It's raining in December? (Minneapolis, Cleveland: house, taxes, safe)

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by west336

No snow on the ground in Cleveland and it'll touch 60 degrees today -- something is going on!

Yes, it's called normal, cyclical weather patterns. We had a very dry fall, and very little moisture in December. With no snow cover on the ground, temperatures are naturally going to be warmer but a few degrees. The snow on the ground keeps temps down in the winter. There have been plenty of winters like this in the past 40+ years and before. I have pictures of my oldest playing outside, in January, in shorts and a t-shirt in the winter of 1996. We were in South Dakota that year, the year the Twin Cities got that major ice storm and their temps were MUCH colder. We didn't have any snow at the time and our temperatures were downright balmy.

[sholomar]

very nice, though it's tiring seeing people blame warm and cold fronts on global warming and acting like they've never happened before. For this reason I don't talk much about the weather much. Because I know that it's not global warming, and weather is not getting more extreme, it's always been extreme. It's like people have an attention span of 2 days and can't remember what happened a week ago, much less 5 years ago, much less look at the stats and see record cold and warmth has occurred as long as records have been kept.

I'll take this warm weather. It's the first time since I've lived out here it's been above freezing in December for any length of time in the town I live in, much less 40. Very eastern Wisconsin-like, meaning the jet stream has shifted west allowing the warm air further west then normal, it's usually confined to extreme eastern WI and east to the east coast. Along with it the moisture and humidity from the gulf of mexico. Normally this area almost always gets canadian air, to have extended periods of time where gulf of mexico air arrives is relatively rare here, and very enjoyable.

Lack of snowcover helps, but even in eastern WI, it will get above freezing and the snow will melt more often, due to the jet stream and low pressure systems bringing up warm air from the gulf more often. I'd imagine it's even more pronounced if you go east into Michigan, or actually live along the east coast where they don't really get 'cold' winters by midwest definitions.

[Minnesota Spring]

There is no argument that the Earth is getting warmer, but the argument is what is causing it.
Anyway, I like that there is going to be no snow for Christmas. Everyone that wants a white Christmas can come and shovel my driveway if it does snow. After last winter I never want to see snow again The shoveling, trying to see out of your driveway over the snow banks- sure its pretty to look at at first, but then it gets hard and crusty and makes the sidewalks and streets slippery. Not to mention when the wind picks up it makes getting around difficult. If you want a white Christmas that bad, move to Canada or Alaska.
There, thats my rant for the day.

[sholomar]

no doubt CO2 levels are going up and the earth is warming a bit, but it's a stretch to blame every warm front, cold front, outbreak of severe weather, and hurricane on 'global warming' and calling it climate change .. it's called weather patterns, and it's completely normal. Droughts are normal as well. None of this is more 'extreme' weather than normal, it's merely we have more people and faster communication to spread news around than ever before.

Another example.. there have always been frost and freeze events into northern and central FL... yet every couple years the media brings it up as though it's the first time it's ever happened, and I always here people screaming about climate change. It's just silly. It's called a cold front. There's always a chance it can happen, and it's always been happening. Get a strong enough area of low pressure and a strong enough move in the jet stream, and cold and warm air will go where it may not go that often, but it does happen.

And severe weather has been going on for I guarantee tens of thousands of years or more... when you have moist air from the gulf of mexico colliding with dry air from the desert southwest, colliding with cold air from canada, it's just a perfect recipe. It's not climate change.. it's normal weather patterns. Northerly flowing air from the gulf of mexico combined with relatively flat low elevation land is what makes the eastern half of the US such a green, lush area. Nice amounts of rain that many countries around the world such as china and Australia, would love to have as a prominent weather feature on such large amounts of their landmasses.

A good example of normal varied weather patterns is the rise and fall in depth of devil's lake in north dakota.. it is right now near a modern historic high depth but it has been that high before.. the evidence is on google maps looking at the terrain. However in periods of history it has also been nearly completely dry. Lake Thompson in South Dakota has gone through periods where it's been completely dry as well. Long before the industrial revolution, the same 'extreme weather' was going on.

[audadvnc]

Don't confuse weather with climate. A rain in December means just that, it has almost nothing to do with global climate patterns.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by golfgal

My grass is getting green


It isn't unheard of to have temps in the 40's in December. This has nothing to do with global warming, which will actually make our temps colder but that is beside the point.

No.
Global average temperatures are rising faster than ever according to all data.
The "averages" were just recalculated again based on 1981-2010 and they increased across the board nearly everywhere.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by stockwiz

very nice, though it's tiring seeing people blame warm and cold fronts on global warming and acting like they've never happened before. For this reason I don't talk much about the weather much. Because I know that it's not global warming, and weather is not getting more extreme, it's always been extreme. It's like people have an attention span of 2 days and can't remember what happened a week ago, much less 5 years ago, much less look at the stats and see record cold and warmth has occurred as long as records have been kept.

I'll take this warm weather. It's the first time since I've lived out here it's been above freezing in December for any length of time in the town I live in, much less 40. Very eastern Wisconsin-like, meaning the jet stream has shifted west allowing the warm air further west then normal, it's usually confined to extreme eastern WI and east to the east coast. Along with it the moisture and humidity from the gulf of mexico. Normally this area almost always gets canadian air, to have extended periods of time where gulf of mexico air arrives is relatively rare here, and very enjoyable.

Lack of snowcover helps, but even in eastern WI, it will get above freezing and the snow will melt more often, due to the jet stream and low pressure systems bringing up warm air from the gulf more often. I'd imagine it's even more pronounced if you go east into Michigan, or actually live along the east coast where they don't really get 'cold' winters by midwest definitions.

"Extreme weather events" have CERTAINLY increased in frequency in many areas of the US. In NH, they have recorded multiple weather disasters every single year for numerous years. That is not normal in the least. A warm atmosphere holds more water vapor and moisture so precipitation will certainly be increasing in many areas as well as extreme precip events. A warmer atmosphere leads to more evapotransipiration in already hot places like Texas. Therefore, droughts of the current severity in that region will become much more common just based on temperature increases alone.

[golfgal]

Another plus for a warm December:

Minnesota Golf Association

Several golf courses are still open for the year. I just got an email that Mississippi Dunes is planning on having a shotgun on Sunday--

Cost: 2-some package for $98 or a 4-some package for $196.
Packages include golf, cart, buffet lunch and 2 drink tickets.

Just might have to get out and hit some balls this weekend .

[JadedDreams]

We are not getting any snow for the next week, are we?

[iNviNciBL3]

Whats Christmas without snow?
Seriously though if we're gonna have a snowless Christmas lets at least have it sunny and 50 degrees