Are weather and season patters a good indication of global warming?

Question

I personally hate it when people associate one really hot day or a wet month to global warming. My understanding is that seasonal patterns overtime will show a lot of deviations from the average if you look really closely at particular moments in time. Am I right in assuming that some people are over reacting?

Answer 1

Yes people are overreacting.  It's like the panic before the Y2K bug was to strike.

I find people life boring lives and the pending doom gives their lives some excitement that they enjoy.

The weather in the 1930's and 1940's was far more extreme than they are today.  Truth is, no one knows what weather "global warming" would bring.

How many times have you heard that the record cold and snow was because of global warming, and also droughts and heat were also caused by global warming.

In science there can be no contradictions.  Contradictions are signs that we need to learn more.

Answer 2

Does a big *** earthquake in China mean that there are fault lines? Does stepping in dog **** mean someone didn't pick up after their dog? Is the Pope Catholic?  Does a bear **** in the woods?

What are you gonna do? Wait until gas goes to $10, then trade in your S.U.V.?

Answer 3

In order to get a good indication of global warming, you have to filter out short term "noise" in the data by averaging things over a long time.

This graph shows that clearly.  The black line is the yearly average, and it's clearly very "noisy".  The red line is the 5 year average, and shows the reality of global warming.

http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/2007/

The fact that we've had an unusual number of tornados this year means little.  The fact that the number has been increasing for some years is significant.

Answer 4

ther has certainly been a gradual shift in our weather  patterns   as i remember from my fitst observations more than 70 years ago,over the past 10 years the change appears to me to be more severe and quickening.whether this will reverse or continue on its present path will only be apparent with the passing of time.I realy think we have to try and reverse it.Cheres.

Answer 5

You are 100 % correct.

Global warming is warming in the long run on a worldwide scale.  

There will always be those hot days and rainy months with or without any human caused climate change.

Answer 6

I agree with Bob, and wish to add that when the problem is not limited to weather patterns, but additional factors such as increased seismic activity and volcanic activity are added to the picture, it becomes more indicative.  Melting polar ice caps press down on the poles.  As they melt, the pressure is reduced, and the tectonic plates begin shifting more.  We know that the continents have moved in the past, and we are coming to realize that they may not always move at a constant, steady pace.  The earth isn't exactly round at the moment.  It's flattened at the poles.  If the ice melts, and our planet becomes rounder, will its orbit shift slightly ?  Right now we have many interesting questions to contemplate.  We are likely in the near future to wish that we didn't know the answers, as they are likely to become obvious in a very negative fashion.

Answer 7

One of my meteorology professors will jump you if you refer to a warmer-than-average day as "Global Warming." Now, he's a very strong believer in man-made global warming (a point which we've debated on many occasions), but he'll be the first to tell you that global warming isn't a short-term cause of warm weather. I also tend to amuse myself by announcing that global warming isn't real because it's cold outside, but I digress.

Global warming as we know it right now is dealing with temperature increases by SINGLE degrees (Celcius) per CENTURY. It may sound insignificant, but a single degree rise in the earth's average temperature would cause many changes in our world. But is it responsible for it being 85 degrees (F) tomorrow when the average is only 70? No.

Answer 8

For me, it seems to be what mood my wife is in.