May and June Temperatures below average

[JerrySeinfeld]

So overall- where you live has this spring / early summer lived up to Al Gore's billing?

The reason I ask is that I'm sure at least a few times I've read some alarmist posters stating they are very afraid of how bad things are giong to be this summer in terms of the heat.

June has so far and is forecast to be a particularly cool month in Vancouver with temperatures below average for most of the time.

Now before you jump all over me about the differences between weather and climate, just bear in mind that the alarmists commonly point to short term weather trends as evidence of man made global warming so why can't I use it to refute?

Second, this is just an innocent survey.

How has it been where you are? Does your town have "a fever"?

[LonJowett]

How has it been where you are? Does your town have "a fever"?

Yeah, where I am on the prairies doesn't seem to have much in the way of "normal" anymore. Either record-breaking dry conditions or record-breaking flooding, way more tornado warnings than ever before, more extreme cold in the winter, more extreme heat in the summer. I don't think anyone who knows anything at all is debating there is climate change happening and we are clearly in a period of transition. The informed debate is centred around the role humans have played in causing it and whether they can do anything about it.

[JerrySeinfeld]

How has it been where you are? Does your town have "a fever"?

Yeah, where I am on the prairies doesn't seem to have much in the way of "normal" anymore. Either record-breaking dry conditions or record-breaking flooding, way more tornado warnings than ever before, more extreme cold in the winter, more extreme heat in the summer. I don't think anyone who knows anything at all is debating there is climate change happening and we are clearly in a period of transition. The informed debate is centred around the role humans have played in causing it and whether they can do anything about it.

OK BUT....

Have you ever heard about the whole crime argument - how in many cases violent crime rates are actually falling but the public perception is that things are way more violent now than in the past because of the constant reporting of everything on the instant media?

Now i'm not making any statement about climate whatsoever here - moreso about the media.

Think about it.

My suggestino is this: there may be some changes occuring in the climate. but that's as per usual isn't it? If you look back throughout the history of the world - the wooly mammoths and the migration across the "ice bridge" from siberia to alaska..etc. etc. there is one thing that has been constant: climate has always always always changed throughout time.

My likely scenario is that the earths climate has all of a sudden gotten all this attention from al gore et. al. and so it's a self-feeding machine. SO maybe we're getting a FEW more storms here and there - maybe. But you also have to factor in that our media is so immediate - what with CNN, the internet etc. that EVERY little thing gets reported - and NOW. And because climate is the "issue du jour", a tornado in Kansas is gonna get alot more airtime than it did in the '70's when the only source of news was an hour a night with dan rather. You get the picture.

I mean, think about it. Katrina wasn't big news because of the storm it'self. It was big news becauise it directly hit a city that is below sea level and shaped like a bowl. when the levees broke, THAT was the story. Yet somehow it's been bastardized into a story about CLIMATE.

SO when all the experts last summer predicted a RECORD hurricane season with more and fiercer storms, but even when there wer i think only like 11 names storms last summer, there's always a storm or a flood SOMEWHERE in the world to keep the crisis at a peak...

[buffycat]

It's hot here. Pretty much the way I've always remembered it. I put our little pool up the other day - if I'm going to work in the garden I need to dunk my head now and again.

The problem as I see it, with the way that temperature changes are noted in the mainstream, is that all is measured in far too small a time frame. The life span of a human is miniscule compared to the natural ebb and flows of global temperatures and overall climate changes. Yes, there are exceptions - such as the Younger-Dryas - where a cooling came on VERY quickly ~ 70 years, and resulted in a thousand here deep freeze just after the end of the last glacial period. But, in general climate changes are cyclical and have many variables - something not often mentioned in the fear mongering GW hysterics.

I agree that things are changing - afterall Nature is not a steady state system - BUT and this is a BIG BUT - how much human activity is affecting this is up for debate. Do we affect it at all? Obviously yes - how much is VERY difficult of say with any kind of accuracy.

That all said - I still feel that it is best to err on the side of caution.

It is about 35 with the humidex today. I'm off to float in the pool with a nice little drinkie - starting my weekend early!

[GostHacked]

It's been very nice here in Ottawa, some rain, some humidity. Generally very nice compared to last summer, it was very hot.

Weather happens all the time. Everywhere.

[JerrySeinfeld]

It's been very nice here in Ottawa, some rain, some humidity. Generally very nice compared to last summer, it was very hot.

Weather happens all the time. Everywhere.

Yes. And isn't it ingenius to travel aruond the globe wherever it's happening and say that if you vote for me (or give me and my friends money) I'll save you from it

[JerrySeinfeld]

How has it been where you are? Does your town have "a fever"?

Yeah, where I am on the prairies doesn't seem to have much in the way of "normal" anymore. Either record-breaking dry conditions or record-breaking flooding, way more tornado warnings than ever before, more extreme cold in the winter, more extreme heat in the summer. I don't think anyone who knows anything at all is debating there is climate change happening and we are clearly in a period of transition. The informed debate is centred around the role humans have played in causing it and whether they can do anything about it.

OK BUT....

Have you ever heard about the whole crime argument - how in many cases violent crime rates are actually falling but the public perception is that things are way more violent now than in the past because of the constant reporting of everything on the instant media?

