Posted by: jnicklin | June 26, 2007

Global…. Warming?

Chile: May and June 2007 - coldest months in the last 20 years.

Australia: coldest June day on record last weekend. Last week, Queensland’s record cold temperatures had to be revised.

Zimbabwe: -7 Celsius degrees. Several people froze to death.

Argentina: 10-day cold wave was the highest for any single weather event in recent history. Authorities confirmed 34 deaths directly or indirectly linked to the polar air incursion

But the GW crowd will point out that this is only to be expected in a warming world. It must be nice to have theory that is proven by any conceivable outcome. Too hot? Global warming. Too dry? Global warming. To cold? Global warming. To wet? Global warming. See any trend forming?

Posted in Uncategorized

« On the record
A cautionary tale »

Responses

Hi John: Is there any way to get your blog to allow longer posts. Again I must break up my reply into parts. Anyway, here are some thoughts.

You have to be careful to separate the media from the science. If your argument is that the media presents the topic very poorly then I can agree with you.

By: Anonymous on June 27, 2007
at 8:33 am

However the science is based on what evidence or theory can substantiate. In this light lets take a look at the claims.

1) Will global warming cause temperatures to be higher. Over all, of course.

2) Will global warming cause more rain fall. Well, warmer temperatures will allow the atmosphere to hold more moisture which must come back down at some point so I would say in certain areas it should.

By: Anonymous on June 27, 2007
at 8:33 am

3) Will global warming cause more arid conditions. Again, warmer temperatures will allow the air to hold more water so it the air mass is not saturated it will pick up moisture and in some areas would cause dryer conditions.

4) Will global warming cause cooler climates. This seems doubtful but if you can present something that has passed scientific scrutiny, I would be interested in reading it.

REgards,
John

By: Anonymous on June 27, 2007
at 8:34 am

Longer posts is a mystery. I’ve checked all the parameters for this blog service and can’t find anyhting that limits comment length.

The media is rife with bad reportage, usually, but not limited to, interpreting what the science says to more closely match their own need for more alarming stories. The average person has very little chance of checking into most of the background information.

By: John Nicklin on June 27, 2007
at 10:38 am

John,

I accept your comments that, all things being equal, global warming could cause, heat, cold, dry, wet, etc. I remember the same arguements for global cooling.

When such statements are made, they don’t explain why such things could happen, just that’s its obviously global warming, man-made of course. Presumably, natural global warming wouldn’t cause these things to happen?

By: John Nicklin on June 27, 2007
at 10:41 am

John:

Humm, I am not sure that I put my point forward in a very plain manner, but let me repeat it.

I don’t think that anyway statements should be made without the appropriate background. If such statements are made then they are not science but propaganda.

A good example would be global warming causing drought. We can say that we expect an increase in global temperatures to cause drought conditions in the west since this paper is able to provide a link between previous warm conditions and significant drought.

Again, I am not trying to defend the media. I think they generally do a poor job of reporting science.

John

By: Anonymous on June 27, 2007
at 5:38 pm

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