Yes, global warming could mean more snow

[scandal 951]

Yes, global warming could mean more snow

Clarence Page

February 14, 2010

Here's a recent headline that caused a few double takes in Washington, D.C.: "Global warming hearing postponed because of snow."

Yes, nothing gives an unearned boost to global warming skeptics like back-to-back snowstorms variously nicknamed "snow-pocalypse" and "snow-mageddon," among other less-charitable labels in the nation's capital.

Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Inhofe, an outspoken skeptic of global warming and warm friend of his state's oil and gas industries, recently mocked Al Gore, climate activist and former vice president. Inhofe posted photos on his Facebook page of his family building an igloo near the Capitol with a sign that read "Al Gore's new home." Har, har.

But, contrary to popular belief, a robust snowfall does not mean global warming is a myth.

In fact, scientists have been warning for at least two decades that global warming could make snowstorms more severe. Snow has two simple ingredients: cold and moisture. Warmer air collects moisture like a sponge until it hits a patch of cold air. When temperatures dip below freezing, a lot of moisture creates a lot of snow.

A rise in global temperature can create all sorts of havoc, ranging from hotter dry spells to colder winters, along with increasingly violent storms, flooding, forest fires and loss of endangered species.

That's simple science even for me, a guy whose scientific education pretty much ended with the old "Watch Mr. Wizard" TV show and a subscription to Popular Mechanics.

Yet, confusion about that simple science is one of the reasons why experts and activists increasingly prefer the term "climate change" as less confusing and politically loaded than "global warming." Still, confusion and politics persist. Fox News host Sean Hannity cheerfully asserted that the storm "would seem to contradict Al Gore's hysterical global warming theories." His fellow Fox host Glenn Beck agreed, mocking the very idea that "warming" could lead to more snow.

Sure, it's laughable if you believe in the very unscientific theory of simple observational research, which means you base your views about global warming on your own weather.

Or, as Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert summarized the Fox News stars' view: "Whatever just happened is the only thing that's happening."

It is not so laughable when you are shoveling back-to-back snowstorms off your walk and driveway while your passing neighbors ask "What happened to global warming?" as cheerily as if they were asking the winter equivalent of "Hot enough for ya?"

What happened to global warming? Ask Vancouver. While the South and East Coast were trying to get rid of snow, the Winter Olympics was reported to be trucking in snow to its ski runs from three hours away.

Somehow global warming skeptics not only highlight their snowstorms. They ignore snow droughts too.

Even so, Inhofe and other lawmakers who are holding up President Barack Obama's proposed climate bill have been winning valuable gains in their public relations war against climate-change believers. Polls in the United States and the United Kingdom show skepticism about climate change has been rising. That's a reversal of trends that saw President George W. Bush, an early skeptic, move toward proposals to reduce greenhouse gases.

I don't necessarily agree with all of the alarm that Gore has expressed on climate change. Nor do I disagree with all of the skeptics who question how much climate change is caused by human activities like sport utility vehicles versus natural activities like belching cattle. But whatever you believe in the world of science, it is best to learn through the scientific method, not just Internet gossip and propaganda.

Public skepticism about climate change is healthy, if it is based on good scientific research. Unfortunately, in our polarized times too much of the debate is based simply on politics. With the future of the planet at stake, we owe it to ourselves to judge this debate by more than whatever weather condition happens to be happening at the moment. We owe it to our offspring too.

Clarence Page is a member of the Tribune's editorial board and blogs at chicagotribune.com/pagespage

cpage@tribune.com

Snowstorm and climate change

After a dumping in the Washington area, critics are delighting in the irony, and supporters are saying the snow fits the pattern of global warming.

For all the recent snow in Washington, it hasn't been that cold -- mostly in the 20s or low 30s.

By Jim Tankersley

February 12, 2010

Reporting from Washington - As record snowfall buried the nation's capital this week, the quickest joke around town was, "So much for global warming."

The quip was timely, given the recent controversies over Climategate -- the release of e-mails allegedly showing some leading climate scientists trying to suppress criticism -- and new questions about the integrity of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

After 55-plus inches of snow fell in the Washington area, critics are delighting in the irony, and those who warn of climate change are taking pains to say the snow fits the pattern of a warming world.

So who's right? If the earth is warming, why all the snow?

Snow and global warming aren't mutually exclusive, climate scientists say. For starters, the amount of recorded warming over the last century, about 1 degree Fahrenheit above preindustrial levels, is nowhere near enough to eradicate winter in the mid-Atlantic.

Also, weather is variable: The planet would have extreme highs and lows with or without an overall warming trend.

And for all the recent snow in Washington, it hasn't been that cold -- mostly in the 20s or low 30s. The average temperature in Washington in January, according to the National Climatic Data Center, was about a degree warmer than the average for the last 40 years.

