Is the fact that China is paralyzed by winter weather an indication of global warming?

Question

It looks like they should have bought more Carbon Offset credits from Al Bore...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/01/30/china.weather.apology/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Answer 1

Global warming isn't a blowtorch that eliminates winter.

It threatens to cause massive damage to our advanced society, when it simply gets to a 2C average increase.

It won't be a Hollywood movie style disaster. Gradually coastal areas will flood and agriculture will be damaged. But it will be very bad. Rich countries will cope, but it will take huge amounts of money. In poor countries many people will die of starvation, but not all of them.

Most scientists say, in 20-50 years. But we need to start right now to fix it, fixing it will take even longer than that.

The bottom line:

"We humans have built a remarkable socioeconomic system during perhaps the only time when it could be built, when climate was sufficiently stable to allow us to develop the agricultural infrastructure required to maintain an advanced society.

If the Earth came with an operating manual, the chapter on climate might begin with a caveat that the system has been adjusted at the factory for optimum comfort, so don't touch the dials."

EDIT - 1/2mm per year????  Typical phony "data", pulled out of someone's ear  

3.4 mm/year right now, and increasing,  Proof.

http://sealevel.colorado.edu/

Way faster than at any time in human history.  And the real worry is that  increases in Greenland glacier movements or collapse of the Antarctica ice sheets could increase the rate rapidly.

Answer 2

Thanks for the interesting story.  I love watching the AGW alarmists change their tunes, in order to cover their tushes.

Answer 3

Weather changes by tens of degrees from day to night and from season to season.  

If the climate warms some fraction of a degree over several decades, how noticeable would global warming be in daily or seasonable weather?

What role do you suppose those normal weather variations might play as an "indication of global warming"?

Weather (short term events) is not equivalent to climate (long term records and trends).

Answer 4

No. And contrary to popular belief a heat wave isn't an indication of it either. When you hear people say "we've had record high temperatures this year, must be due to global warming” they simply don’t know what they’re talking about. If it happened year after year for decades and charting it showed a trend, then it could be climate change, but otherwise it’s just weather anomalies. There is a difference between weather - short term effects that may vary wildly - and climate, which is the average weather over time – usually very small change over a very long time.

Answer 5

it means they are burning more coal to keep warm

Answer 6

I feel chilly today, that must mean global warming is over, right.

Answer 7

In fact the wild swings in temp. and the severe winter weather world wide is a symptom of the effects of climate instability,cause by the warming of the ocean water. The jet stream is way off it's 'normal' course. As the excess 'heat' is released from the oceans as evaporation,it causes the jet stream to change it's course.  When it dips far to the south,it brings the Arctic cold fronts down with it. It's the instability in the climate that will do us the most damage.  Food crops depend on a stable climate.  An unpredictable climate would bring about world wide famine. Make all the jokes you want about Al Gore!  Make wild and imaginative assumptions about science,but the changes are still happening! This is the most serious threat to Mans existence we have ever faced!

Answer 8

Of course snow and cold are indications that global warming is real.  Snow and cold at a time when the temperature of the global is a full 0.2 degrees above a determined average is what scientist call "weird weather".

Weird weather is another indication that global warming is something we need to take cereal.

If we don't the Earth could be doomed in just 200 to 2000 years!