Any other 'alarmists' looking forward to next week when "global cooling" will probably be over?

Question

Personally I'm getting tired of every-other question being about the cold January we had and linking that terribly written Daily Tech article. All of this because we had one cold month, which was only 0.005°C cooler than January of 2000, which ended up being the 8th-warmest year on record.

Anyone know if the La Nina cycle has started to wind down yet? I'm hoping it was less intense in February so that when the data comes out, it will return to a more normal average global temperature and we won't have to hear this amateurish "weather = climate" "where did global warming go?" "global cooling" nonsense anymore.

I guess the deniers need to enjoy being able to make this argument while they can though. They're sure milking it for all it's worth.

Answer 1

Yawn - Even NOAA's long range forecasts just give a 50/50 chance that it may be warmer than average over a part of the country this summer.  Much of the country have odds less than that.

That's just as good as flipping a coin.

And we should note that NOAA also predicted that this winter would have at least a 50/50 chance of being warmer this winter for most of the country.

They would have done better if they used that coin.

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/pr...

Answer 2

Temperatures are expected to be in the 40's (celsius) during this summer with an alarmingly high UV content.

Cold winter weather is just as damaging as hot summer weather on a climactic scale.

Answer 3

OMG yes, people conflating weather and climate has gotten far beyond tiresome. I'm new here, I'm glad to hear it's just a phase. The deniers will never stop, but at least it will be more entertaining if they varied their arguments some.

Answer 4

there is snow in Antarctica all year round. "more proof"

Answer 5

You know, reading TC's answer it struck me that he's probably unaware that when real climate scientists talk about climate change, they also mean oceanic climate change, or changes in mean circulation in the ocean.  We tend to focus on atmospheric climate change, since weather more directly impacts us than changes in the ocean, at least on shorter timescales.  However, one of the major impacts of changing the radiative balance of the atmosphere is going to be changes in ocean circulation.  This was the point of the news stories last week (maybe?) about upwelling along the west coast of N. America causing dead zones.  

The large-scale cooling observed in the equatorial oceans might not be evidence so much of a reversal of global warming, but instead of something much more chilling (no pun intended), oceanic climate change.  So it seems TC's happiness over this is somewhat misplaced, since bringing a lot of cold water to the surface, where it will warm and provide a heat sink and thus a short-term respite from land and atmosphere warming, is not the same thing as finding a mechanism by which the planet can shed the 1.6 W/m^2 of longwave radiation being trapped by the radiatively active trace gases.  

I'm sorry, this doesn't answer your question, but pointing out that there are two climates that are changing is relevant.  In fact, I am not looking forward to increased warming.  I sincerely wish TC and the other skeptics were correct and CO2 wasn't forcing climate.  It is though, and I am deeply concerned we are living on a global equivalent of Easter Island, happily cutting down all the big palm trees to erect statues of no real use.  

And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Answer 6

I take it Al Gore didn't see his shadow this year...

I look forward to Spring every year, alarmists or no.

Answer 7

It's not just one article - and it's not just one month.

And C3PO's answer is a more complex version of "warming causes cooling" and "well, it's really climate change."

http://www.canadafreepress.com/2007/dewe...

X happened, you guys all said X was our fault and would keep happening.  

X stopped happening, Y is happening and now "X causes Y."

What's the evidence?   Look at Frank's links above.

Also:

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk...

Answer 8

Typical alarmist answer : It's just a short term weather pattern?

Answer 9

We do have global cooling like we have in the past. Here we have the most snowfall and the coldest February in Toronto and the rest of Canada.

Answer 10

Sorry Dana it does not look like it is winding down, and the Indian ocean has cooled rapidly over the last 30 days. You are probably going to have to put up with even more questions about a cold February. But it is no different than us putting up with the warm January questions last year.

Today

http://www.osdpd.noaa.gov/PSB/EPS/SST/da...

About 30 days ago;

http://www.osdpd.noaa.gov/PSB/EPS/SST/da...

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