Just a reminder: Cold Kills

As a reminder of the devastating effects cold can have on humans, we have this report about the latest cold spell in Europe:

Toll from Europe freeze tops 220

Temperatures plunged to new lows in Europe where a week-long cold snap has now claimed more than 220 lives and forecasters warned Friday that the big freeze would tighten its grip over the weekend.

A total of 223 people have died from the cold weather in the last seven days according to an AFP tally, with Ukraine suffering the heaviest toll.

In addition to the deaths, some...shall we say...interesting weather has occurred. For instance ice skates might become more useful than a gondola in Venice. And you might want to leave the toga home when you go to Rome.

In Italy, Venice's canals started freezing over and even Rome was dusted in snow.
...
Temperatures plunged to minus 35 Celsius in some areas of Poland.

In Bulgaria parts of the River Danube froze over

Snow Falls in Rome as Italy Is Hit by Cold Snap

A rare snowfall blanketed Rome on Friday, forcing the closure of the Colosseum over fears tourists would slip on the icy ruins, and leaving buses struggling to climb the city's slushy hills. Other parts of the country experienced frigid temperatures unseen in years.

Authorities stopped visitors from entering the Colosseum, the adjacent Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, the former home of Rome's ancient emperors, although those already inside the ruins before thick flakes began coming down in late morning were allowed to finish their visits. The director of the ancient arena, Rossella Rea, said there was concern visitors could fall on ice.

The last substantial snowfall in Rome occurred in 1986, though lighter snowfalls have occasionally and briefly blanketed the city since, including in 2010.

Then there's the heating problem in the city...

Since the capital infrequently sees freezing temperatures, heating in homes is only allowed by law for about 10 hours a day, to cut down on pollution. The cold snap, with temperatures hovering at or just below the freezing point, meant Romans shivered in their homes, many with tile and marble floors.

The cold in Poland has halted the annual swim, too.

Deep freeze hits Poland's hardy lake swimmers

"In the interests of our participants' security, we've decided to call off this year's Bath of the Brave," Ireneusz Dzienisiewicz told Poland's PAP news agency.
...
But temperatures in northern Poland have plunged to minus 30 Celsius (minus 22 Fahrenheit), far below the minus 15 Celsius experienced by swimmers in 2010 during the coldest ever edition of the event.

On top of the risks to the swimmers, there were also practical reasons for cancelling the event.

"The water freezes so fast that we wouldn't be able to keep a large enough hole in the ice," said Dzienisiewicz.

Ho-hum. Nothing new here

Seems ever year we get a report of something like this:
18-Mile Crack Seen by NASA in Antarctic Glacier

In the next few months, scientists expect the glacier to create an iceberg about 350 square miles in area. It will probably float northward, melting as it goes.

And at about this time of year, too. Problem is, the glaciers push out onto the sea, become unsupported from below and crack. Do they then float off as the article suggests? Sometimes. But just as often they refreeze when the Antarctic winter reappears. Which happens to be right around the corner.

ps Don't believe the tag line at the end of the article that says both poles are losing ice. Aint' happening.

About that cold....

It has begun...

BRITAIN COLDER THAN ICELAND: NEW ALERT AS TEMPERATURES PLUNGE TO -11C

Okay, it's not 80 F below zero, but for those in the British Isles, it's pretty cold. And snowy!

I wonder what the temps are in East Anglia?

So close!

More about cold from Watt's Up With That

Bitter cold records broken in Alaska - all time coldest record nearly broken, but Murphy’s Law intervenes

Jim River, AK closed in on the all time record coldest temperature of -80°F set in 1971, which is not only the Alaska all-time record, but the record for the entire United States. Unfortunately, it seems the battery died in the weather station just at the critical moment.

Yep. When the temperature reached -79 degrees F at 18:34 on January 28th. Surely it got below -80 degrees F. No?

According to Anthony, the electronic weather station used at Jim River is built to operate at temperatures from -40 to 150 degrees F. The lithium batteries used to backup the solar power used during the day also is built to operate from -40 to 150 degrees F. Not sure if we can blame Murphy for this or not. Seems more like a SNAFU.

From the "Let's Hope They're Wrong" Department

Yesterday I linked to an article from the UK Daily Mail about the low output of the sun and how this may be a harbinger of global cooling. (Forget global warming - it's Cycle 25 we need to worry about)

Today, Anthony Watts of Watt's Up With That posted his take and concludes:

Nature (the reality, not the journal) will be the final arbiter of truth in this. We live in interesting times.

