Month: March 2017

Uncategorized 23 Mar 2017

State of the Climate 2016 – based exclusively on observations

via Watts Up With That?
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State of the Climate 2016 – based exclusively on observations

A report on the State of the Climate in 2016 which is based exclusively on observations rather than climate models was published yesterday by the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF).

Compiled by Dr Ole Humlum, Professor of Physical Geography at the University Centre in Svalbard (Norway), the new climate survey is in sharp contrast to the habitual alarmism of other reports that are mainly based on computer modelling and climate predictions.

Among the key findings of the survey are:

While 2016 was one of the warmest years on record, global temperatures dropped back at the end of the year to levels prior to the strong 2015/16 El Niño. This fact suggests that much of the global 2015–16 temperature peak was caused by a one of the strongest El Niños on record.

Since 2003, the global temperature estimate based on surface station measurements has consistently drifted away from the satellite-based estimate in a warm direction, and is now about 0.1◦C higher.

Much of the heat given off during the 2015–16 El Niño appears to have been transported to the polar regions, especially to the Arctic, causing severe weather phenomena and unseasonably high air temperatures.

Data from tide gauges all over the world suggest an average global sea-level rise of 1–1.5 mm/year, while the satellite-derived record suggests a rise of more than 3 mm/yr. This noticeable difference between the two data sets still has no broadly accepted explanation.

Arctic and Antarctic sea-ice extents since 1979 have developed in opposite directions, decreasing and increasing, respectively. In the Arctic, a 5.3-year periodic variation is important, while for the Antarctic a cycle of about 4.5 years duration is important. Both these variations reached their minima simultaneously in 2016, which explains the recent minimum in global sea-ice extent.

Prof Humlum said: “There is little doubt that we are living in a warm period. However, there is also little doubt that current climate change is not abnormal and not outside the range of natural variations that might be expected.”

via Watts Up With That? http://ift.tt/1Viafi3

March 23, 2017 at 03:37AM

Uncategorized 23 Mar 2017

Warning Signs Climate Fraud Continues Unabated

via Current News – Principia Scientific International
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Right before they got slammed with cold and three feet of snow upstate, the fake news New York Times announced the early spring due to your SUV. As with almost everything climate experts say, they are lying. Prior to 1950, early spring temperatures in the US were much warmer. The four warmest March 23 dates in the US were 1910, 1907, 1939 and 1928. On this date in 1910, two-thirds of US stations…

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via Current News – Principia Scientific International http://ift.tt/1kjWLPW

March 23, 2017 at 02:24AM

Uncategorized 23 Mar 2017

NASA’s Mars Rover May Finally Be Breaking Down

via Current News – Principia Scientific International
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NASA has found two small breaks in one wheel on the Curiosity Mars, marking the first step in the rover’s long decline.
Curiosity has breaks in the rover’s left middle wheel that appear to have been caused by simple wear and tear. It has driven a total of 9.9 miles since the mission’s August 2012 landing on Mars. The rover only needs to go another 3.7 miles to complete its mission.

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via Current News – Principia Scientific International http://ift.tt/1kjWLPW

March 23, 2017 at 01:46AM

Uncategorized 23 Mar 2017

The Russians Hacked our Winter Weather

via Roy Spencer, PhD.
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Now that winter has officially ended, I thought it would be useful to address the central role that Russia played in ending California’s drought, as well as in the unusually warm conditions over the eastern U.S. this past winter.

First, let’s address the record California rains and mountain snowpack. While such a wet winter usually requires a strong El Nino, we had just the opposite — a weak La Nina.

So, what happened?

California: The “Atmospheric River” Doesn’t Explain It

Blaming the wet winter in California on the “atmospheric river” effect is, in my professional opinion, rather lame. It’s like blaming a flash flood on “too much water”. Well, duh.

So, what caused the atmospheric river?

A persistent series of extratropical storms (low pressure systems) coming into California.

But what caused the storms?

An enhanced temperature contrast between the tropics and mid-latitudes, always required for the formation of such low pressure systems.

But what caused the enhanced temperature contrast?

It wasn’t El Nino, the usual culprit in stormy California winters, because we had the opposite — La Nina.

It was because our winter was hacked by the Russians

It all started back in October, 2016. (Before the election! A coincidence? I think not.)

October experienced an unusually rapid buildup of the cold season air mass in Siberia, as seen in this temperature departure-from-normal map (all maps courtesy of Weatherbell.com):

By November, those unseasonably cold air masses were traveling across the North Pacific, cooling the upper layers of the ocean, and turning the previous Warm Blob of sea surface temperatures into a Cold Blob:

This set up a stronger-than-normal temperature contrast zone (“baroclinic zone” to us meteorologists), which is what’s necessary for extra-tropical storm formation. The temperature departures from normal for the winter months of Dec-Jan-Feb reveal the persistence of this feature, which then led to repeated formation of low pressure systems and the warm, moist flow of air out ahead of those lows as they tracked eastward:

The unusual warmth of the eastern U.S. was likely the result of this chain of events as well. The process has now ended, but not before the cherry blossoms in D.C. were fooled into coming out early, and then the Canadians with their own flavor of frigid air swooped in and ruined everything about a week ago.

So, I suggest it’s time for congressional inquiries into the pre-election Russian hacking of our winter weather.

via Roy Spencer, PhD. http://ift.tt/1o1jAbd

March 23, 2017 at 01:44AM