You can find more posts on climate change science, policy, and news on Climate 411.
 
 
NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center recently announced that this past winter was the coolest since 2001, for the U.S. and the globe.  Some people say that recent cooler temperatures mean that global warming has stopped. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: A single season can’t determine a long-term trend any more than a single month can.
 
However, the recent "cooler temperatures" offer a great opportunity to talk about short-term, natural climate variation. The long-term trend is clear – temperatures are going up because of increasing levels of greenhouse gases – but there will always be bumps and wiggles along the way.  This past winter is one of those wiggles.  What caused it, and how well do scientists understand these sorts of short-term changes?

From my Dot Earth posting:

A stalled-elevator speech is too improbable, but opportunities for a one-minute speech happen every day so that you can get in practice for a 40-story ride with someone influential:
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"Wouldn’t mind the bad weather so much except [time this for elevator liftoff] for that sinking feeling that the climate is shifting fast.

We’ve already had 50 years of more and more wildfires, and on every continent. Same thing for major floods. Probably windstorm damage as well. That’s climate change, not just bad weather moving around.

And it looks as if permanent drought is going to make the poor Mediterranean into a dust bowl. Same thing for Perth, Cape Town, and southern California. The tropics are expanding, just as the earliest climate models said they would.

Please excuse this quick and dirty diary regarding a live online event via Conservation International. I'm sorry I can't flesh this out more, but I'm at work and need to be quick. They are taking questions now for the online chat scheduled at 1:00 EDT. I'm sorry for the short notice, but I only just joined CI and got the email today. Click on the title link below to go to the question submission form, or just to learn more.

The Galapagos: A Laboratory for Studying Climate Change?
10 April 2007, 1:00 PM EDT

Every two to seven years, El Niño warms ocean waters surrounding the Galapagos Islands and prevents crucial nutrients from supplying the food chain. The phenomenon has prompted the loss of an estimated 95 percent of coral reefs around the islands. The Galapagos Damsel fish is now believed to be extinct, and countless sea lions and marine iguanas have been lost.

With climate change threatening to ignite more frequent and intense El Niño patterns, the Galapagos region is ideal for studying how Earth’s biodiversity responds to changing conditions.

Crossposted from Town Called Dobson


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An article  in the Sunday edition of WaPo, reported that "Across the region yesterday, it was more summer than winter," with people "shirtless in January in D.C." and part of the D.C. library closed due to "excessive heat." Reagan National Airport reported 73 degrees breaking the record temperature from more than 50 years ago. Brian LaSorsa, a National Weather Service meteorologist blamed El Nino, while another meteorologist with AccuWeather.com said that global warming is not responsible for the unseasonably warm winter.

Apparently Mr. LaSorsa doesn't keep up with his agency's predictions for warmer-than-average temperatures which say, " ... this episode is expected to be much weaker than the very strong 1997-1998 El Niño event."

From the Washington Post, a Joel Achenbach story with a major error:¹

Dennis Feltgen, a National Weather Service meteorologist, says climate change isn't the culprit. It's El Nino. Warm water in the tropical Pacific, changed wind patterns, lots of balmy air blowing our way from the southern United States.

"We're in an El Nino, which has absolutely nothing to do with global warming," Feltgen says.² "It keeps a lot of the cold air locked up in Canada, and makes the West Coast of the United States stormy, which we've seen, and makes the southern one-third of the country wetter than normal."

Again from the Washington Post today, an Eric Rich and Chris L. Jenkins story:

Alan Reppert, a meteorologist at AccuWeather.com, said that, despite views to the contrary, global warming is not responsible for the region's unusually mild winter.

"The world is not coming to an end," Reppert said.

Today, if the weathermen are correct, it will reach 64 degrees in Connecticut. Not that I need to remind anyone, but January 6 in New England is usually a day where the heat is cranked up and snow is falling. However today the windows in my house are open and people are walking around the streets of New Haven in tshirts and shorts. Call it what you will - global warming, a January heat wave, the vast left wing meteorology conspiracy of Al Gore - but let's face it: this just aint right.

If you're planning to go to the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC in March, you may want to change your plans.  NBC Nightly News reported tonight that cherry blossoms have started to bloom in DC, and All Headline news relays news from the NYC Channel 2 News that the Brooklyn Botanical Garden's blossoms are blooming as well.  The British Met Office believes that thanks to El Niño and global warming, 2007 will be the warmest year yet. The Register

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