The last sentence is sometimes considered a curse.

Anthony has lots of interesting additional graphs that point to an "Oh. My. God!" scenario. Go take a look.

Might be time to rethink the baseball season that runs into November.

Just saying.

Forget Global Warming (a hoax) and Start Worrying About Global COOLING!

Anthony Watts of Watts Up With That? has a breaking story from the AAS (American Astronomical Society): Sun’s Fading Spots Signal Big Drop in Solar Activity

Mr. Watts quotes Space.com on the three (3) studies which indicate that wee could be in for some global cooling and NOT warming because, you know, the SUN provides us with heat and it will be taking a nap for a short period if the researchers are correct.

Some unusual solar readings, including fading sunspots and weakening magnetic activity near the poles, could be indications that our sun is preparing to be less active in the coming years.

The results of three separate studies seem to show that even as the current sunspot cycle swells toward the solar maximum, the sun could be heading into a more-dormant period, with activity during the next 11-year sunspot cycle greatly reduced or even eliminated.

******
The Maunder Minimum, a period roughly spanning 1645 to 1715 when sunspots were extremely rare, is believed to have triggered The Little Ice Age. Alpine glaciers swept down valleys creating refugees out of the mountain people. And Hans Brinker skating on the Dutch canals?

How about the Dalton Minimum (1790-1830)? It too produced lower temperatures and, with the increase of volcanic activity, produced the Year Without a Summer, 1816.

So start knitting your sweaters now. Drive your SUVs as much as you want. Store up on 100W incandescent light bulbs. We may need all the warmth we can muster.

Global Cooling threatens species!

Or, at least, makes it easier to catch/kill them.

Iguanas, a non-native of southern Florida, are having trouble with the latest cold snap.

Cold Killing Iguanas Extended cold could kill invasive iguanas

With this week’s evening temperatures falling toward the upper 30s, strange fruit may drop from South Florida trees: non-native, invading iguanas that many residents consider more pest than pet.
...
It is legal to kill iguanas, but it must be done humanely. Among the options is decapitation.

The adult iguanas can measure up to a yard in length. There is no closed season or bag limit. Might be a good place to take the air rifle for some small game hunting target practice. (Can't be "hunting" since the durn things are pretty much immobile which precludes any semblance of "fair chase.")

No recipe at the site but several commenters say iguana tastes just like chicken.

Any way. Go read the entry at Watt Up With That? And don't forget to read the comments. Some of them are hilarious while others are informative.

Little Ice Age anyone?

They might not have actually done anything, but those UN and government entities that attended the Copenhagen summit on Global Warming last month have certainly succeeded in bringing global warming to a screeching halt.

...record freezing weather grips Europe, North America and Asia

Great Britain may be heading for a Dickens of a winter. (That's a joke. Laugh!) Switzerland is getting buried in snow. As are Germany, Austria, China, and Russia. The US, too is colder than an igloo. Even India has had more than its share of cold, cold temperatures.

Funny that there's been no mention of conditions in Canada. Perhaps, like the Alaskans, cold to a Canadian is 1- something one experiences every, freakin' year so it's--you know--normal or 2- there's a reason for all those Canadian license plates heading south on the US interstates and no one is left to report on conditions up there. If the latter is the reason for the lack of reportage, I wish the migrants would just leave their damn weather home or, better yet, ship it north to someplace like Churchill where they know what to do with it.

[PS: It's still snowing here. Hasn't stopped all morning and now afternoon. 40% chance my a**! And the wind has picked up a little as well. Out of the north-northwest naturally.]

Forget RED October, This last one was sorta blue.

As in cold. I thought it was a bit chilly.

NCDC has compiled the October temperatures and it ended up the 3rd coldest in 115 years. As we have shown it was cold over almost all the lower 48. Indeed only Florida came in above normal.

Only 1925 and 1976 had colder Octobers. And it wasn't just the US.

Also the University of Alabama global temperature is out and it is down this month. Hadley came in late for September but it was down. The trends since 2002 continue down for both even as CO2 rise.

(More at October 2009 3rd Coldest for US in 115 Years at What's Up With That.)

