If you deny that warmer ocean temps -> greater snowfall w/ coastal winter storms, you are not a climate denier. You are a physics denier. — from the Twitter feed of Dr Michael E. Mann, Climate Scientist
* * * *
Boston just experienced its snowiest month on record and, yes, it really is climate change, stupid. In essence, as Michael Mann notes above, it’s a matter of oceanic and atmospheric physics.
Consider the fact that the ocean surface is warming at an unprecedented rate. Consider also the fact that this observed warming is resulting in a number of powerful south to north flows of air over ocean regions and toward the polar zone.
Over the past month, these powerful warm air flows pushed strongly into both Alaska and Svalbard — causing 20-30 C above average temperatures in regions of the Arctic along the 70 to 80 degree north latitude lines. For Alaska, the warmth was so prevalent and intense that it forced the Iditerod sled dog race to be moved 300 miles north for want of snow and ice. On this past Sunday night in Svalbard, just above the 80 degree north latitude line, temperatures were a balmy 1.2 degrees Celsius. An extraordinary above freezing reading in a land where temperatures during this time of year are typically 20 to 30 degrees Celsius below that mark.
(Anomalous above freezing temperatures in the land of winter dark and chill. Also note the very powerful south to north air flows originating from the 30 degree north latitude line and terminating in the Arctic near 70 to 80 north. These flows exist in both the Pacific and the Atlantic — hugging the coastal zone and flowing strongly northward along a reoriented storm track. Image source: Earth Nullschool. Data source: Global Forecast System Model.)
All this warm air moving north must have an impact. And that impact is to leave Greenland and the eastern North American Continent as the remaining refuge for cold Arctic air that would typically amass over a rather thick pack of sea ice. But that sanctuary for cold is increasingly frail and unstable. For the ice is thinner and itself rests upon waters that are warming. So the cold instead moves to land and to land ice — both bodies with physical properties better able to keep cold during the long winter dark.
So the cold flees its previous habitat in the far north near the pole and instead dives about 1,500 miles south over Greenland, Eastern Canada and the US. In the upper atmosphere, this pattern is reflected by a huge trough in the Jet Stream. One that has been repeatedly identified by the crackerjack research of Dr. Jennifer Francis.
(Very high amplitude Jet Stream wave pattern with strong ridge in the west, very deep trough digging through Eastern Canada and the Eastern US, an a return to the strong ridge pattern over the North Atlantic. Image source: Earth Nullschool. Data source: Global Forecast System Model.)
Such a powerful hot-cold dipole in the atmosphere results in extraordinary atmospheric instability. The deep trough alone would be enough to send storm after storm hurtling toward the Northeast US. Storms born of a fury of Arctic cold coming into collision with oceanic moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic.
It is a pattern that has been fixed in place for a month running. One that has delivered storm after powerful storm to the US northeast along a screaming storm track. And one that has slammed these storms into an unprecedented wall of warmth and moisture.
For not only have warm air flows invaded the Arctic resulting in a highly anomalous displacement of cold air southward for an extended period of time. But ocean warmth in a region of the Atlantic just off Boston has provided extraordinary fuel for these storms once they arrive.
For we have observed sea surface temperatures just off Boston in the range of 8-11 C above average for most of the months of January and February:
(Sea surface temperature anomaly map by Earth Nullschool. Note the highlighted region shows an extreme temperature departure of 11.1 degrees Celsius above average. Data Source: Global Forecast Systems Model.)
For reference, a sea surface temperature anomaly of 2 C or higher is considered to be a rather strong departure. The 11.1 C anomaly in the above image is, for lack of a better term, simply off the charts. In rough translation, this amounts to surface waters in the range of 65 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit only about 200 miles or so off the Massachusetts coastline. A coastline regularly seeing temperatures in the range of 0-28 degrees F. The result is a 40-70 degree temperature departure over a very short distance. By itself, this extreme temperature differential would be an amazing storm generator. But the differential alone only tells half the story.
