Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Rocko: You won't ever believe this, but back when the earth was so warm dinosaurs lived in the Arctic Circle, the winters there were still cold and snowy. Did the dinosaurs freeze to death? Nope. They migrated south every winter.
None of the scientists who first predicted the earth was warming ever denied the winters would be cold this time of year in the northern hemisphere. What they did predict was the winters would become more unpredictable, with weather patterns that were so unusual as to be unpredictable, so we could expect to see very warm winters and very cold winters.
30 years ago, the scientists didn't have enough data yet to ever say for sure anything more than that. Now, 30 years later, the winters have become more unpredictable, especially in the earth's critical coolers, the Arctic and Antarctic Circles.
For the last 4 years, the Polar Vortex, the wind motor that keeps the air circulating in the cooler has begun to wobble around in a loopy circle. Ever since the very first records were kept, the Polar Vortex has stayed put over the North Pole. Now, it goes down into the edge of what was once the Arctic Circle boundary, and then swings back up to the North Pole.
It never has done that before. And this winter, it split in half. Now, there are 2 separate vortexes spinning around each other. That, too, has never been seen before.
And- you know what? That is unusual weather.
The real climate change is those winds are acting so strange because the oceans are warming. The water in the Arctic is not as cold as it should be, and the deepest and coldest currents at the bottoms of the oceans are warming. That's what is making this winter so cold in the east, while it's warmer in the west this year.
Winters are always going to be colder than summers. Because the earth is tilted. For half of the year, the upper half tilts away from the sun, so the sun's rays don't hit it as straight on as in the summer.
But down in the southern hemisphere, where the seasons are reversed, while we're freezing our butts off, Australia is having the worst heat wave in recorded history.
The oceans' temperature is what has kept our weather so predictable throughout recorded history. The cold bottom currents drift toward the equator, where it's always warm, and warm a little, making the waters at the surface warm, and when water warms, it moves around.
Now, those movements have changed in unpredictable ways.
That's climate change. And when the oceans warm, so does the rest of the planet.
The dinosaurs lived because they migrated thousands of miles southward every fall, and then turned around and went north again for the summers. They began to move as soon as their young hatched. And they evolved so that constant movement could be done for survival. Because the planet had undergone major climate change.
And now, we are in the beginnings of another change. No one knows if humans can cool down our warming atmosphere enough to cool the deep ocean currents, as we have never tried it before. but if our air keeps growing hotter, so will the oceans, and so will the deepest currents in them.
We don't know yet just how hot Earth can get. So we don't know what our future weather will be. But it is entirely possible for a hot Earth to still have freezing winters and blistering summers in the hemispheres.
Mars lost almost all of it's atmosphere when it was a much hotter planet, but it still has just enough to form ice caps on its poles every Martian winter. Earth could become similar to Mars, but since Earth is closer to the sun, it won't ever get as constantly cold. But Earth could become more like Venus, where it's constantly hot.
We all live on a planet that has a very delicate balance between the two extremes. Mess with the balance and balance will become tippy.
Well it’s freezing here in Tennessee. The average high here in January is around 50 degrees. Today’s high was around 40. By next Tuesday the high will be 28 with a low of 9. Global warming is a joke. The kind of weather we are getting belongs in Wisconsin or Michigan not here.
Well it’s freezing here in Tennessee. The average high here in January is around 50 degrees. Today’s high was around 40. By next Tuesday the high will be 28 with a low of 9. Global warming is a joke. The kind of weather we are getting belongs in Wisconsin or Michigan not here.
Bingo. You have just identified one of the significant effects of global warming - unpredictable weather.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