And, WUWT also points out that it's just not the Fall that's been chill, Spring in the Southern Hemisphere has also been cold: Chilled Kiwi’s: Coldest October since 1945

Winds of November come early

Bringing an early winter...What the hell happened to Fall?

And with these recent winds, this comes to mind:

Cha- cha- cha- changes!

Man, I hate it when plan falls apart.

My niece is getting married on Saturday...in New Jersey. She asked me to do a reading at the wedding and I agreed. That means I need to be there for the rehearsal on Friday night. Terry got back from her sojourns to Indianapolis and Pittsburgh on Saturday and I, who had been babysitting the cats, was just starting to enjoy some meals cooked by her. I planned on traveling with her to NJ for the wedding and then back to PA and on up to the Bolt Hole for deer season. (NY muzzleloader starts this Saturday and rifle season is the Saturday after that.)

Then I got a phone call from my buddy Mark. Seems that the cold temperatures are hitting hard at the Bolt Hole. It was down to the high teens Monday night/Tuesday morning. He was going up and wanted to know if I wanted him to build a fire in the woodstove.

Now, when I left, I thought the temperatures would be a bit warmer in early October than they have been so I didn't drain the pipes. The place does seem to stay warmer than you'd expect but still, 16 or 17 degrees outside is going to cool things off considerably. I told him to go for it. Build that fire.

And then I looked at the weather forecast for the next couple of days and saw that the night time lows were going to be, if anything, even lower. That got me a bit worried as Mark's only going to be there for the one night. Soooo....

I packed my bags, rifles, ammo and all the rest of my hunting gear and will be putting it in the Tundra early this morning and heading north.

Just to keep the place warm.

It means I go back to eating my own cooking. Which is dull in comparison to what Terry does.

It also means I will be traveling down to NJ from the Bolt Hole on Friday while Terry drives in from PA. She'll be in the Jeep Compass because of a forecast for possible snow and sleet in the higher elevations on Friday. (Not north of the Catskills, however.)

I hate it when a plan just flat out falls apart.

I'm blaming Al Gore for this inconvenience.

Good news on the global warming front

Farmers' Almanac predicts numbing cold this winter

The almanac, which has been published since 1818, issues annual forecasts using a formula based on sunspots, planetary positions and the effects of the moon.

This winter, the 200-page publication says it'll be cool and snowy in the Northeast, bitterly cold and dry in the Great Lakes states, and cold and snowy across the North Central states.

It says the Northwest will be cool with average precipitation, the Southwest will be mild and dry, the South Central states will be cold and wet, and the Southeast will be mild and dry.

Sunspots? What are they? We've had an incredibly peaceful and inactive Sol for over two years now according to this. (And it seems we had a spotless August 31 as well.) You don't mean to tell me that a bunch of guys have figured out that it is the SUN that drives our weather and climate. Do tell!

Of course the government disagrees:

The almanac's forecast, however, is at odds with the National Weather Service, which is calling for warmer-than-normal temperatures across much of the country because of an El Nino system in the tropical Pacific Ocean, said Mike Halpert, deputy director of the NOAA Climate Prediction Center in Camp Springs, Md.

"The stronger El Nino becomes, the more confident and the more likely it will be the northern part of the country will have a milder-than-average winter," Halpert said.

The problem with Mr. Halpert's statement is that this is a weak El Nino and is expected to break up before the new year is well under way.


I usually go with The Old Farmer's Almanac as opposed to The Farmer's Almanac sited here. Although I will usually buy both to, you know, "compare and contrast" as they say in the essay questions. Weather is so seldom a "True" or "False" proposition.

As for the Old Farmer's Almanac's accuracy...well, let's just say it's entertaining. They weren't terribly accurate with last year's forecast for warmer weather or anything. But a copy of the OFA always rests in the most important room in the house. You know, the one every one spends some time sitting in with nothing much to do but peruse a magazine or some book with short articles/stories.

Global Warming ain’t what it used to be

From Watts Up With That? we learn that Lake Superior is freezing over. Something it historically does every 20 years or so, to be sure, but the last time it froze over was 2003 so that makes it a tad unusual for it to have done so again so soon.

Checking the satellite data it seems that every one of the Great Lakes is pretty much frozen over except Lake Ontario.

The Aerie is at the tail end of the lake effect snow from Lake Erie. The Lake, having been frozen for some time now has failed to supply the moisture for the usual lake effect snows. That coupled with short but intense warming spells mixed with rain from the south has caused virtually all the snow cover around here to disappear.