The other half is a powerful explosion of moisture off this much warmer than normal water. A massive mushrooming of moisture just off the coast. And when this very heavy bank of moisture collides directly with displaced onrush of cold and dry air, the amount of snow that is squeezed out can be staggering.
Record-breaking staggering. 8 feet for Boston in one month staggering.
As Michael Mann so saliently noted, you’d have to be a physics denier to not understand the role of ocean warming in either the warm air invasion of the Arctic in the Oceanic zones, the related displacement of cold air over the eastern half of the North American continent, or the fueling of extraordinarily powerful winter storms along the Northeastern Coast of the US.
And to this point, I leave you with the equally salient thoughts of Bill Nye from his twitter feed:
“Would this guy get fired, if mentioned, just mentioned a possible connection, to #climatechange ?” — Bill Nye.
Links:
Michael Mann and Bill Nye Want You to Know Boston’s Epic Snowfall is Tied to Global Warming
Dr Michael E. Mann’s Twitter feed
Scientific hat-tip to Dr. Jennifer Francis
Hat tip to Eric Thurston
wili
/ February 18, 2015Thanks again for another lovely post. I’ve been rather fixated on the anomalously warm air north of Norway for the last couple days. That warmth along with the wind has caused quite a dramatic (but I’m sure temporary) melting event in the local sea ice.
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wili
/ February 18, 2015(I’m referring to the first earth.nulschool image above.)
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wili
/ February 18, 2015More discussion here on recent Arctic ice loss: http://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/index.php/topic,1112.msg45592.html#msg45592 and here: http://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/index.php/topic,1149.msg45610.html#msg45610
Note vid’s comment: ” Yesterday’s February daily delta of –58225 km² would constitute a drop of 757 000 over 13 days. More than in [the first 13 days of] June 2014. Is February the new June? “
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robertscribbler
/ February 18, 2015We have near record low sea ice extent for the day… Just bouncing along the edge of record low levels at the moment.
These warm air pulses just keep riding along. Pacific sea ice near Irkutsk is also very low extent this year. Bering below average, but not quite as dramatic.
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wili
/ February 18, 2015Oops, posted two links in one reply which seems to send me into indefinite “awaiting moderation” limbo. So I’ll try breaking it in two:
More discussion here on recent Arctic ice loss: http://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/index.php/topic,1112.msg45592.html#msg45592
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wili
/ February 18, 2015and here: http://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/index.php/topic,1149.msg45610.html#msg45610
Note vid’s comment: ” Yesterday’s February daily delta of –58225 km² would constitute a drop of 757 000 over 13 days. More than in [the first 13 days of] June 2014. Is February the new June? “
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robertscribbler
/ February 18, 2015Amazing what some warm winds off a winter ocean in a warming world can do, isn’t it?
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wili
/ February 18, 2015Here are two more pieces that are relevant and recent: http://phys.org/news/2015-02-evidence-link-wavy-jet-stream.html
“Study finds more evidence for link between wavy jet stream and extreme weather”
http://phys.org/news/2015-02-tides-deep-atlantic-arctic-ocean.html
“Tides stir up deep Atlantic heat in the Arctic Ocean”
(Thanks to vox_mundi at POForums for bringing my attention to these links.)
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robertscribbler
/ February 18, 2015Ah, the phys.org piece is a rather sobering one. I don’t like it.
Also we see Larson C about to split in half…
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appaling
/ February 19, 2015Interesting. I remember noticing last year that the ice on the Atlantic side vaguely mirrors the ocean floor (the Nansen basin, Gakkel ridge, Lomonosov ridge, etc). I though it may be coincidence, but the paper on tidal mixing seems to point to a real connection. The ridges run essentially in a straight line from the “northern tip” of Greenland, through the North Pole and then on to the New Siberian Islands.
