Another Wet One here in the Northeast

[Stravo]

The News

I am reminded of those jabbering blowhard morons who were crowing that global warming had been disproved by the record snowfall we received this past winter - nevermind that it was the warmest January on record. It was such a simple minded way of manipulating the uneducated to see things for what on the surface seemed to make sense - how could we be getting warmer if its snowing so much? But as usual you need to think and know a little how the world works. If the world is getting warmer then that means evaporation on the ocean increases and there is more moisture in the air increasing rain and snow that comes with that.

But no, the Glen Becks and Sean Hannitys of the world will continue to crow about the fraud of global warming/climate change and harp on the evil that is Al Gore and their zombie followers will moan their agreement and be safe in their knowledge that the world is as it always has been and will not change. At least not until the rapture.

Anyway it has been wet and miserable here the last two weeks.

[Teleros]

All that extreme weather proves is that there is extreme weather - the record snowfall alone is neither for or against global warming, and I watched & read both sides attempting to use it to bolster their own claims for and against global warming, so meh. It's trends that count for things like this, not one-off events.

[Admiral Valdemar]

All that extreme weather proves is that there is extreme weather - the record snowfall alone is neither for or against global warming, and I watched & read both sides attempting to use it to bolster their own claims for and against global warming, so meh. It's trends that count for things like this, not one-off events.

No, this is precisely for global warming. If I was going to start the campaign all over again with a blank slate, I would not emphasize the warming climate, but rather the increasing chaos within the global heat engine that is the weather systems of the world. More erratic climates = more energy trying to be dissipated within the system. That energy isn't coming from extra sunshine, so clearly something on Earth is making the system absorb and retain more of that solar energy that hits us, a well documented effect. It is this exergy, not energy, gradient between the quicker to respond atmosphere, and slower to react oceans, that accounts for the very real problems being produced by ever more erratic weather events. And all of this is well researched, not by UEA or the IPCC, but by the likes of Munich Re, who show that if current trends in natural disasters continue, by mid-century the globe will be bankrupted purely from trying to insure against countless Hurricane Katrina scale events or many smaller ones.

Unfortunately, to focus on more extreme weather would seem like a backpedal to climate sceptics, thus it wouldn't work now (not that public confidence in climate scientists and governments could be any lower now). But when someone talks about global warming and then you get the weather we got in the UK and US eastern seaboard at the start of the year, it's hard to convince the person of the street of ever hotter climes in store. Even the use of "climate change" over global warming is seen by many as another trick by climate scientists to try and sell their snake oil and win further funding, while governments jump onboard to use this excuse for more power grabbing.

[Slacker]

Avoiding the debate, I echo the 'I'm thoroughly sick of wet weather' sentiment. It's really beginning to verge on the ridiculous here on Long Island. Some parking lots around here are beginning to more properly resemble shallow ponds and the drainage system under the street for my house is beginning to look a little bloated.

[ArmorPierce]

Seems like a lot of people are forgetting this is a El Nino year. Also I don't get how people are pointing to the snow and using it to try to disprove global warming. It didn't get that cold this winter. In fact I would say it was relatively warm there merely was a lot of percipitation in sub-freezing weather. It's normal for the weather to be sub-freezing during the winter up here in the North east.

[The Vortex Empire]

I'm pretty much stuck at my house because of all of this rain. There's two ways out of where I live, both covered in a good 8 inches of flowing water. At least I live on a hill. About half of the people I know have flooded basements. DAMN YOU ZEUS!

I've never understood the complete lack of scientific knowledge that disbelief in climate change demonstrates. I know people are ignorant, but how can they just ignore the massive amount of evidence?

[Col. Crackpot]

This flood is fucking epic.
Pawtuxet river trending for 5 feet over all time record

I-95 may be closed. The sewage treatments plants in Warwick and West Warwick are under water and people are being asked not to flush toilets unless they really have to. Homes in the 500 year flood plain are being evacuated.

I need a canoe to get to work tomorrow.

We actually had to put all of our vault cash in ziploc bags. Just in case.

[General Zod]

I'm pretty much stuck at my house because of all of this rain. There's two ways out of where I live, both covered in a good 8 inches of flowing water. At least I live on a hill. About half of the people I know have flooded basements. DAMN YOU ZEUS!

I've never understood the complete lack of scientific knowledge that disbelief in climate change demonstrates. I know people are ignorant, but how can they just ignore the massive amount of evidence?

They ignore it because they don't want to admit that they're a part of the problem. Admitting that it's real means they have to assume a degree of responsibility for their over-consumption and they just don't want to change their lifestyle.

[montypython]

My basement's been leaking and the roof just had a leak, damn it. Gonna have to wait for things to dry before fixing that one...

[Stravo]

Record Rainfall in March for NYC. This was just ridiculous.

[Teleros]

DAMN YOU ZEUS!

I think it's the Norse gods over here. At least, they usually turn on the taps when I ask.

No, this is precisely for global warming.

I think you misunderstood my post. You'll get some freak weather with global warming and without it, but without some sort of trend it's just a one-off occurrence. Now, if we see more freak weather patterns (or hurricanes, or rainfall, or whatever), then we can talk about it being evidence or otherwise for global warming. I entirely fail to see how a single event (in the case of Stravo's post, the record snowfall) can be used as justification for or against processes that happen over decades, if not centuries.

[Admiral Valdemar]

I think you misunderstood my post. You'll get some freak weather with global warming and without it, but without some sort of trend it's just a one-off occurrence. Now, if we see more freak weather patterns (or hurricanes, or rainfall, or whatever), then we can talk about it being evidence or otherwise for global warming. I entirely fail to see how a single event (in the case of Stravo's post, the record snowfall) can be used as justification for or against processes that happen over decades, if not centuries.

Katrina? The freak floods in Cornwall? The first recorded incident of a southern hemisphere hurricane near S. America? The record heatwaves in Europe? The increasing drought in Africa? No one is claiming this single even proves anything, and certainly not I when I work with statistics daily. But when you look at the records and erratic weather over the last few years, they tally quite nicely with Munich Re's trends for insurance claims for natural freak disasters increasing in recent times.