couple of feet higher than the current level, but there is no similar evidence on the Poudre.

The city’s claims about the Poudre are either due to instrumentation error, or somebody is making stuff up. The flood was nowhere near as big as the city is claiming.

The Boulder, Colo. area is reeling after being inundated by record rainfall, with more than half a year’s worth of rain falling over the past three days. During those three days, 24-hour rainfall totals of between 8 and 10 inches across much of the Boulder area were enough to qualify this storm as a 1 in 1,000 year event, meaning that it has a 0.1 percent chance of occurring in a given year.

Colorado’s “Biblical” Flood in Line with Climate Trends | Climate Central

What a complete load of crap.

Twitter / afreedma: How the #boulderflood relates …

I’ve been out touring Fort Collins on my bicycle most of the day. It is one of the most beautiful days I have seen here. Sunshine, the grass is green, lots of water – and the only thing preventing life from being completely normal is the nanny-state blocking roads and trails off unnecessarily.

Biblical flood? More like an epic party weekend at CSU with their first home football game tomorrow.

Lyons resident Howard Wachtel joked to the Associated Press news agency: “This is more like something out of the Bible. I saw one of my neighbours building an ark.”

I doubt anyone in Lyons actually spells neighbors like that.

BBC News – Thousands warned to evacuate amid Colorado floods

h/t to tom0mason

Reader Dave Brockless sent this over from the Hampshire Chronicle.

This is unrelated to either emissions from your SUV or Newcastle United’s current goal scoring drought.

Looking for Starfish on the famous La Porte tidal flats.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwp0BXIMTVM]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRu4hCrtjP0]

I don’t think there is any way to get in or out of Fort Collins/Loveland right now. All the bridges across the Poudre and Big Thompson Rivers are closed. The Big Thompson River in Loveland has more water than it did in the 1976 flood.

CDOT (@ColoradoDOT) on Twitter

He missed the key word in the headline.

Colorado flood: “Wall of water” flattens out in Boulder – The Denver Post

Russia is celebrating its eighth annual ‘day of conception’ as couples in the eastern region of Ulyanovsk are being advised to stay at home to procreate.

Governor of the region Sergey Morozov has urged bosses to allow men and women the 12th of September off work in order to try and reproduce.

In past years prizes have been awarded to couples who give birth in exactly nine months from the unofficial public holiday. In 2012 the winning pair were presented with a jeep, while in 2011 the award was a jeep.

Skip work, have sex: Russians celebrate ‘day of conception’ as sporting community continues to criticise Putin’s anti-gay legislation – Europe – World – The Independent

The UK Met Office is claiming :

the ice continues to thin and the volume of sea ice continues to shrink.

Is Arctic sea ice shrinking or expanding? | Met Office News Blog

I responded with this :

Will it get published?

h/t to Marc Morano