The Official Global Warming/Climate Change Thread

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Especially when the soil has also been denuded by wildfires.

[raynev1 1,886]

Improper placement of infrastructure has negative effects when all parameters aren't taken into consideration , like erosion control , weather conditions and drainage alike . Seen it happen so many times , someone trying to save a buck can have grave consequence . And some places shouldn't be developed at all , without extensive research . Heavy rain on hard dry land can move mountains .

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Yep.  Water is the universal solvent as any first year chemistry student can tell you.  Infrastructure and its maintenance is one of the first sacrifices made on municipal and state budgets when the funding is needed for some counsellor's pet project.  Often is is penny wise and pound foolish.  Costs millions to recover from some preventable disaster.

Why do people build houses in flood plains?

[Sabretooth78 808]

Historically speaking, fertile soil and transportation would be the first things that come to mind.  Some of these people have respect for the conditions (the land giveth and the land taketh away) and many others do not.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Been a long time since The Dust Bowl, but here we go again.  When the fertile top soil is gone, where will you grow your food?

And this just in.

A sensible move.

[tankmank 853]

To answer you questions about why do people build on flood plains, some of the primary reasons are desperation, in terms of people living in some of the poorest countries. Money though is probably the primary reason, it is cheaper to build housing on a flood plain in the UK despite government and scientific reports against it, historically like stated transport and resources; flat land, fertile soil, food and water. 

And where will you grow food with no top soil, if you have the money you will buy special seeds that can survive in poor soils, and pump water from deep underground adding tonnes of fertilisers. It is and has been done in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt. But in places such as Sub-Saharan Africa where the soil is poor and can be blown away simple measures such as small walls, planting hedgerows of native plants has helped to improve local soils allowing cultivation. 

Or failing that we will grow it in large buildings using hydroponics. 

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

This is an article for the deniers.

And the same thing is going on in the Himalayas as well.  What do you suppose will happen to people when the Ganges dries up?

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Here is a prediction of yet more refugees from the Islamic states.

I suppose it would be uncivilized to suggest that they could stew in their own juice, but land with reasonable climate will be at a premium by then.

[Sabretooth78 808]

It's certainly not a "PC thought" (and since when do I care about limiting myself to those) but I've always felt that climate is a contributing factor to the continuous unrest there.  Being in those conditions constantly messes with your mind.  By that logic, all you're going to end up with is a slowly expanding ring of unrest around the now uninhabitable core.

Actually, that seems to be happening even without climate change.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Living in the torrid zone will eventually cook anyone's brains.  In some countries, the hot time of the day is the time for sleeping in the shade (siesta).

"Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noon-day sun."

[raynev1 1,886]

   After working in the Asphalt Paving Industry for over 20 years , at 360 degrees under my feet and the diesel vapors flowing about . Never hurt me   Believe that and I'll tell ya another . That don't contribute to global warming either  . Who would think , clearing white snow off black pavement won't add to climate change .

   Sorry , having a day ...  But what will be done to make a it better ? Theories , ideas and conversations don't make a difference if nothing is implemented . Am I wrong or just not understanding how and why things are .

   IMHO , The whole world needs an overhaul of infrastructure , especially energy and transportation . Get off the oil and coal habit . 

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Carbon makes money and you know what makes the world go around.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

El Niño++

Truly tragic but not only do we have el Niño, but climate changes have exacerbated the effects.  Seems tornado alley is becoming a permanent phenomenon.  This storm is on the way to us and will be the first winter event in our area.

[SteveMSim 275]

Torrential rains and violent tornadoes are the kind of weather seen in the Spring, not in December.  While there is an El Niño, climate change is the culprit behind this deadly weather.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Last week the hay fields up here were greening up.  Now we are expecting the first ice storm of the season.  If this kills the hay crop, local pork and beef will be very expensive this summer, and the crop insurance people will have a debacle on their hands.

Spring in December could easily be worse than a Fimbul Winter.

[MintberryCrunch 83]

So El Niño is finally unleashing its wrath upon California:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/latest-el-nino-storm-moves-california-36115775

It's been raining a lot here in La Cañada Flintridge and frankly, I love it. Of course my house is on a hill so always a little concerned about slides, but doesn't seem to be severe enough for that -_- I'm all for the rain, but don't want any lasting damage. 

[Sabretooth78 808]

I wonder how many "polar vortices" we're going to have this year.  You know the meteorologists and cable news programs haven't milked that trendy new term for an old-as-dirt phenomenon quite yet.

Especially after we had a relatively mild tropical/equatorial vortex season.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

If you put four vortices on a car, would you be able to go anywhere?  You'll notice that for all the bafflegab about the weather, no one can do anything about it.

[Odainsaker 2,136]

The first warning signs in "The Day After Tomorrow" looked like this:

 

San Antonio, Texas, last night got hail like this:

Ricocheting ice chunks the size of apples and tennis balls in South Texas.

It was the talk of the town, bringing out neighbors and strangers to survey the damage and share stories of shock and awe.  We usually get pea-sized hail...this stuff sounded like falling bricks.  Local news says the hail sizes in this freak, roof and windshield-puncturing event haven't been seen here in over a quarter-century.

Surely, it must be...dun, dun, dun...GLOBAL WARMING!!!

 

[Sabretooth78 808]

Yeah, global warming ain't real 'cuz if it's getting warmer how come we're getting more ice!? </derp>

Badly named phenomena and stupid ignorant people do not mix well.

