Hot Alaskan weather... In 1900 (Anchorage, Fort Yukon: credit, live, price)

[starlite9]

With all this talk about the hot weather and the "Global Warming" (now Climste Change) folks running sound in circles with both hands in the air screaming the end is near...

The record high temp in Alaska was on the local TV this morning. 100 degrees! Man was that hot or what! Problem is that it was in the year 1900 in Fort Yukon.

There was pretty much zero heavy industry in Alaska then except for a crapload of guys running gold pans.

Isn't Nature a pesky thing, it just does what it wants and we are pretty much just here for the ride, yet people want to elevate our importance in Nature as a God to control the weather, or at least make the other poor humans believe they can and then charge them for the privilege of using carbon credits.

Follow the money!

[Dakster]

Starlite9 - So what was it like in Fort Yukon when the temp hit 100F? What did you do to keep cool?

[7 Wishes]

While I think "global warming" is greatly exaggerated, you're looking at it wrong. The idea is:

1) Global warming kind of "loads the climactic dice" in favor of warming weather, i.e. more record highs than in the past, less record lows than in the past.

2) Maybe that (for example) 93-deg record reading today would've been 89 in 1900. Or maybe that 100 in 1900 occuring today (i.e. same exact conditions but today's atmosphere) might have been 103.

Climate is more complex than just the "greenhouse gases", but anything that changes our atmosphere should at least be reason to take pause.

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by 7 Wishes

While I think "global warming" is greatly exaggerated, you're looking at it wrong. The idea is:

1) Global warming kind of "loads the climactic dice" in favor of warming weather, i.e. more record highs than in the past, less record lows than in the past.

2) Maybe that (for example) 93-deg record reading today would've been 89 in 1900. Or maybe that 100 in 1900 occuring today (i.e. same exact conditions but today's atmosphere) might have been 103.

Climate is more complex than just the "greenhouse gases", but anything that changes our atmosphere should at least be reason to take pause.

The problem with your assumptions is that it has not warmed 3 degrees from 1900. We have had warmer temperatures in the early 1900s than we do today.

Something else: the way I see global warming is as a Godsend. Can you imagine what would have happened if the globe would not have warmed and melted the ice covering earth during the last ice age? Because of global warming we have more arable land, forests, sea routes, and so forth. In reality, we are due for a global cooling, and this is real bad news for the Northern and Southern hemispheres (no agriculture, no farming, etc.).

Also, as mentioned before by another poster, mother nature can send earth into a global cooling with a couple of volcanic eruptions. There is an old tale repeated by some of the Native Alaskans about "the summer that never was." Supposedly, this summer in the 1800s never materialized. Instead it snowed, and even in the Northern CONUS States like NY, farming was not possible because the ground was too and snow was falling.

What happened back then was that Mount Tambora erupted and the ashes in the air blocked the sunlight for a period of six months or longer. If I well remember, this happened around 1816.

Keep in mind that I am going by memory.
------------
Here it goes. Found it for you and others who may be interested:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Without_a_Summer

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by starlite9

With all this talk about the hot weather and the "Global Warming" (now Climste Change) folks running sound in circles with both hands in the air screaming the end is near...

The record high temp in Alaska was on the local TV this morning. 100 degrees! Man was that hot or what! Problem is that it was in the year 1900 in Fort Yukon.

There was pretty much zero heavy industry in Alaska then except for a crapload of guys running gold pans.

Isn't Nature a pesky thing, it just does what it wants and we are pretty much just here for the ride, yet people want to elevate our importance in Nature as a God to control the weather, or at least make the other poor humans believe they can and then charge them for the privilege of using carbon credits.

Follow the money!

The real interesting part is that 100°F in Ft. Yukon in 1900 happened during a time when the planet was experiencing a cooling trend. This cooling period began around the same time as the Krakatoa eruption in 1883 and continued until around 1915. This cooling trend ended about the same time as the Novarupta eruption in 1912, the largest eruption during the twentieth century.

These cooling and warming trends seem to be occurring every 30 to 40 years.

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by 7 Wishes

While I think "global warming" is greatly exaggerated, you're looking at it wrong. The idea is:

1) Global warming kind of "loads the climactic dice" in favor of warming weather, i.e. more record highs than in the past, less record lows than in the past.

2) Maybe that (for example) 93-deg record reading today would've been 89 in 1900. Or maybe that 100 in 1900 occuring today (i.e. same exact conditions but today's atmosphere) might have been 103.

Climate is more complex than just the "greenhouse gases", but anything that changes our atmosphere should at least be reason to take pause.

Except that your assumption in #1 does not match up with the data. The record high and low temperatures are occurring at different times. For example, Anchorage set a new record high two days ago when temperatures hit 81°F, during a time when we are now experiencing a cooling trend. This broke the record set in 1926 when temperatures hit 80°F, during a time when we were experiencing a warming trend. Whereas the record low for this time of year in Anchorage was set in 1988 at 39°F, during a time when we were experiencing a warming trend.

1880-1915 - Cooling
1915-1945 - Warming
1945-1980 - Cooling
1980-2010 - Warming
2010-Present - Cooling

These years are not exact, add or subtract about 2 or 3 years from the years posted above.

[jdhpa]

The US greenhouse gas emissions hit a 20-year low in 2012, mainly because power generators have been switching from coal to natural gas due to the low price of natural gas. Global emissions still rose 3% however, due almost entirely to China (which produces ~2x the emissions of the US).

Trends in global CO2 emissions; 2012 Report - PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency

[Spazkat9696]

I have to agree we are entering a cooling phase. The sun is entering a natural cooling phase, just ask NASA. It was putty much too cool here all summer last year to use our pool, and today at noon it's 73 degrees outside. This is not normal! Every time I watch the news the hot summer beach weather of years past gets pushed further and further away!


Maybe the poles are shifting lol

[Dakster]

It isn't getting any cooler down here in South Florida. Still getting hotter...

If the poles are shifting it isn't coming my way.

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by Spazkat9696

I have to agree we are entering a cooling phase. The sun is entering a natural cooling phase, just ask NASA. It was putty much too cool here all summer last year to use our pool, and today at noon it's 73 degrees outside. This is not normal! Every time I watch the news the hot summer beach weather of years past gets pushed further and further away!


Maybe the poles are shifting lol

This past winter was also the longest winter (231 days between snowfalls) Anchorage has experienced since records were kept beginning in 1917. During the winter before that, Anchorage broke the record snowfall (133") set during the winter of 1955-1956. Unfortunately, we will not know for sure if this is a cooling trend or not except in hindsight, but it is beginning to look that way.

The magnetic pole is always shifting. It is currently in northern Canada and moving northwestward toward Russia at a rate of between 34 and 37 miles (55 and 60 km) per year.

It is currently 52°F in Knik, AK (the closest weather station to where I live). That is about a -20°F difference from just four days ago.