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robertscribbler
/ February 19, 2015Warm water upwelling again…
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Jacob
/ February 19, 2015Regarding Larcen C, I’m looking at images from Polar View taken on the 17th and I don’t yet see a crack which shows that. Conversely, I have seen huge cracks in the Ross Ice Shelf, near Ross Island, which admittedly I’ve been looking at for at least 8 years. Those cracks (on the Ross Ice Shelf) might have existed for decades, thus any large calving event from there might be decades down the line, but either way these cracks (and those on Larcen C) are concerning to me.
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robertscribbler
/ February 23, 2015Jacob —
Please see:
Click to access tcd-9-861-2015.pdf
(Newly developing rift in Larsen C Ice Shelf presents significant threat to stability)
The contrast on Rapid Response makes it a bit difficult to see this rift, but I’ve noticed it there during recent satellite passes.
You’re right about the Ross Ice Shelf, though. Looks like we have serious threats to ice shelf stability along a wide range of the Western Antarctic coastline.
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Mark from New England
/ February 18, 2015Great article Robert! As a snow-sore New Englander I salute your accurate and enlightening article. It actually got up to 28 F today – warm for a change!
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robertscribbler
/ February 18, 2015🙂
I have a buddy who lives in Boston. He’s been haranguing me about the cold and snow. My cousin is a serial climate change denier and has been feeding him fodder. It’s nice to have Mann, Nye, and Francis for a backstop against the nonsense.
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Ryan in New England
/ February 18, 2015Great article Robert. Living in CT I am regularly exposed to ignorant deniers proclaiming AGW to be such BS, because obviously it’s snowing more…I swear my head is going to explode!! Deniers don’t really accept any facts you give them, but when you try to explain the situation of Arctic amplification, greater amplitude in jet-stream peaks and troughs, or the record heat in the oceans off the coast they seem especially hostile and obnoxious. It’s akin to teaching quantum mechanics to toddlers.
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robertscribbler
/ February 18, 2015Some people will always resist change. And climate change is the worst kind of change…
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james cole
/ February 19, 2015I had these discussions often, till I realized that they are immune to even basic physical laws. How do people get to denial of even simple physics. There is something wrong in the education versus media ratio. Education seems to have lost totally to what media peddles. And we can all agree that media has been a tool of Fossil Fuel Corporations. Also, many good people are die hard republicans, and to be simple, you either deny all global warming, or you are likely to find few friends in the republican party. To argue with them has already exploded my head, I simply will not debate these clowns. And they are clowns.
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Ryan in New England
/ February 19, 2015Absolutely James. I mistakenly ventured into the comments section of that Twitchy site where they were making fun of Michael Mann and Bill Nye for pointing out the obvious. They have completely detached from observable reality! The tired old debunked talking points they routinely peddle are literally opposite of what the data and evidence show. Like, “Arctic ice is at record levels.” They are completely immune to any proof you can shove in their faces. They simply dismiss it and assert the opposite. The only thing that can give me comfort is knowing their kids and grand kids will pay for their arrogance and ignorance along with the rest of us. I find that no matter how hard I try, I can’t eliminate the intense hatred I feel for the deniers that proudly proclaim global warming to be a hoax, because look at the snow. They’re complete assholes, every single one.
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climatehawk1
/ February 19, 2015Agreed. Time can be much better spent educating and raising awareness of those who have little or no knowledge. As one climate scientist has put it on his blog, 10,000 Americans come fresh to the climate discussion every day: http://initforthegold.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-d-word-and-s-word.html
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Mark from New England
/ February 19, 2015Ryan,
“They’re complete assholes, every single one.” – especially those in positions of power who should know better, like those in the US or Australian Senate.
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bill h
/ February 19, 2015I guess you could point out that the coldest parts of the Earth tend to be the driest: like those parts of Antarctica where it never snows. The link between heavy snow and very high SST is pretty strong evidence that increased snow is due to increased SST next to cold land.