  Edited April 14, 2016 by Sabretooth78  

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Climate change is more like it.  Besides the green house effect, there are also some regular cosmic changes to the orbit and we are ever so slightly closer to the sun.  This is part of the ice age cycle and we are at the warming section of it.  Nature doesn't believe in "steady state" but in change.  The earth is warmer.  Just take a look at what is happening in the Arctic.  There will be an ice-free northwest passage soon.

Big hail forms when there is excessive moisture in the air and some updrafts to keep the hail growing until it becomes heavy enough to fall.  Because the Gulf is warmer it is putting more water vapour into the air, and the dynamics of the atmosphere are cooperating to produce these odd ice storms.  Besides, aren't things always bigger in Texas?

[Sabretooth78 808]

As I've put it before (which just elicited blank stares, by the way), there is simply more energy in the system.

More energy into an entropic system.  Have fun!

[Delta 88 262]

The El Nino failed to bring the much-hyped heavy rains to Southern California this winter, save for a decent week in early January. Los Angeles and San Diego are reported only about 60% of normal rainfall for this time of year (our rainy season is measured as a "water year" from July 1st to June 30th, as opposed to Jan 1 to Dec 30 like the rest of the US). I haven't looked into water reservoir supplies yet but they're supposedly doing better than last year, however the drought continues. 

This El Nino was a "super" El Nino, which is what I find so strange - only three of those have ever been officially observed by the NOAA since 1950 - they occurred in 1972-73, 1982-83 and 1997-98. All of those were historically wet winters here in Southern California, as opposed to many rainy seasons during much weaker El Nino episodes. (By "Super" El Nino, I'm referring to the peak strength of the warm SST's in the equatorial Pacific as measured by overlapping three-month thresholds, seen here. A "Super" El Nino occurs when SST values exceed and sustain at or above +2.0) So 2015-16 was the first one that failed to deliver the anticipated heavy rains that occurred during the three other super El Nino's since 1950. Now all the TV-news "meteorologists" and newscasters are standing around looking like total fools when they were the very ones hyping the hell out of it all of late 2015 and early 2016. I see now they're trying to come up with excuses as to what happened, often saying that all the rainfall was directed northwards instead. And while this is partially true, it doesn't excuse that it really shouldn't have happened that way - also the atmosphere just plain didn't respond to the exceedingly warm conditions over the equatorial Pacific. That completely stationary ridge of high pressure sitting just off the California coast (which was especially and unusually strong in February and March) should not have been there given the conditions in the equatorial Pacific. But things didn't play out. It's highly unlikely that we would have another El Nino, regardless of strength, occur again in late 2016-17 unless the PDO (Pacific Decadal Oscillations) suddenly shifts to a long-term warm phase over this summer.

I'd say almost all of our storms this winter were completely unrelated to El Nino. But due to media sensationalism and the generally poorly educated public, every time it even sprinkled, everybody would start going "Oh it's El Nino! The El Nino rains are coming!" Even every time the wind blew, "it's caused by El Nino!" This winter I was shaking my head much more than usual. "You fool, that's not how it works..."

Like I said, the drought continues.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

There are more factors in the California drought than El Niño.  The general emergence of the earth from the last ice age is finally having visible effects as things warm up in general.

[Delta 88 262]

9 hours ago, A Nonny Moose said:

There are more factors in the California drought than El Niño.  The general emergence of the earth from the last ice age is finally having visible effects as things warm up in general.

Oh I'm aware, but my post was more about El Niño and its effect on the California drought. The drought goes back years and keeps re-emerging. Very rarely have there been periods over the last century when the entire state of California was drought-free for more than two years at a time (only drought-free periods I can think of are 1978-1984 and 1992-1999), drought is kind of normal here. It only appears worse when you have massive developed areas like Los Angeles that rely on an increasing supply/demand of water resources that nature refuses to provide for the region. I've always been an opponent of urban sprawl for reasons like this.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2016-04-19/earth-s-temperature-just-shattered-the-thermometer

 

I'm not saying it's the end of the world as we know it but it's never a bad day to repent. ... or move away from major cities built on 7 hills... or move away from major cities built on fault lines ... or move away from cities with buildings that scrape the heavens ... or move away from cities full of greed, gambling, and intoxication ... or move away from cities built in deserts.

 

I heard the difference between Hell and Earth is not only the heat but also the hopelessness.

 

People have difficulty telling my sarcasm & jokes apart from my honesty because my jokes build off what I know

  Edited April 22, 2016 by OcramsRzr  
L'Mao

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

3 hours ago, Delta 88 said:

Oh I'm aware, but my post was more about El Niño and its effect on the California drought. The drought goes back years and keeps re-emerging. Very rarely have there been periods over the last century when the entire state of California was drought-free for more than two years at a time (only drought-free periods I can think of are 1978-1984 and 1992-1999), drought is kind of normal here. It only appears worse when you have massive developed areas like Los Angeles that rely on an increasing supply/demand of water resources that nature refuses to provide for the region. I've always been an opponent of urban sprawl for reasons like this.

The drought in California over the years is certainly the result of overpopulation.  Too many straws in the limited glass of water.  One cannot support megalopoli like L.A. and the huge agricultural production with the resources available.  This is the classical economic lesson of "guns or butter" worked out in a different scenario.  Think of all those Almond orchards that have been ripped up recently because there isn't enough water.  Could California be creating a new dust bowl?

[Ocram's Razr 964]

The human population has exceeded the carrying capacity of our planet Earth. Disasters in populated areas are an effective means to increase sustainability.

 

The Gaian mythology says that "Mother Earth" will rid herself of destroyers.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

A hot time in India.

51^oC = 123.8^oF  Seems this area may become uninhabitable.  Expect another volkerwandrung.

[raynev1 1,886]

Maybe we should become subterranean and go above ground for recreation . Just a thought