[hiknapster]

Unfortunately, that is so true. El Nino protected my Florida friends (this means y'all) this past season.

[sunrico90]

See below for info on el NIno or visit the website:
http://www.elnino.noaa.gov/
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/product...no/index.shtml
What is an El Niño?

Among these consequences are increased rainfall across the southern tier of the US and in Peru, which has caused destructive flooding, and drought in the West Pacific, sometimes associated with devastating brush fires in Australia. Observations of conditions in the tropical Pacific are considered essential for the prediction of short term (a few months to 1 year) climate variations. To provide necessary data, NOAA operates a network of buoys which measure temperature, currents and winds in the equatorial band. These buoys daily transmit data which are available to researchers and forecasters around the world in real time.

Don't forget la NIna:
What is La Niña?
La Niña is characterized by unusually cold ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific, compared to El Niño, which is characterized by unusually warm ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific.



By the early 1980s researchers had effectively confirmed Jacob Bjerknes's earlier insights on how an El Niño event tends to evolve. Scientists analyzing data covering six El Niños from 1950 to 1976 found that in December or January sea surface temperatures off Peru would begin to rise but, unlike in "normal times," would not drop as the Southern fall season (February-April) progressed. These anomalously warm temperatures would gradually migrate westward, growing warmer as they did so. The warm waters in the eastern Pacific would eventually lower atmospheric pressure, thereby causing the trade winds to collapse, and around the end of the year sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific would peak. This phase of El Niño would typically last into spring in the northern hemisphere, where its effects were felt most strongly. Finally, sea surface temperatures in the central Pacific would begin to cool and El Niño would bow out and be replaced either by La Niña or by average conditions.

However, when the severe El Niño struck in 1982 to 1983, its timing was unusual. This tempest did not show the typical warming of waters off Peru around April. Hindsight now shows that El Niño's signs were evident by July 1982. Unfortunately, satellites making measurements of sea surface temperature in the Pacific were confounded by the April eruption of El Chichon volcano in Mexico, which had spewed a massive cloud of fine particles high into the atmosphere. To the satellites, sea surface temperatures appeared much colder than they actually were. Although the equatorial buoys were in place, measurements from them were available only after the instruments were recovered months later. As a result, scientists were virtually blind to the coming threat.

Australia, already in the grip of its worst drought of the century, suffered wildfires and catastrophic agricultural and livestock losses that together cost billions of dollars of lost revenue and damage. Drought racked much of sub-Saharan Africa, forcing even normally food-exporting nations such as the Republic of South Africa and Zimbabwe to turn to the international community for help. In parts of southern Ecuador and northern Peru, up to 100 inches of rain fell during a six-month period. Swollen rivers carried a thousand times their normal flow. In all the event was blamed for nearly 2,100 deaths worldwide and forced hundreds of thousands of people to be evacuated, left thousands more homeless, and caused over $13 billion in damage worldwide.

[sunrico90]

Does this sound familiar?

The following factors all have an influence on Earth’s climate. Some of these items cause global warming to increase more rapidly; others may slow the process or even contribute to both effects.

Clouds
Clouds reflect sunlight, providing shade, which keeps Earth’s surface cool. However, the water vapor within clouds is a greenhouse gas. It traps heat in the atmosphere by bouncing energy back towards the Earth, trapping heat. Scientists still disagree about whether the net effect of cloud cover is to cool or warm the Earth. If global warming continues, there will be an increased amount of clouds in our atmosphere, which may help or hurt.

Forest Fires
Wildfires release carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. By trapping heat, carbon dioxide contributes to the planet’s warming. However, if a forest of similar size grows again, about the same amount of carbon that was added to the atmosphere during the fire will be removed. So, fires affect atmospheric CO2 in the short term, but not on long timescales.

Volcanic Eruptions
Eruptions send ash particles into the stratosphere, blocking sunlight from reaching the Earth’s surface and contribute to cooling. Ash from volcanoes can have a worldwide effect, as ash in the stratosphere is able to travel great distances. For example, Mount Pinatubo erupted in 1990 sending enough ash into the atmosphere to lower Earth’s average temperature for several years. However, volcanoes also release carbon dioxide, which, over millions of years, causes warming.

