Global Warming needs a Jacket! (in Off-topic)

Daily Tech

Twelve-month long drop in world temperatures wipes out a century of warming

Over the past year, anecdotal evidence for a cooling planet has exploded. China has its coldest winter in 100 years. Baghdad sees its first snow in all recorded history. North America has the most snowcover in 50 years, with places like Wisconsin the highest since record-keeping began. Record levels of Antarctic sea ice, record cold in Minnesota, Texas, Florida, Mexico, Australia, Iran, Greece, South Africa, Greenland, Argentina, Chile -- the list goes on and on.

No more than anecdotal evidence, to be sure. But now, that evidence has been supplanted by hard scientific fact. All four major global temperature tracking outlets (Hadley, NASA's GISS, UAH, RSS) have released updated data. All show that over the past year, global temperatures have dropped precipitously.

A compiled list of all the sources can be seen here. The total amount of cooling ranges from 0.65C up to 0.75C -- a value large enough to wipe out nearly all the warming recorded over the past 100 years. All in one year's time. For all four sources, it's the single fastest temperature change ever recorded, either up or down.

Scientists quoted in a past DailyTech article link the cooling to reduced solar activity which they claim is a much larger driver of climate change than man-made greenhouse gases. The dramatic cooling seen in just 12 months time seems to bear that out. While the data doesn't itself disprove that carbon dioxide is acting to warm the planet, it does demonstrate clearly that more powerful factors are now cooling it.

Let's hope those factors stop fast. Cold is more damaging than heat. The mean temperature of the planet is about 54 degrees. Humans -- and most of the crops and animals we depend on -- prefer a temperature closer to 70.

Historically, the warm periods such as the Medieval Climate Optimum were beneficial for civilization. Corresponding cooling events such as the Little Ice Age, though, were uniformly bad news.

So again, i say, thanks to the governments for putting fear into peoples minds that Armegeddon was getting closer (No pun intended). I see a future ice age before global warming. I don't know about where you live, but it's cold as hell outside right now, whereas last year around this time, i was almost in shorts and t-shirts.

P.S. Hope it's a good read Kultur, =)

A premature ice age outside of the normal occurrence has always been expected as a result of global warming. As we try to throw the planet out of balance, the planet pushes back -- hard. Hence, the premature ice age outside of the normal ice age timelines. I believe there was a movie about this... Day After Tomorrow?

If we heat the planet up 1 degree during a 100 year period (1900-2000) when the planet is supposed to be cooling (our climate timeline is currently *supposed* to be cooling), and the planet comes back and smacks a 1 degree cooling in ONE YEAR..... that should raise some alarm bells. It might be advisable to relocate to a region that will handle the upcoming changes more eloquently. The only question now is.. where is that?

instead of melting, we're going to freeze to death, eh?

mmm and yet no snow here again for this year, we had 1 all in all 1 week of frost.

Well, Day After Tomorrow was a bit over the top (cold air from space? Freesing a piece of cloth in motion?), but yeah... We need to see some longer-term cooling (reattach ice shelves and such) before I would call this a real push-back... The fact that it happened in a year means one of two things:

-- The Earth really can push back fast.
-- It was an aberration compared to the last several decades.

I'm not sure where I weigh in, but I certainly don't mind some push back (anti-Gore-wise) on the fatalistic theories out there... I think everyone is operating under really, really short time frames in terms of how Mother Earth takes care of biznatch. *smile*

Doesn't really matter, at the rate we're going, we have maybe...4000-5000 years before we simply exceed the amount of energy the sun pounds at us. Then we can deplete our uranium, burn our carbon, and suck the heat out of the earth, but...then that's it, folks. We better have huge solar sails or elsewhere to go at that point. It's finite, folks. :\

meh... with all the weapons' technologies being developed all the time, we've only got another 50-60 years or so before we blow ourselves to hell ^_^

That, my friends, is a story you can tell your grandchildren - While it's happening...

If the media were to be plainly honest they'd say:

In summary, we've really no idea what's going to happen :)
But when it does, you'll be the first we let know.
So remember to always read/watch the news, we really need the ratings to keep going.
PS: Our weathermen are as reliable as tarot card readers.

for more anecdotal evidence of...something: in texas this week, near san antonio where i live, we set a record high temperature of 92 degrees fahrenheit which is really quite crazy for february, even in south texas.

all i know is that it was incredibly hot, and then the next night it got down in the 20's. ya gotta love texas!

-40 C yesterday here in Canada where I live (northwest of Toronto).

You can feel your clothing freeze up whenever you go outside. Public urination not recommended.

mmm not record snowfalls in Wisconsin no. We've had around 30 inches in Milwaukee, not nearly the record

I think this was one of Englands warmest winters. The last few have been pretty mild. Seems that at the end of the day these science buffs just don't have a clue what is going to happen. Global warming... now global cooling. Right.

Probably another excuse to add a "green tax".

Anecdotal evidence means nothing, Wasp.

no winter in northern Europe either (besides the Alps), not even in the western parts of Russia was it really cold, so?

What happens close to home is important, the rest? who cares about that.

Go to the link and look at the chart. Are they really suggesting based on that Jan 07-Jan 08 shift that something significant is happening?

Look at the chart - can I cherry-pick another one year time-frame that shows a precipitous warming? Year to year fluctuations are noise. This is the kind of junk that has clouded the issue - it is impossible to have objective discussion based on sound science anymore.

Highly trained scientists who ought to know better will make absurd observations that it is awfully hot today or awfully cold today so what do you say about your global warming / cooling theory now.

Bah - do what Colbert says - go with your gut and my gut tells me that polar bears ought to be good swimmers. It is also telling me that I need to have some Indian food today. mmm...chicken makhani

NSFY, i agree with you to a point if i read it correctly (I'm tired, just got home from work). But it's called climate change for a reason, it doesn't do just one thing, it fluctuates. So i don't understand why Gore got his revenge on all of us by putting fear into everyone's head who believe all the hype TV tells us.

Mmmm the league of concerned scientists might disagree with this article. The scientific community has even gone so far as to try to decide whether the current Epoch is ending and a new one is beginning. The ecology of the planet has changed dramatically over the last 100 years to the point that even if we went back to an agrarian society world wide it would not stop a climate shift. It's the common consensus that it is no longer a matter of stopping the changes made by global warming but managing to minimize the damage.

> Anecdotal evidence means nothing, Wasp.

this thread is serious business.