The Bolt Hole is an entirely different story! It is located down wind of Lake Ontario (the one that didn't freeze) and, therefore, has had an abundance of snow this year. Mark tells be there's still three feet of snow on the ground in the fields and maybe four in the woods. When there's been a warm spell or rain, it has served only to pack the stuff down into a denser, icier mass that is even more resistant to melting.

Another beautiful day at the AerieBut cold...very cold

Another bright sunny day here at the Aerie. But it was colder than a well diggers'....

This morning's low was exactly 0.0 degrees and this afternoon warmed up to 17.2 degrees. It was both colder and warmer down in the valley but not by much. Where ever they have the Weather.com station located, the low and high were 7 and 21 degrees, respectively. The average high for that location on this date is 33 degrees.

You may have heard that Buffalo State College hosted the national teach-in on Global Warming Situations today. It was minus six degrees (-6) at 6 AM.

No to worry, it will warm up this weekend to around 40 degrees.

And Watts Up With That? reported that the RSS global temperature anomaly made a significant jump upward for January. That's supposed to mean the Earth was warmer. Maybe when you take the entire Earth into account it was--but not here!

Tomorrow I'll have to do some work on the wood pile. The stuff I had moved into the garage is currently in the fireplace and there are some rounds outside that need splitting. If I wait until just after noon, the sun will be shining on the area and I can actually get warm from doing the physical labor even if it is only supposed to be in the 20s.

Well shiver me timbers!

I trust you all had a great Fourth of July. If you're going out to a fireworks display here in the northeast, however you might need to bring an umbrella and/or a heavy jacket.

The average high temperature for this date is supposed to be 80 degrees F. Here at the Aerie on a bright sunny day it managed to reach 71 degrees F. On Wednesday when we left to go birding at 6:00 AM it was a down right chilly 48 degrees (although it did get up toe 75 in the afternoon).

Maybe I should start replacing my CFL bulbs with 100 watt incandescents. And, while I'm at it, I'll put in a regular hot water heater instead of my on demand one...maybe coal fired.

I tell you, something's got to be done about this Global Cooling. I read that the preliminary data for June says the month was bloody cool compared to the base used by the alarmists. That's what, three months in a row now? (I'll hunt up the link later but I believe Tigerhawk had something about this back on July 2 and his link is over on the right.)

Folks, the world's temperature hasn't been going up for 10 years. What we are seeing with all this rush to do something is a group of people who 1) have a monetary vesteed interest in our being driven to the slaughter and 2) see a power grab that they too can participate in--one in which, once the power is ceded to them--they will never, ever relinquish even should there be an ice age in the making.

Speaking of ice age, I wonder if the snows around Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park will melt before the snows of NEXT winter start arriving?


UPDATE: Here are the links to the items mentioned above:
Tigerhawk’s report of the preliminary June data: The globe cools: Unofficial June data shows temperatures below base line

And, according to this: Going-to-the-Sun Road, they did manage to get the road open on July 2nd.

Was the Captain's name Franklin?

What’s so funny about an icebreaker getting stuck in the Arctic ice? Why, it wasn’t just any icebreaker it was an eco-tour to the Northwest Passage to view first and the vanishing Arctic sea ice. They were stuck in the ice for several days. Ice that wasn’t supposed to be that thick. If it was there at all.

You can’t make this stuff up!


(h/t to TigerHawk )


The reference to Franklin can be found here: Franklin's lost expedition

My Day

I woke up at 2 AM this morning expecting to hear all sorts of rain falling on the roof of the Aerie and dripping down the gutter spouts. At first I could hear nothing because the hacking and coughing of blocked bronchial passages kept me busy. When I was able to catch my breath, however, there was no rain. I tried to roll over and go back to sleep.

For nearly an hour I tossed and turned and occasionally coughed before I finally gave it up and got dressed and headed downstairs where I was beset by three kitties who demanded to be fed even if it was just 3 AM. To preserve life and limb, I fed the hungry little buggers and then sat down to the computer. There wasn’t a whole lot of new material on the web sites I usually visit and in looking over the news sites (Yahoo, Google, NY Times, Newark Star Ledger, etc.) I could find precious little to excite my blogger bones. Even Drew Curtis’ FARK, Lucianne, and the Drudge Report had no real grabbers. (Although I did spend time reading an article or two here and there.)

