Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Head In The Sand On Global Warming

 A most telling observation on social attitudes to global warming from @TheTweetOfGod, retweeted by @callanbentley

"U.S. Records Warmest March in History". Na na na na not listening na na na Mad Men na na na baseball na na na lifestyle just fine na na na.

One talking point that comes up in debates is the connection between extreme weather events like a heat wave and long term climate change.  Questioning this connection is not just a tactic of warming deniers or skeptics but is of genuine interest to people who are curious and want to know more about how global warming may be impacting weather patterns today.

Real Climate clarifies the impact  long term changes in climate has on extreme weather events accompanied by a terrific graphic:


Source: IPCC (2001)

3 comments:

  1. You're a geologist so you know full well that weather events are merely evidence that the climate continues to change, they are not evidence that CO2 is the cause.

    And how does warm weather in March qualify as an exteme weather event? Surely you're not suggesting that it has never happened before, being a geologist you know that can't be proved.

    I'm astonished at your remarks, geologist.

    ReplyDelete
  2. anon-

    this is not just warm weather but the warmest March in U.S. history. how else can you describe it than extreme?

    did you read the linked article or study the graphic.. no one is claiming that warm events didn't happen before.

    if there is a small shift in mean temperature and variance in temperatures towards the warm end, then that translates to much larger differences of temperatures at the tail of the distribution. The likelihood of record temperatures increases multifold.

    if you haven't thought about this, then the title of my post is most apt.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am worried about the coming summer in Texas!

    Also, anon is in denial. Scared & in denial. Forget him/her.

    ReplyDelete