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Griffin
/ February 18, 2015During the last good snowfall we had here, I was up on a ladder raking snow from the roof like a madman. I was talking to my wife and explaining that is was not the snow loading that was there now, but the snow loading that could be there tomorrow. This was adaptation, I told her. There is no more hoping that things won’t get worse. I was telling her that next week it might very well be pouring rain, and I could see it hit home to her. It was as sad moment when I could see that she finally realized that all the stuff I read about every day was really here, the danger was now. She asked how much we have changed things, I explained that the temps have warmed by about .8C. She asked how much it was going to go up. I said that it would only rise from here and that the severity of these storms, there was no plateau upon which they would remain in strength. Storms of all kinds would only grow stronger as more energy was trapped in our imbalance. It was hard. There was a loss of innocence there as she realized that climate change was not some far off thing that might affect the kids when they are older. She has always believed me before, but I could see that things were happening faster than she ever thought they would. I think this winter in the Northeast has woken up more than a few.
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robertscribbler
/ February 18, 2015We have to get to zero emissions as soon as possible. After that, we need to start going carbon negative. That’s a lot of hard work, but in my view it’s the only way we’re going to limit warming to 2 C this Century.
My best to you and your wife, Griff. My wife works for the Humane Society of the US. She fights off quacks like Berman on a daily basis for similar reasons — pretty much anyone who’s trying to do good in this world faces a pack of hired PR orcs and troll berserker lawyers. So she’s pretty familiar with it all.
I hope the weather doesn’t get too bad for you, or for my friend Campe who lives in B-Town. What I said to him was that last year the British Isles were ground zero for the bad weather that is now building. This year, it appears the US NE is now in the cross-hairs — crazy lake effect snow and Boston buried by 8 feet of the stuff with still no end in sight.
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Griffin
/ February 19, 2015It is hard work indeed Robert, but it sure is worth it. The weather has only strengthened my resolve to educate those around me as to the urgency of the situation. I appreciate the well wishes and I wish the same for you and yours. Spring will be here soon!
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Tom
/ February 19, 2015How can that happen Robert? What politician is going to campaign on that? What modern person is going to give up the easy life to live in the Stone Age? Don’t you see that industrial civilization is going to run itself into the ground no matter what we do at this point?
There are no tools to re-sequester carbon in the time frame needed to ameliorate the 4 dozen self-amplifying feedback loops we’ve triggered by living this way, and now it’s out of our control. Not only that, the methane pluming out of the Arctic (and other places), former permafrost, tundra and boreal forest regions is accelerating. We haven’t “fixed” Fukushima or repaired the damage done to the Gulf of Mexico, so why do you insist on this fantasy that humanity can do anything other than further mess things up? i don’t get it.
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robertscribbler
/ February 23, 2015Oil money for politicians is in the process of drying up as we speak, Tom…
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dtlange
/ February 19, 2015Thanks, Griffin, for the personal story. This sort of thing should be sent to “letters to the editor”, etc.
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Mike E.
/ February 19, 2015Just checked the IJIS, extent is down another 130000+ sq km today, in February. This sets a new record for lowest extent on this day…
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dtlange
/ February 19, 2015Reblogged this on dtlange2.
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dtlange
/ February 19, 2015Here’s the IOP document of JF and SV (Jennifer A Francis and Stephen J Vavrus) “Evidence for a wavier jet stream in response to rapid Arctic warming” for the data etc.
http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/10/1/014005/article
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danabanana
/ February 19, 2015@Tenney
Yeah, the change of the cell’s behaviour is becoming more visually acute.
I posted this last year:
” Now, we are more likely to see atmospheric rivers of moisture running from the Caribbean to Greenland. Or, atmospheric rivers flowing from the tropical Pacific to the Bearing Sea.”
I have noticed this already happening. I check regularly the global flow and for the last 4-5 winters water vapour from the Equator has shifted from a fairly regular North East direction to truer North sending wave after wave of warm tropical moisture.
I believe this is down to the Jet Stream getting weaker and it is more obvious over the Autumn/Winter months (till re-freeze is achieved I suppose). Sat24 can help follow the flow and spot those pesky JT loops that are becomming more common bringing Cold snaps, rain, etc.