On the off chance that some of the bloggers were out and about early I went to search out some of the New Jersey/New York cadre.

First I went back to a nauseating post by Jimbo of Parkway Rest Stop: Al Gore’s Dog, Pony and Global Warming $how.

Any time you want to unearth the truth about a scam, just follow the money. An awful lot of it seems to be finding its way into Mr. Gore’s increasingly tight-fitting jeans. Way too much for a person who is supposed to be pouring it all out to “Save the Planet”, if you ask me.

(The temperature at that time was a very modest 43 degrees at around 6 AM. It would eventually start raining but the temperature would only rise to around 47 degrees until the rain stopped and the sun came out at 5:00. Then the thermometer would register the high for the day: 53 degrees, before it would again begin to cool as the sun sank in the west. According to Weather.com, the average high for this date and location is supposed to be 66 degrees.)

Poking around a bit more I came upon the information that was painfully obvious: This last April was one cool customer. According to NOAA, the US experienced the 29th coldest April in 114 years and the coolest in 11 years.

Searching some more amongst my NJ acquaintances, I found TigerHawk up and at ’em early and posting about A climate change skeptic goes to Greenland I clicked though to see what Greenland was all about and found the Climate Skeptic (he deserves the capitals) to have a web site documenting all sorts of hanky-panky with the scientific data and lots of references from other Skeptical Scientists. I spent lots of time there just checking out the “settled science” unsettlers. I Love My Carbon Dioxide Trust me, he’s posted lots of stuff and it will take you a good long while to go through it and you’ll be pretty peeved at the end.

Finally, I ended my morning at Ann Althouse’s site where she asks: ”Why bury trees?” The question is in response to this article in The New Republic about a report coming out of the University of Maryland suggestion just such an action (burying trees) as a means of sequestering carbon dioxide. Ann also asks: “But wouldn't it be much better to bury paper — like all that newspaper and office paper that we've been wasting energy recycling?” I believe she’s got a point.

I surfed the net for a few more hours, hung some drapes in the downstairs bedrooms, went to a church dinner with Terry (great chicken and biscuits) and now It’s getting dark, the Mets may never start play and I’m ready to hit the sack.

Good nite all. Try to stay warm.

Brrrr!

Hot (so to speak) on the heels of record snowfalls last week in Anchorage, Alaska and Minnesota
(not to mention the morning temperatures in the upper 20s here at the Aerie) come these reports:
The Pacific Decadal Oscillation flips, and California cools
Global warming could stop NATURALLY for ten years,' say scientists

Guess those carbon offsets are really paying off, heh?

(That reminds me. If it gets much cooler, we’re all going to have to start talking like Canadians, eh? Spelling things funny like neighbour and colour. And start participating in curling leagues. The Canadians--I refuse to call them Canucks--could be heading south to stay instead of just for a couple of weeks at the Jersey/Delaware/Maryland shore. And that's okay--as long as they leave the Quebecuois up north. Can't read or speak English--tough!)

A bit on the nippy side

A mere 28 degrees at 7 AM this morning at the Aerie. After a day filled with mostly puffy, cumulus clouds, the sky cleared completely last evening and remains without a trace of a cloud this morning. The lack of blanket permitted what little heat that had accumulated during the 55 degree day to escape.

Tonight there's a warm front coming in--I hope--and the temperatures will rise into the 60s during the day and drop "only" to the mid 30s at night. Of course the front will also bring some rain with it. There's a 50% chance of showers tomorrow. Thursday is our usual birding day around the county. I just might forgo that to continue on the basement ceiling.

Global Cooling runs rampant in north-central PA!

After a foggy, rainy, chilly day yesterday, last night’s temperature just kept moving downward as it eventually bottomed at 34 degrees here at the Aerie. We’re in for more of the same today with overcast skies and some drizzle in the forecast. Tonight’s temp? Supposed to be in the mid to high 20s. I had to turn the heat on again as the indoor temp sank to 62 degrees.

Anyone hear from Al Gore lately?

Guess we’ll have to bring in the plants on the deck. Sure am glad we didn’t do any serious plantings yet.

(It's not much colder at the Bolt Hole either. Just hope the water pipes don't freeze as I didn't drain them last week and there's no heat except the sun.)