Oceans
Heat is absorbed by ocean water and transported by currents worldwide. Due to their ability to absorb and broadly distribute heat, the oceans help to slow the process of temperature change in the atmosphere.

People
Living things both produce and consume greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide. Because human activities use huge quantities of fuels that release carbon dioxide, currently far more greenhouse gases are produced than consumed, contributing to global warming

* Carbon dioxide: Carbon, the building block of life, is released as carbon dioxide gas when fossil fuels, the remains of ancient plant and animal bodies, are burned. Carbon dioxide is taken out of the atmosphere by plants during the process of photosynthesis.
* Methane: Methane gas is produced by microbes in natural wetlands and rice paddies and by the digestive tracts of farm animals such as cattle and sheep.
* Nitrous oxide: This gas is produced when nitrate and ammonium in human-produced fertilizers breakdown in the soil

[tallrick]

Originally Posted by firemed

El Nino was great for us this year for the hurricanes. but it seem El Nino will end just as the 2007 hurricane season starts. With the water so warm it might be a bad year.

Where did you read this? Is there a chance we may actually get a powerful hurricane? Wouldn't it be great to still be living here and suffering through the "big one"? last I heard New Orleans is still a mess, a good storm would not only pop Miami's RE bubble, but would stall all development for decades. I don't know whether to cheer on the hurricanes or be afraid? Well there's nothing any of us can do so why worry...

[firemed]

Originally Posted by tallrick

Where did you read this? Is there a chance we may actually get a powerful hurricane? Wouldn't it be great to still be living here and suffering through the "big one"? last I heard New Orleans is still a mess, a good storm would not only pop Miami's RE bubble, but would stall all development for decades. I don't know whether to cheer on the hurricanes or be afraid? Well there's nothing any of us can do so why worry...

You do know about the last boom. Check out the site I posted on the Brief Description Of The Sunshine State Thread.

[sunrico90]

Scientists at Florida's top universities have put together a picture of Florida's future in light of the phenomenon of global climate change, and it's not pretty. Here's a snapshot of how global warming will hit home in the Sunshine State;





Sugarcane, tomato, and citrus in south Florida may decline, due to altered growing conditions.


More intense droughts may increase the threat wildfires pose to forests and property.


Anticipated sea level rise, combined with storm surge, will flood property and erode beaches in low-lying areas unless expensive protective measures are taken. Tourism and freshwater supplies may be damaged.


Elderly and low-income people, primarily in cities, are the most likely to be harmed by higher temperatures and increased risk of disease.


Anticipated sea level rise may inundate the Everglades and other coastal wetlands, destroying natural areas and hurting tourism.


Warmer water may contribute to widespread bleaching and decline of reefs.

http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/fflamap.asp (broken link)

[lonelychicagoan]

Originally Posted by sunrico90

We don't have an explanation. Something is changing but we neglect to see how we affect our enviroment and world. Some plants have flowers, normally this will happen in MAr or April. Part of the polar cap is melting, winter very mild on the east, worst of the west.

Just imagine if something else below the soil is also brewing. The big one might not be a hurricane.......?????????

my god, i sure hope the polar ice caps don't all melt too fast! because if they do melt, they'll raise all the oceans on this planet and there goes my future home!

[macguy]

Originally Posted by lonelychicagoan

my god, i sure hope the polar ice caps don't all melt too fast! because if they do melt, they'll raise all the oceans on this planet and there goes my future home!

If the north pole was to melt down completely it would not raise the water levels at all to speak of. You don't have to worry about your future home, we will all be long dead when any of this happens it it does.

[sunrico90]

Originally Posted by lonelychicagoan

my god, i sure hope the polar ice caps don't all melt too fast! because if they do melt, they'll raise all the oceans on this planet and there goes my future home!

If they melt more than your future home will be gone...

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by macguy

If the north pole was to melt down completely it would not raise the water levels at all to speak of. You don't have to worry about your future home, we will all be long dead when any of this happens it it does.

Wow. MacGuy, you are normally so smart, but I guess that is financially. Scientifically your statement is way off base. If the north pole were to melt you would not be getting a million dollars for your property, because there would be nothing to sell.