Real Climate Science

We are now confident that global temperatures are increasing, and that this is most likely due to human greenhouse gas emissions

http://metofficenews.wordpress.com/

Meanwhile, back in the real world ……

http://www.drroyspencer.com

All 31,487 signers of the Oregon Petition are frauds.

We used to call people like this “delusional” or, to use the medical term, “nuts.” Now, if we’re Republican politicians, we call them “Sir” or “Ma’am,” for they are The Base.

Here’s how my epidemic started: A while back I mentioned global warming. To save you the trouble of looking it up, I’ll summarize: The scientific debate on that is over.

I was pretty sure it was, that climate change had become a political controversy rather than a scientific one. The mail on that column clinched it. People called me a tree-hugger, a liberal, a socialist (two out of three so far, and after watching the new Congress, I’m softening on the third). One guy, out to retire the Non Sequitur Award, called me a “womanizer.”

In all this spittle-spraying, no one presented a fact. It was like arguing in second grade: “Global warming is a hoax because you still have that ’60s mustache, Barack Obama hates white people and Glenn Beck is Lord.”

A repeating theme was reference to the Oregon Petition, supposedly signed by “31,487 scientists who dispute the myth of global warming.”

Such a petition exists. The 31,487 scientists are iffy.

http://www.rgj.com/article/20110206/COL06/102060327/1321/NEWS

Everyone with an IQ over 30 knows that cold and snow are caused by trapped heat.

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/06/krauthammer-climate-religion/

Arguments against global warming hardly based on fact

Is a new ice age on the way despite evidence of global warming? Interestingly enough, we may have been on the verge of a new ice age, until it was averted by recent warming. So, a little climate change was not a bad thing, but the current data and the projections indicate that we are about to seriously overdo it. Some people dispute the warming. Is this position based on the facts?

Graphs and articles (mainly from the Internet) have been distributed claiming that historical data shows no warming in recent history, and that present annual temperatures are lower than in the past. I was sent some such graphs recently, and recognized the graphs as being plots of Greenland ice core isotope data used to reconstruct annual average temperatures during the last 50,000 years. Anyone can download this climate data from NOAA (U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). It appears that some have, and then severely misinterpreted it.

When I graphed the data myself, I realized that what the climate change denier author of the “cooling” graph was using as “recent” data ended in the 1800s! This is because ice slowly accumulates from snow. Data of this kind gives the values for 95 years before a “zero” year, and the zero year may be 1950, or another starting point. Recent data (not dependent on ice cores) is collected at weather stations such as at Angmagssalik, Greenland. This weather station shows the same pattern of recent, rapid warming since the 1970s that is found in other weather station records.

http://www.lethbridgeherald.com/

This guy ran over 10,000 miles last year.

BELGIAN runner Stefaan Engels set a world record after crossing the finish line of his 365th marathon in as many days yesterday.

Engels, dubbed the “Marathon Man”, began the extreme physical challenge a year ago in Barcelona.

He competed a race a day in seven countries: Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Canada, Mexico, Britain and the US.

Engels said that he did it as a personal challenge and to be an example for others.

“After running 20 triathlons in one year, I was not ready to go back to normal life,” he said. “I also wanted to inspire people by showing that if I could run a marathon a day for an entire year, that anyone could run or bike a little each day or do something about their weight problem.”

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/

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It was -9F (-23C) in Juarez, Mexico this week.

http://www.hprcc.unl.edu/products/maps/acis/MonthTDeptUS.png

January 2011 Climate Summary
High Plains Regional Climate Center 02/04/11

La Niña conditions were present across the equatorial Pacific this month and are expected to continue into spring 2011.  The temperature outlook indicates a higher probability of above normal temperatures for much of Kansas and Colorado.

http://www.hprcc.unl.edu/articles/index.php?id=228

A San Francisco Superior Court judge has temporarily halted the implementation of California’s Global Warming Solutions Act over its “cap-and-trade” regulations.

The Global Warming Solutions Act (officially known as Assembly Bill (AB) 32), signed into law by then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006, requires California to cap greenhouse gas emissions in the state at 1990 levels by the year 2020. These requirements are phased in over several years, and are to be fully implemented by January 1, 2012. “Greenhouse gases” generally include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, and industrial gases such as hydrofluorocarbons. The U.S. Government states that these greenhouse gases, including those released by humans when burning fossil fuels, are increasing, and cause global warming.

At issue in this case were the cap-and-trade regulations put into place as part of AB 32.  These regulations were approved by California’s Air Resources Board (ARB) last December after a lengthy rulemaking process.  The lawsuit over AB 32’s cap-and-trade provisions largely came from environmental groups who complained that ARB’s cap-and-trade plan “fails to minimize greenhouse gas emissions and protect vulnerable communities”. Superior Court Judge Ernest H. Goldsmith agreed in part, ruling that ARB adopoted its cap-and-trade regulations prematurely, without adequate opportunity for public comment and the discussion of alternatives.

http://www.examiner.com

Will Torres start? Will Gerard try to take him out?