Now i'm not making any statement about climate whatsoever here - moreso about the media.

Think about it.

My suggestino is this: there may be some changes occuring in the climate. but that's as per usual isn't it? If you look back throughout the history of the world - the wooly mammoths and the migration across the "ice bridge" from siberia to alaska..etc. etc. there is one thing that has been constant: climate has always always always changed throughout time.

My likely scenario is that the earths climate has all of a sudden gotten all this attention from al gore et. al. and so it's a self-feeding machine. SO maybe we're getting a FEW more storms here and there - maybe. But you also have to factor in that our media is so immediate - what with CNN, the internet etc. that EVERY little thing gets reported - and NOW. And because climate is the "issue du jour", a tornado in Kansas is gonna get alot more airtime than it did in the '70's when the only source of news was an hour a night with dan rather. You get the picture.

I mean, think about it. Katrina wasn't big news because of the storm it'self. It was big news becauise it directly hit a city that is below sea level and shaped like a bowl. when the levees broke, THAT was the story. Yet somehow it's been bastardized into a story about CLIMATE.

SO when all the experts last summer predicted a RECORD hurricane season with more and fiercer storms, but even when there wer i think only like 11 names storms last summer, there's always a storm or a flood SOMEWHERE in the world to keep the crisis at a peak...

[buffycat]

It's been very nice here in Ottawa, some rain, some humidity. Generally very nice compared to last summer, it was very hot.

Weather happens all the time. Everywhere.

Ottawa?

Heck nieghbour, come join me in the pool!! I find it bloody hot. ugh!!

Did you look at the sky today? Strange things going on up there GostHacked.

[jbg]

The problem as I see it, with the way that temperature changes are noted in the mainstream, is that all is measured in far too small a time frame. The life span of a human is miniscule compared to the natural ebb and flows of global temperatures and overall climate changes. Yes, there are exceptions - such as the Younger-Dryas - where a cooling came on VERY quickly ~ 70 years, and resulted in a thousand here deep freeze just after the end of the last glacial period. But, in general climate changes are cyclical and have many variables - something not often mentioned in the fear mongering GW hysterics.

We agree. Weather is quite cyclical. Short term, the weather patters seem pretty trendless.

Contrast NYC annual temperatures

1. (average temperature for 1950 was 54)(link to details);
   
2. (average temperature for 1951 was 55) (link to details);
   
3. (average temperature for 2003 was 54) (link to details);
   
4. (average temperature for 2004 was 55) (link to details);
   

Looks pretty stable to me.

My likely scenario is that the earths climate has all of a sudden gotten all this attention from al gore et. al. and so it's a self-feeding machine. SO maybe we're getting a FEW more storms here and there - maybe. But you also have to factor in that our media is so immediate - what with CNN, the internet etc. that EVERY little thing gets reported - and NOW. And because climate is the "issue du jour", a tornado in Kansas is gonna get alot more airtime than it did in the '70's when the only source of news was an hour a night with dan rather. You get the picture.

I'm reading John Adams' (the US's second President, from 1797-1801) biography. There are many references to violent nor'easters (including one that kept him and his wife isolated for ten days by heavy rain in March 1801), cold waves, heat waves and blizzards. Guess they had weather back in the day too.

[jbg]

It's been very nice here in Ottawa, some rain, some humidity. Generally very nice compared to last summer, it was very hot.

Weather happens all the time. Everywhere.

Ottawa?

Heck nieghbour, come join me in the pool!! I find it bloody hot. ugh!!

Did you look at the sky today? Strange things going on up there GostHacked.

It reached between 33 and 36 in Moosonee on Wednesday through Friday (link). What you're seeing is the cold front that will break there's and your heat wave.

[BC_chick]

Now before you jump all over me about the differences between weather and climate, just bear in mind that the alarmists commonly point to short term weather trends as evidence of man made global warming so why can't I use it to refute?

Snow is Saudi Arabia is used as evidence of global-warming, as is the crappy weather we're having in Vancouver this June.

It's about irregular weather trends, not warmer or cooler ones.

[B. Max]

I mean, think about it. Katrina wasn't big news because of the storm it'self. It was big news becauise it directly hit a city that is below sea level and shaped like a bowl. when the levees broke, THAT was the story. Yet somehow it's been bastardized into a story about CLIMATE.

The word climate is now the trigger word for dough headed politicians who are lined up to throw money at something every time they hear the word climate.

[jbg]

Snow is Saudi Arabia is used as evidence of global-warming, as is the crappy weather we're having in Vancouver this June.

It's about irregular weather trends, not warmer or cooler ones.

In November or December 1997 it snowed in Monterrey, Mexico, around the same time as the US Northeast was experiencing a very mild winter, and Quebec was one month away from its famous ice-storm. The progenitor of those weird events was not "climate change" but a "Super El Nino" which rated a 7 on the 1-7 scale (1 being a strong La Nina and 7 being a strong El Nino, and 4 being considered neutral) I would strongly suspect that snow in Saudi Arabia must be the result of some locally similar development as El Nino, and Vancouver's cr@ppy weather is actually consistent with La Nina.

In fact, the record snow year for Paradise Ranger Station in Rainier Park, 1971-2, was at the tail end of a lengthy and strong La Nina. La Nina's typically breed cool, wet weather for that part of the world.