But the reverse is also true: The fact that Vancouver, Canada, is experiencing record-high temperatures and importing snow for the Winter Olympics doesn't prove a warming trend.

Are the snowstorm and climate science completely unrelated, then?

Not necessarily. Increased snowfall fits a pattern suggested by many climate models, in which rising temperatures warm the world's bodies of water, leading to more evaporation.

Climate scientists say the amount of atmospheric moisture has increased, which they predict will bring more rain in warmer conditions and more snow in freezing temperatures.

"All you need is cold air and moisture to meet each other" to make snow, said Jay Gulledge, senior scientist for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. "And with global warming, the opportunities to do that should be more frequent."

How will the snow affect the politics of the climate bill?

Probably not much, because proponents are pitching the bill as a boost to national security and a creator of clean-energy jobs, as opposed to a curb on global warming. The swing voters who will dictate the bill's fate are senators who more or less say they accept the science behind climate change.

On the other hand, the snow has given some novel arguments to opponents of the "cap and trade" system of limiting emissions, which is the heart of most climate proposals. Critics warn that such a system, in which emitters must obtain permits to cover the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases they release, would send electricity prices soaring -- particularly during extreme weather events.

William O'Keefe, a cap-and-trade critic and chief executive of the nonprofit George C. Marshall Institute, observed: "As Washington works to clear its streets from this week's 'snowpocalypse,' policymakers should work to clear a new path on climate policy."

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

We exited the last ice age without human influence. How weird. Liberals are like goldfish..... REALLY short attention spans.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Of course. It could mean more snow...or could mean less snow, or it could mean anything at all or nothing at all. Anything or nothing can be a sign of Global warming. Global warning means politicians get control of our lives, professional students get grants to study things and do not need to produce any results, and businesses that otherwise wouldn't have a prayer of surviving get money from the government which they confiscate from my paycheck for doing work that people willingly pay for. And someone, somewhere is waiting to get rich selling "carbon credits", a new way to get paid for doing nothing...call it "carbon welfare", and it will need a huge government agency and a "Carbon Czar" to administer it.

It must be harder to continue one's belief in this fairy tale.

Take the easy way out. No need to admit you were duped by junk science. Just proclaim the victory WON, Al Gore and all the thoughtful, caring people in the world saved us. Global warming is fixed, or cured, or whatever. In other words...

Don't go away mad...just GO AWAY

We exited the last ice age without human influence. How weird. Liberals are like goldfish..... REALLY short attention spans.

Why would say that about goldfish? They do not confiscate your earnings! Liberals are more like tapeworms.

[lostinblue 1,989]

6 months ago it was all about global warming. That has been questioned by the e-mail situation. So the big swing in their method is to "change" the cry to "climate change"..... Where have we heard this before ?????? oh yes "hope and change" . In this manner the elitism can flourish and and look for a steady supply of dollars . The great sucking sound of money taken from the regular working man. All in the name of global warming .....sorry climate change.....The best scam going as the earth's climate has been changing for billions of years. In the past people also tried to change the earth.

Indonesians still appease volcano gods

Thousands of pilgrims flock to East Java's Mount Bromo each year

Villagers use their sarongs to catch offerings thrown by Hindu worshippers during Kasada festival at Mount Bromo, East Java, Indonesia, on Sept. 15, 2008.

Dita Alangkara / AP

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updated 5:59 p.m. ET, Sun., Nov . 2, 2008

MOUNT BROMO, Indonesia - Indonesian legend has it that six centuries ago, a princess hurled her youngest child into a fiery volcano to appease mountain gods who had granted her fertility.

Today thousands of pilgrims flock to Mount Bromo on East Java each year to offer the spirits food, live animals and money and ask for prosperity and health. Bromo, a 7,641-foot volcano, is one of Java's most popular tourist attractions.

The poor arrive days ahead of the ceremony, carrying fishing nets to catch money and anything edible. They camp under tarps in the crater atop the mountain's chilly slopes.

Yadnya Kasada, as the ritual is known, started in the 15th century in the final days of the Majapahit Hindu empire. As the story goes, Princess Roro Anteng and her husband, Joko Seger, settled in the foothills of the volcano.

Unable to have children, the ruling couple went in despair to pray to the mountain gods who, according to the tale, agreed to help in exchange for the ultimate sacrifice of their last child.

The couple consented and had 25 children. But when the time came to give up their son, they refused and the gods became furious. They threatened disaster and the destruction of the village unless the couple made good on the deal.

Kesuma, as the boy was named, was flung into the depths of Mount Bromo. The dying child is believed to have called out to villagers to visit the mountain each year and bring gifts to express their gratitude.

Indonesia straddles the "Pacific Ring of Fire," a system of faultlines stretching across the tropical archipelago, that give it more active volcanoes than any other country. Bromo usually roars to life once a year, often blasting pumice, smoke and ash into the sky. The last major eruption in 2004 killed two hikers