Posted by: Climate Changes | December 11, 2012 at 12:32
In 2011 the extreme JT loops were obvious to anyone who knew what too look for. I’m just annoyed that it has taken 5 years for Dr Jeniffer Francis’s work to betaken seriously as time is something we really shouldn’t be wasting.
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danabanana
/ February 19, 2015all but the last paragraph is copiedpasted from a contribution I made to Neven’s Blog in 2012 🙂
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Pat
/ February 19, 2015Tunnels anyone?
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Henri
/ February 19, 2015I think all these reports of record warmth are starting to get to people. I sold my car in the spring of 2011 and didn’t plan to buy the next one until the following autumn. To my friends and relatives I explained I was going totally carless in order to save the environment. I coped so well without a car almost four years in I am still without a car (but I plan to get one eventually).
People who understood back then I was joking now think I was serious and their attitudes have starting to become hostile. Although urban people here often don’t own a car the conventional wisdom is that semi-urbanites like me must own one. I think people are starting to feel guilty about not doing their part and reflect that on me, even though my reasons for not owning a car are almost purely economical. I cope just fine and i use much less money on transportation compared to the time when I had a car – it just makes sense. Environmentally it would only make sense if it became a real movement and thus I am not going to feel any bit guilty when I jump back on the bandwagon. In the meantime in order to avoid confrontation I am encouraging people to believe the reason I don’t have a car is because I can’t afford one.
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robertscribbler
/ February 19, 2015My wife and I own just one vehicle. Maintaining two was an amazing amount of work and effort that I’m happy to be rid of. PHEV now as well. The next one might be a pure EV. In general, my experience is that if you need vehicle transport, one will often do quite well. I’d easily go for zero if the bus service here was better and it wasn’t so dangerous biking in the shared lanes on the road.
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Ryan in New England
/ February 19, 2015I too have been without a car for about three years now. I don’t live in a big city, so I’m definitely an exception. I used to ride my bicycle more, but was hit three times by cars (not one stopped, prob texting and driving, it was daylight) so now I jog or walk. It started when my last car died, and after the initial adjustment in the first couple weeks I grew to enjoy it. I’m certainly not so naive that I think I’m making a difference. I just feel personally disgusted when I knowingly contribute to the worst problem ever. It’s like being an SS soldier and quitting. The Holocaust will still happen if one guy refuses to kill because he persanally can’t do it. And I realize that removing oneself from the carbon industrial complex is virtually impossible and quite a hardship, so I don’t judge those who have no choice but to stay within “the system.” I’ve just come to a point where I can’t do it anymore. And it’s pretty tough getting around in CT the past month and a half!
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Phil S
/ February 19, 2015Been raining all day here in SE Queensland. Winds are building as night falls and Cyclone Marcia draws nearer. It grew from category 1 to cat 4 this afternoon and is expected to make landfall a few hundred km up the coast and head south towards Brisbane late tonight. Predicted king tides add to the theatre.
Wishing you all well and a big thanks for all the posts and comments.
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Vic
/ February 19, 2015Two severe cyclones crossing the coast within hours of each other. Must be time for our Prime Minister to go into hiding again like he does when the big heatwaves and bushfires hit.
While both cyclones are continuing to intensify into category 4 and 5 status, both are also slowing down which intensifies flooding. Not good.
The treefrogs here in the rainforest just south of Brisbane know what’s about to happen. They’re expecting up to 500mm of rain by the sound of it. Oh, and so is the Bureau of Meteorology.
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Mark from New England
/ February 19, 2015Phil and VIc, Thanks for reminding us insular North Americans about the southern hemisphere! Listening to tree frogs sounds good to me now, but dealing with a tropical cyclone not so much.
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robertscribbler
/ February 19, 2015That’s a big double barrel shot roaring in. Not sure if there’s precedent for Australia ever getting hit simultaneously by two storms of this caliber.
