Thursday, April 5, 2018

Spring Freeze

This Spring has been one of the coldest I can remember in Ohio. Instead of of having Spring Fever we have been in a Spring Freeze.

It has snowed three times since the middle of March and the forecast is for more snow this weekend.

The same has been true along the East Coast.

This is the snow that blanketed Washington, DC on March 21, 2018.


Credit: Evan Vucci, AP


This was the headline in the New York Daily News on Wednesday in an article written by Chris Sommerfeldt.

Record-breaking, 'ridiculous' April cold and snow set to hit northeastern U.S. this weekend 

Dreams of clear skies and mild weather will have to wait, as forecasters predicted Wednesday that a record-breaking Arctic blast is headed for the East Coast this weekend.
"Ridiculous late season arctic outbreak Fri/Sat," Weather Company meteorologist Michael Palmer tweeted.
Temperatures in the city are expected to drop as much as 20 degrees below the normal and a slushy snow-rain mix will likely start falling on Friday and continue well into Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.
The harshest weather is set to hit the north and central U.S., with temperatures dropping 30 degrees below normal.
Minneapolis is expected to experience the coldest April day ever recorded on Friday, with a high of only 21 degrees.
The Arctic blast will be cold enough to dump snow from Washington to Boston, according to forecasts.

Of course, all of these facts had to make a self-respecting liberal "journalist" a little nervous. Perhaps all of the reports of the harsh spring might make some people start to doubt the global warming narrative that they like to perpetuate.

Therefore, Mr. Sommerfeldt, not content to let the news speak for itself, had to add this to the end of the story.

Despite the unseasonably cold weather, temperatures across the northern hemisphere in general are slated to be far warmer than normal, signaling that this cold front in no way negates the overall warming of the planet.

Notice that Mr. Sommerfeldt states that they are "slated" to be far warmer. That seems to be a prediction that I could not find any basis for. I even reached out to Mr. Sommerfeldt on Twitter and asked him what his source for this claim was. I got no response.

Out of curiosity, I went to the NOAA website to see if they had any reports on average temperatures across the entire northern hemisphere this year.

The most recent Global Climate Report that the NOAA publishes is for February, 2018.

Here is what that report says about temperatures in the northern hemisphere.

February 2018 was characterized by near to cooler-than-average conditions across a large portion of the Northern Hemisphere land, while much of the Southern Hemisphere land had warmer- to much-warmer-than-average conditions. The most notable cool temperature departures from average were present across North America, where temperatures were 3.0°C (5.4°F) below average or lower for some locations. (my emphasis added).

Therefore, Sommerfeldt seems to want to "report" what he wants to happen rather than what actually has happened.

And journalists wonder why there are complaints about "fake news"?

I am not a climatologist or meteorologist. However, I consider myself a practical thinker who makes decisions by looking at facts. I have also learned that it is always important to look beyond the "facts". How are the facts packaged and what is the motivation of the messenger?

Over the years, I have listened to the claims about human created global warming. Without even spending a lot of time on the science, these claims never seemed to make sense to me. The planet is known to have warmed and cooled over the years. Even if the data shows it is warming, how do we know it is caused by man when you look at past history? We know there was an ice age. We also know the ice melted. How did it ice up? How did the ice melt?

I also can't help but be a little skeptical when I also see the changing explanations about the climate. In fact, it does not even seem to be global warming we are worried about any more, it is climate change.

We heard a few years ago that we would see far less snow because of global warming.  When we got more snow, we were then told this was caused by the warming. It is all very confusing for something that is supposed to be so settled in science.

I also remember in the late 1970's and 1980's all of the talk from scientists was concern that the planet was cooling. What happened?  That was only a few short years ago- a speck of time in the history of the earth.

When you consider past history you also quickly realize that God dwarfs anything that man can do. For example, the year 1816 was considered "The Year Without a Summer" after Mount Tambora erupted and the ash seemed to veil the sky across large swaths of earth.  Crops failed around the world and famine followed.  Riots and political unrest were not far behind.  People tend to get really angry when they are hungry. How much did the average global temperature fall that year? - only about 1 degree!

That story has always made me much more concerned about global cooling than warming. A rise in temperatures is actually beneficial for food production. It can extend the growing season further north (or south in the southern hemisphere). Cooler temperatures do the exact opposite.  Given a choice there is little doubt where I come down.

If given a choice between global warming and cooling---I will take warming every time. I don't say that just because I prefer golf and the beach over skiing. There are very significant geopolitical and economic reasons to prefer a warmer over a cooler climate.

Lord, please bless us with the warmth of the spring and summer sun to grow the crops necessary to feed the 7.5 billion people on this planet.

Out with the Spring Freeze. Bring on Spring Fever.

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