Free Republic

Inconvenient Science: NASA data show that global temperatures dropped sharply over the past two years. Not that you'd know it, since that wasn't deemed news. Does that make NASA a global warming denier? Writing in Real Clear Markets, Aaron Brown looked at the official NASA global temperature data and noticed something surprising. From February 2016 to February 2018, "global average temperatures dropped by 0.56 degrees Celsius." That, he notes, is the biggest two-year drop in the past century. "The 2016-2018 Big Chill," he writes, "was composed of two Little Chills, the biggest five month drop ever (February to June 2016)...

The demonization of the “miracle molecule,” carbon dioxide, continued last week with the announcement that its concentration had reached 410 parts per million (ppm). Nearly all reporting of this noted that this was the highest level in 800,000 years and predicted a host of associated climate calamities. While the current concentration of this vital gas is about 40% higher than at the start of the Industrial Revolution, unreported is that Earth has been suffering from steadily decreasing and perilously low concentrations of CO2. Until the consumption of fossil fuels began liberating this important gas from ancient rocks , the Earth...

Even during times of rapid global warming, loooooong periods of cold weather can occur. April in the U.S. was one of those periods. Despite record warmth elsewhere in the world, it was the 13th-coldest April in the United States, where records date back to 1895. The Upper Midwest was particularly cold — Iowa and Wisconsin had their all-time coldest April while temperatures in surrounding states in the Central and Northeast U.S. were well-below average. From Minnesota to Mississippi, nine states had their coldest April overnight lows. In Minnesota, ice-out came as late in the season as it ever has. Ice-out...

The Patel dam, located on private farmland in western Kenya, had burst its banks after weeks of heavy rain. The rain has pounded East Africa for over a month, killing more than 100 people in Kenya and displacing 260,000. Rwanda and Ethiopia also have been affected by flooding, and about 100,000 people have been displaced in Somalia. Photos circulating on social media show people wading through muddy water, some carrying bodies retrieved in the aftermath of the disaster. Lee Kinyanjui, the governor of Nakuru County, said on Twitter that the water “caused huge destruction of both life & property” and...

The United Nations says an additional round of global climate talks is being scheduled for September ahead of the annual ministerial summit at the end of the year. […] At issue are the precise rules countries have to stick to in fulfilling the 2015 Paris climate accord, as well as questions of funding for poor nations and how to close the gap between what governments have pledged to do and what’s needed to meet the goal of keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius. …

Al Gore has been accused of hypocrisy for talking the talk on climate change despite burning through fossil fuels at a rapid clip, but it turns out he’s not alone. A study by Cornell and the University of Michigan researchers found that those “highly concerned” about climate change were less likely to engage in recycling and other eco-friendly behaviors than global-warming skeptics. Published in the April edition of the Journal of Environmental Psychology, the one-year study broke 600 participants into three groups based on their level of concern about climate change: “highly concerned,” “cautiously worried,” and “skeptical.” The “highly concerned”...

Pakistan has experienced the world's hottest April day on record, with temperatures peaking at 122.4F (50.2C), according to experts. The Pakistan Meteorological Department confirmed the extreme temperature was recorded in the city of Nawabshah on Monday, April 30, potentially making it the hottest April temperature ever witnessed on Earth. In April, average temperatures in Pakistan range from 64.4F (18C) to 84.2F (29C).

GENEVA — An unexpected snowstorm coupled with high winds killed four climbers in the Swiss Alps and left five others in critical condition early Monday after they became trapped overnight and couldn’t reach shelter, officials said. A total of 14 hikers from France, Germany and Italy were left stranded in the Pigne d’Arolla region, police in southwestern Valais canton said. Authorities deployed seven helicopters as part of rescue efforts. The climbers were caught off-guard by high winds, snow and bitter cold, and were forced to spend the night outdoors, Valais police spokesman Markus Rieder said.

Meteorological authority prepares draft law to ban unauthorised forecasts Donald Trump may routinely rail against the “fake news media”, but Egypt is going one better by cracking down on “fake” weather reports. The head of the Egyptian Meteorological Authority has said it is the only government body authorised to make predictions about the country’s weather, and is preparing a draft law to ban unauthorised forecasts. Ahmed Abdel-Al, the EMA chairman, said during a television interview that the bill seeks to punish anyone “talking about meteorology, or anyone using a weather forecasting device without our consent, or anyone who raises confusion...

The weather in France has been very varied in recent weeks, but nobody could have expected snow on April 30th. Many residents of the northern French region of Normandy woke up on Monday to find a considerable layer of snowfall on their rooftops and cars. The mercury dropped to around zero in many parts of the historical region, with the departments of Eure and Seine-Maritime registering the lowest temperatures. In the city of Rouen, the wind chill made it feel like a frosty –5°C in the early hours of the morning. It may have only been a couple of centimeters...