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bill h
/ February 19, 2015This hasn’t appeared on the news in the UK either. While typhoons in, say, the Philippines don’t get much coverage, major storms in Aussie, like bush fires, tend to get coverage. Thanks for keeping us informed.
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Matt
/ February 20, 2015Don’t worry Phil, our beloved PM will just need to get the Federal Police to grab another “terrorist” to divert attention!! Perhaps we could give them some ideas such as perhaps a Muslim with an awefully scary looking spoon who is about to hijack the Opera House?
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climatebob
/ February 19, 2015Have you heard about the big crack in Larsen C? This needs watching.
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robertscribbler
/ February 19, 2015This just popped up on the radar a few days ago…
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climatebob
/ February 20, 2015Just done small blog on it. http://www.climateoutcome.kiwi.nz/blog/larsen-c-ice-sheet-breaking-up
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climatehawk1
/ February 20, 2015Nice. I tried to add your blog to my blogroll, but Google said it wasn’t able to detect a feed, whatever that means (in practical terms, it means the blog could be added, but the addition would not be updated with the titles of new blog posts when they occur). If that’s something you’re able to do something about, that would be great. I was able to add someone else’s blog recently after 2-3 years of there being no feed.
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climatebob
/ February 23, 2015Thanks for trying but some of this technology has systems that do not work.
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climatehawk1
/ February 23, 2015OK. If you keep posting new blog items here, I will check periodically to see whether the problem has been resolved.
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Mark from New England
/ February 19, 2015Now here’s a striking image – looks like the central and southern US are now sharing in the cold:
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robertscribbler
/ February 19, 2015Perfect example of warm air invading the Arctic to drive the cold air out.
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Kevin Jones
/ February 19, 2015Watson Lake, Yukon 32F. Columbia, South Carolina 22F (8:30 a.m. EST)
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Kevin Jones
/ February 19, 2015Thought for a moment I better recheck these temps. Confirmed respectively by Environment Canada and the NWS. (jesus)
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Mark from New England
/ February 19, 2015Good find Kevin. Amazing that a place in Yukon is warmer than Columbia, SC. I wonder what the morning temperature was where Robert lives in Virginia?
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robertscribbler
/ February 19, 2015Sharp eye Kevin!
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Colorado Bob
/ February 19, 2015World’s coral reefs face major bleaching event this year, US agency warns
Worldwide bleaching of coral would be only third such event in recent history, driven by high ocean temperatures caused by global warming, RTCC reports
2015 could see coral bleaching on a global scale for the third time in history – and the first in the absence of an El Niño.
That is the latest prediction from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), which has just launched a model to forecast threats facing the colourful reefs.
“It started in 2014 – we had severe bleaching from July to October in the northern Marianas, bad bleaching in Guam, really severe bleaching in the north western Hawaiian Islands, and the first ever mass bleaching in the main Hawaiian Islands,” said said Mark Eakin, Noaa’s Coral Reef Watch coordinator.
“It then moved south, with severe bleaching in the Marshall Islands and it has moved south into many of the areas in the western south Pacific.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/feb/19/worlds-coral-reefs-face-major-bleaching-event-this-year-us-agency-warns
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Ryan in New England
/ February 19, 2015That bleaching article is rather alarming. I shudder to think of how bad it will be when a powerful El Niño does finally emerge.
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wili
/ February 19, 2015Although century-old low temperature records are being broken, there have actually been many more warm records set.
http://mashable.com/2015/02/18/u-s-winter-extreme-cold-record-warmth/
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climatehawk1
/ February 20, 2015Thanks, tweet scheduled.
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Colorado Bob
/ February 19, 2015Arctic ice warms from below
Shrinking Arctic sea ice could cause more-vigorous mixing of ocean heat in northern waters, eventually leading to further melting.
Tom Rippeth of Bangor University, UK, and his colleagues measured water temperatures at different depths and locations across the Arctic Ocean. They found that heat rose more quickly from warm, deep layers
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v518/n7539/full/518277e.html
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Colorado Bob
/ February 19, 2015Drought Hurts Brazil’s Economy, Helps Commodities
The drought it expected to push the price of certain commodities way up.
