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Don't blame warm globe on global warming
San Diego Union Tribune ^ | July 25, 2006 | Michael Stetz

Posted on 07/25/2006 3:19:19 PM PDT by bkwells

In the quaint old days, when a heat wave like the one we're experiencing hit, you didn't worry about, oh, the planet's health or Earth's ability to sustain itself.

You got a fan.

But now when temperatures soar to record-breaking highs, as they did in San Diego County on Saturday, one of the first things that comes to mind is global warming.

One can't help but wonder: Is that the cause of the sweltering heat? Are the record highs a sign that global warming is not the imagination of former Vice President Al Gore and so many nerdy scientists?

Taken by itself, the current heat wave is not out of the ordinary, said Don Whitlow, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Diego. It's summer. And it's hot.

“Natural cycles happen,” he said.

In El Cajon, it was 113 on Saturday, beating the day's all-time record by a whopping 12 degrees. In Escondido, where the previous record high was 96, it hit 112.

Even yesterday, when temperatures dropped a bit, the city of San Diego recorded its hottest and wettest July 24 in history. The high of 85 broke the 1959 record, and the 0.01 of an inch of rain broke the record of a trace, which last occurred in 1990.

One could look at yearly temperatures over the past 100 years and find similar variations, Whitlow said.

But climate experts say such temperature spikes may be happening more frequently and more fiercely because of the many decades we've spent burning fossil fuels.

Kerry Emanuel, a professor of meteorology in MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, said global warming can't be pinned on any particular weather occurrence.

Instead, it's sort of like a smoker's chances of coming down with lung cancer, he said. “It ups the probability.”

Claudia Tebaldi, a project scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., agreed.

“These things happen. They're called extremes,” she said. “But the conditions are more conducive for them to happen more often.”

Whitlow said San Diego County's current heat wave is the result of a large high-pressure system that has stalled over the region. It will go away in a few days or so, he predicted, as soon as the high-pressure system is disrupted by another weather system.

Global warming? Chances are, that won't go away. Skeptics remain, but the scientific community is pretty much consistent in saying it's for real.

Experts like Tebaldi say Saturday's record highs may be superseded by new record highs. And sooner than in previous times.

“The odds of these kinds of events are increasing because of climate change,” she said. “Just as the base line is getting higher, the extremes are shooting up.”

The heat wave arrived when global warming was already a hot topic. Gore's book and movie, “An Inconvenient Truth” – which warns that the phenomenon is about to reach a tipping point, leaving humankind virtually helpless to stop it – has received excellent reviews and has grossed nearly $20 million nationwide.

In addition, some scientists, including Kerry Emanuel, are linking powerful storms such as Hurricane Katrina to global warming. Such monstrous weather occurrences will become more common, experts say.

The one bright note?

The unusual weather may help spur change.

Every time temperatures spike, people might begin wondering if global warming just may be the cause. And that's a good thing, experts say.

“We need to be more cognizant,” Emanuel said.

Michael Stetz: (619) 293-1720; michael.stetz@uniontrib.com


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: climatechange; globalwarming; heat
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...one of the first things that comes to mind is global warming.

Nope....

Taken by itself, the current heat wave is not out of the ordinary, said Don Whitlow, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Diego. It's summer. And it's hot.
“Natural cycles happen,” he said.

Whitlow said San Diego County's current heat wave is the result of a large high-pressure system that has stalled over the region.

There you have it.... STRONG HIGH PRESSURE.

1 posted on 07/25/2006 3:19:21 PM PDT by bkwells
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To: DaveLoneRanger

Ping.... this was in my local paper this morning.


2 posted on 07/25/2006 3:19:51 PM PDT by bkwells (Liberals=Hypocrites)
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To: bkwells

3 posted on 07/25/2006 3:21:59 PM PDT by do the dhue (I hope y'all will help bail me out of jail after I dot Al 'blahblahblah' Gore's eyes.)
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To: bkwells
But now when temperatures soar to record-breaking highs, as they did in San Diego County on Saturday, one of the first things that comes to mind is global warming.

No, my first thought is to get a fan. Or, turn on the AC.
4 posted on 07/25/2006 3:22:15 PM PDT by proud_yank (If you think healthcare is expensive now, wait until its free.)
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To: bkwells

5 posted on 07/25/2006 3:22:16 PM PDT by oldleft
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To: bkwells
Even though you'll see me on other threads talking about how global warming is a real concern (but not proved to be man made) tieing the temperature on a daily basis to global warming is silly. We are are talking about less than two degrees over the past century. Does it make that much difference on any given day if its 96 or 98?
6 posted on 07/25/2006 3:22:43 PM PDT by gondramB (The options on the table have been there from the beginning. Withdraw and fail or commit and succeed)
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To: bkwells

Professor Bob Carter comments on Al Gore and his hysterical fairytale titled “An Inconvenient Truth.”

“The man is an embarrassment to US science and its many fine practitioners, a lot of whom know (but feel unable to state publicly) that his propaganda crusade is mostly based on junk science,” says Carter, from the Marine Geophysical Laboratory at James Cook University, in Australia.

“Gore's circumstantial arguments are so weak that they are pathetic. It is simply incredible that they, and his film, are commanding public attention.”

Furthermore..........

“We've got to ride the global-warming issue. Even if the theory of global warming is wrong, we will be doing the right thing, in terms of economic policy and environmental policy.” - Timothy Wirth, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs in the Clinton Administration


7 posted on 07/25/2006 3:24:17 PM PDT by sergeantdave (Global warming will soon cause people to spontaneously combust while walking down the street.)
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To: gondramB

Given the fact that the other globes in our solar system appear to be warming too, I think we should be pointing fingers at the sun.