Front-line negotiators from more than 190 nations gathering for climate talks in Bonn on Monday face a daunting task: bring the 2015 Paris Agreement to life. The world's only climate treaty pledges to cap global warming at "well under" two degrees Celsius and prevent manmade CO2 from leeching into the atmosphere by century's end. But it left a mountain of critical rules and procedures to be worked out. "This may sound like a technical exercise, but it matters," Todd Stern, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC and the top climate diplomat under Barack Obama, said in...

A runner spotted a “fire rainbow” over Pinnacles National Park in California, the National Weather Service, Bay Area announced on Wednesday. A fire rainbow, more formally known as a circumhorizontal arc, occurs when the sun is more than 58 degrees above the horizon. The sun must be higher than this in order for the arc to form, according to Atmospheric Optics. Then, as the sun’s light is refracted off of the ice crystals in cirrus clouds, “you get pretty colors,” Roger Gass, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS), told SFGate.

(CNSNews.com) - California Gov. Jerry Brown predicted that if carbon emissions aren’t reduced, billions of people will die from “heat events,” and one billion will be subjected to vector diseases. “When you pick up the paper or turn on cable news, you’d think it’s another planet. It’s all about the nonsense of Washington, and carbon emissions are growing, and we’ve got to radically turn that around, or the migrations you’re seeing now are going to be child’s play,” Brown told reporters Tuesday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. “We’re going to have widespread disruption, more conflicts, more terrorism,...

Has anyone noticed that when watching The Weather Channel as of late, the meteorologists have come to the point of obsession about the near-absence of tornadic storms usually encountered in the United States, namely "Tornado Alley", at this time of year? It seems they're actually disappointed in not seeing this killer weather phenomenon as they would like and are doing what I call "cheerleading". Nearly every discussion and numerous videos of past and recently encountered tornadoes dominate 24 hrs a day. They're saying the reason for this is to keep people informed on how to stay safe during such storms,...

WAPATO, WA – On March 7, 2018, at 3:00 pm, the Department of Natural Resources reported that some of their seismograph equipment had been stolen from the Rattlesnake Ridge landslide area. Seismologists arrived at the landslide area to check on their monitoring equipment. They noticed that parts of their equipment were missing. Some of the items missing were two 60W solar panels, and one Guralp 6TD seismograph worth approximately $12,000.00. The seismograph is about the size of a coffee can and it is useless to anyone who has stolen it. The public is encouraged to contact the Sheriff’s Office if...

Savannah Boerjan and her husband Brandon say they were saved by their seatbelts after a tornado touched down and knocked their vehicle off a road near Mountainburg, Arkansas, on April 13.Savannah said they had just purchased a camper van and were driving it home when the incident occurred.

Snowfall across the great white continent of Antarctica is increasing, according to a study released this week by an international team led by the British Antarctic Survey. The team analyzed 79 ice cores from across Antarctica that provide detailed information on how much snow has fallen over hundreds of years, and it found a 10% increase in snowfall over the past two centuries. This contradicts studies that found that Antarctic snowfall has remained largely constant over the past several decades to centuries. But those studies analyzed only a few ice cores, whereas this comprehensive look at the continent gives a...

OKLAHOMA CITY - Thousands of gallons of water went pouring into the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority office Sunday. "A hundred thousand gallons of water had already spilled in the building," said Jack Damrill, communications director for the OTA. Damrill said cold temperatures caused the fire sprinkler system to burst. "It's just amazing. Water poured out of there in a short amount of time," Damrill said. The water didn't just stop on the main floor; it kept flowing through cracks and the ceiling, spilling through offices on the first floor. "We've had to relocate a couple of people to some different offices,"...

If only Michael Mann could “adjust” real temperatures the way he adjusted them on his infamous “hockey stick” graph that formed the key argument of Al Gore’s scaremongering hit movie, An Inconvenient Truth. But instead of “The end of snow” (New York Times, 2014), Britain has gotten hit with a long and very cold winter. The tabloid Daily Star sensationalizes the cold snap with “studies” that come up with the figure of 48,000 “excess” deaths blamed in the cold snap. Quite frankly, one can concoct all sorts of studies to “prove” or “demonstrate” all sorts of dubious propositions. So,...

THE UK is being hit by its worst winter death toll in 42 years, ... temperatures are set to dip again in April after the chilliest March in 21 years. ... Campaigners have called the deaths a “national tragedy” as cold weather victims fatalities could be prevented - especially in the elderly. ... this winter is set to total at least 48,000 deaths due to cold weather – which works out at an average of one death every three and a half minutes.