As I’ve detailed before, the output of some crops, such as Arabica coffee, will definitely be hit. In 2014, Brazil’s drought caused Arabica coffee prices to spike around 50%, while other commodities were falling in price.
This year coffee outputs will be affected once again. In the coffee-growing region of Minas Gerais, the government has already asked that water usage be cut by 30%. This is bad news since that region alone accounts for 50% of Brazil’s coffee production.
The yield this year for Arabica coffee is expected to be about 40 million, 132-pound bags at best. That would be down 12% from 2014. And last year’s smaller crop already left the country’s inventory of coffee at levels not seen in a decade.
http://www.wallstreetdaily.com/2015/02/19/brazil-drought-economy-commodities/
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climatehawk1
/ February 20, 2015Tweet scheduled, thanks.
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Colorado Bob
/ February 19, 2015Brief Communication:
Newly developing rift in Larsen C Ice Shelf presents significant risk to stability
PDF from Cryosphere
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Colorado Bob
/ February 19, 2015177 mph –
– Tropical Cyclone Marcia is crossing been upgraded to a category five system.
– Has made landfall between St Lawrence and Yeppoon, lashing the areas with destructive gusts of up to 295 kilometres per hour (kph) at about 8:00am.
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Colorado Bob
/ February 19, 2015Cyclone Lam and Cyclone Marcia: Twin severe storms a ‘first’ for Australia
Australia’s northern coasts are being battered by two severe tropical cyclones on Friday, the first time meteorologists have seen twin storms of such intensity making near-simultaneous landfall.
Cyclone Lam crossed the Northern Territory coast about 20 kilometres east of the town of Milingimbi as a category 4 cyclone overnight, knocking out two wind monitors in the process.
About 2000 kilometres to the south-east, Cyclone Marcia has now crossed the coast near Yeppoon, close to Rockhampton, on the central Queensland coast. The storm is rated as a category 5 cyclone, the highest ranking.
While twin cyclones reaching Australia are uncommon, Friday’s combination may be the first involving storms of category 3 or higher, said Phil Perkins, a meteorologist with the Bureau of Meteorology in Darwin.
“It’s the first time that we have seen two severe cyclones occurring at the same time,” Mr Perkins said.
Link
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Colorado Bob
/ February 19, 2015The numbers for Fairbanks the next 5 days –
Fri. 28F
Sat 34F
Sun 38F
Mon 35F
Tue 29F
Snow melting in Fairbanks for 3 days in Feb.
Link
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Colorado Bob
/ February 20, 2015It was nearly 44F degrees on the coast of Norway yesterday . At an Elev 351 ft at 60.37 °N, all you people plotting your cold, think about that. If freezes in Miami, and it’s raining in Norway. Then climate change has come home to roost.
By the way, the Arctic circle is 64 °N. Solar power did not drive this number. Heat coming of the Atlantic Ocean drove these numbers.
And California has just had the warmest and driest January on record. So for all the Florida freaks here , giving us breathless reports, take a break . It was 72 at my house today. We should be at 58. Tomorrow, we go to near 80. 22 degrees above average.
So, in denier frame of mind , I’m warm , fat and happy, screw all you crybabies .
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dtlange
/ February 20, 2015🙂
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Robert In New Orleans
/ February 20, 2015Bob, what part of Colorado do you reside in? And what do you think of Colorado as a state to relocate to in general and what part of Colorado in particular would be good relocation site.
I will have to leave New Orleans eventually and I don’t want to be here when the local real estate market implodes.
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Bill H
/ February 20, 2015Though I note that drought is extending across Colorado once again 😉
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wili
/ February 20, 2015Good piece by J. Francis in SkS: “A melting Arctic and weird weather: the plot thickens”
https://www.skepticalscience.com/warming-arctic-weird-weather.html
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