8 posted on 07/25/2006 3:26:21 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Greed is NOT a conservative ideal.)
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To: cripplecreek
>>Given the fact that the other globes in our solar system appear to be warming too, I think we should be pointing fingers at the sun.<<

There are a lot of dynamics that go into surface temperatures, especially with a biosphere to contend with. The worst possible case is that global warming will continue to rise at current levels or higher and yet not be human caused. That is the worst possibility of all.
9 posted on 07/25/2006 3:30:46 PM PDT by gondramB (The options on the table have been there from the beginning. Withdraw and fail or commit and succeed)
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To: bkwells
“An Inconvenient Truth” – which warns that the phenomenon is about to reach a tipping point, leaving humankind virtually helpless to stop it – has received excellent reviews and has grossed nearly $20 million nationwide.

Is this the purpose of this piece, to further shove Gore's narcisstic mental masturbation down our throats?? And the "good reviews" of Gore's nonsense are from fellow liberals in the left wing amen chorus mainstream media. Their zombie like approbation of Gore's film is meaningless. It's a bunch of leftists touting another leftist.

By the way, $20 million is good box office? On what planet??? Even "Little Man," "Benchwarmers" and "Basic Instince 2" made more than that.

10 posted on 07/25/2006 3:33:00 PM PDT by MikeA (Not voting out of anger in November is a vote for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House)
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To: bkwells

I believe that Global warming is a natural cycle and has happened before. The most reasonable "something-other-than-humans-caused" of global warming is that the sun's energy output is increasing, this would also explain Martian global warming. The martian polar caps are "melting" or "vaporizing" are not refreezing to former size. Worse, they are melting away at an alarming rate.


11 posted on 07/25/2006 3:39:19 PM PDT by FreeRep
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To: bkwells
This spring, I read that Canada had just experienced the warmest windter on record. Unfortunately, I am older than their record keeping which only extended to 1948.

I just think the idea that just because it is warmer today that it ever has been in history on this particular day is stupid. History is really such a short time.

I am 59 years of age, and without fail every July/August in the northern hemisphere it has been hot. Sometimes very hot. I remember two years in a row, the plant that I was working at had electricity taken for rolling blackouts during out fiscal year end process which happens on August 1st. This is just not a unusually phenomenon.

12 posted on 07/25/2006 3:39:35 PM PDT by w1andsodidwe (Jimmy Carter allowed radical Islam to get a foothold in Iran.)
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To: bkwells
Don't blame warm globe on global warming.

If not that, then what caused temperature changes shown in these graphs? They show that Earth is in a brief period of global warming called an interglacial. The longer time spans, the deep troughs are glacial periods. The line that runs across the graphs is the temperature in 1950 and listed as "0" on the left axis.

I'm more concerned with sustaining global warming to offset global cooling and the next ice age.

Ice Ages & Astronomical Causes
Brief Introduction to the History of Climate
by Richard A. Muller

Origin of the 100 kyr Glacial Cycle

Figure 1-1 Global warming

Figure 1-2 Climate of the last 2400 years

Figure 1-3 Climate of the last 12,000 years

Figure 1-4 Climate of the last 100,000 years

Figure 1-5 Climate for the last 420 kyr, from Vostok ice


13 posted on 07/25/2006 3:43:49 PM PDT by Zon (Honesty outlives the lie, spin and deception -- It always has -- It always will.)
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To: Howlin
“Natural cycles happen,” he said.

How are you doing? Haven't seen rain like this in over a decade. The drought is OBVIOUSLY over. Summer temps seem reasonable. Should be a great tobacco crop on the right coast...

14 posted on 07/25/2006 3:44:58 PM PDT by Libloather (I would give my left arm to be ambidextrous...)
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To: bkwells
The unusual weather may help spur change.

The kind of change the left has in mind is more envy driven taxes, regulation, and government programs.

But climate change will spur technology instead, and greatly benefit the mostly conservative voting male engineers that invent technology.

Just a few ideas:

Fog, cloud, and snow making machines that convert water into white heat management reflectors.

Fusion power.

Saltwater algae farms that absorb CO2 and emit oxygen or hydrogen fuel gas. The grown algae would be used for biodiesel and alcohol generation. Related to this, genetically engineered saltwater plants could become sea-cactuses, converting saltwater into unlimited freshwater.

15 posted on 07/25/2006 3:47:01 PM PDT by Reeses
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To: Reeses

It spurred a change with me.

I had some ice cream.

mmmmm global warming

You can talk people into anything these days. Of course, they are looking to be talked into something to worry about.


16 posted on 07/25/2006 3:49:29 PM PDT by Names Ash Housewares
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To: Zon

Interesting graphs. Thanks for posting them.


17 posted on 07/25/2006 4:06:51 PM PDT by ELS (Vivat Benedictus XVI!)
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To: bkwells
I saw where a "100" year record was broken some where during the recent heat wave. Now think about it. What caused the high temp "100" years ago? Cow farts? Just remember the global warming scientist salary depends on government grants to study global warning. Now if they decide there is no global warming what happens to their grant money (pay check)?
18 posted on 07/25/2006 4:11:51 PM PDT by kempo
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To: Zon

Cool.


19 posted on 07/25/2006 4:12:17 PM PDT by Tolik
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To: bkwells

It's hot because ......... It's Summer!


20 posted on 07/25/2006 4:23:13 PM PDT by 3niner
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