Wednesday - September 30, 2015

pretty scary in a bad way

A little link on the CNN news page ... “Atlantic Blob Puzzles Scientists” ...

follow the link and the video doesn’t sound very puzzled at all ...

The cold blob is unmixed fresh water from the ice caps melting in Greenland. It’s messing with the global currents and is going to slow down or even stop them and the multi-layer mixing that they do. And this will kill the planet. After all, 2015 has been one of the hottest years on record, setting records all around the world in 8 months so far. And the glaciers are melting in Greenland. And we’re all gonna die.

Really?

Honestly, this was a pretty frightening message. I must live under a rock and have pulled the sod in after me, because I’m not hearing anyone other than the kept-whore talking heads on the Weather Channel say a thing about AGW. Half a decade ago we couldn’t get away with it, and then all this sciencey stuff showed up, like facts and stuff, and then tons of insider information about a worldwide scam, and the next thing ya know, we’re hardly hearing a word anymore about Climate Change. And today this; the whole time Death has been stalking us and it may already be too late.

I blame Obama. Wasn’t it the great himself, the mighty Lightworker, supposed to cool the world and lower the rising oceans and so forth? Heal the planet and give everybody a high paying job at Starbucks? Pretty sure those were nearly his own exact words. So how is this even possible?

Posted by Drew458     on 09/30/2015 at 12:37 PM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather • Obama, The One •  
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   Monday - August 31, 2015

obama: half and half

Obama visits Alaska. First sitting president to ever go there.

Yay, Mr. President. About time. Hard to believe it ... Alaska has been a state for 55 years now. About time they got a visit. Lucky for them, this was State #55 on his list of 57 states. 

But Drew, plenty of other presidents have been to Alaska! Ah ha ha, don’t get your dogsled traces tangled. Obama is visiting Alaska NORTH of the Arctic Circle, which is way the heck up there, where just about nobody lives. It’s the northern third of the state, of which about half is wildlife refuge and parkland. Hundreds of thousands of square miles of land, and the biggest “city” of Barrow has something like 4,000 people. So it’s the Big Big Big Empty. About the biggest thing up there are the remains of the old Cold War DEW Line stations, first cousins to the original military BMEWS system. Most of these radar sites have been torn down and abandoned. White Alice doesn’t live here any more.

He’s heading up there to rub noses with teh “Esquimox”, and use the barren frozen wilderness as a massive photo op to push his Climate Change initiative. So this is all political grandstanding. And maybe he can get a prize for another meaningless “firstie” for black people. First Community Organizer voluntarily north of the Line who wasn’t in the military or something. No word on whether the Firs Fambly will go with him, but rumors of cries of “nigga you crazy??” being heard on Pennsylvania Avenue are circulating. Currently experiencing a heat wave, the recent daily high temps in Barrow at the peak of summer have hit almost 9 degrees above freezing. Break out the lemonade!!

Boo, Mr. pResident. Obama visits Alaska. Gives white people the finger (again) by renaming #2 world famous mountain Mount McKinley, as Mount Denali. The whole range of mountains is named the Alaska Range, and this one, the tallest mountain in North America, just happens to sit in the middle of a gigantic nature preserve called Denali Park. It was named in honor of former president William McKinley. Yeah, but the locals have always called it Mount Denali. Really? What locals? The nearest town of any size is this place called ... Wasilla. Wasilla? Ruh roh!!

Obama flies to Anchorage on Monday morning for a three-day tour of the nation’s largest state, closely choreographed to call attention to the ways Obama says climate change is already damaging Alaska’s stunning scenery. By showcasing thawing permafrost, melting sea ice and eroding shorelines, Obama hopes to raise the sense of urgency to deal quickly to slow climate change in the U.S. and overseas.

His excursion north of the Arctic Circle will make Obama the first sitting president to step foot in the Alaska Arctic, home to Alaska Natives who have received less attention amid Obama’s recent efforts to improve conditions for Native Americans. In a major show of solidarity, Obama announced on the eve of his trip that his administration is changing the name of North America’s tallest peak, Mount McKinley, to Denali, its traditional Athabascan name.

Obama’s move to strip the mountain of its name honoring former President William McKinley, a son of Ohio, drew loud condemnations from Ohio lawmakers, including House Speaker John Boehner, who said he was “deeply disappointed” in the decision.

“This political stunt is insulting to all Ohioans, and I will be working with the House Committee on Natural Resources to determine what can be done to prevent this action,” added Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio.

In renaming 20,320-foot Mount McKinely as Denali, Obama was instating a moniker Alaskans have informally used for centuries. The name means “the high one” in Athabascan.

Yet Obama was to navigate far more turbulent political waters when he arrived Monday afternoon in Anchorage, where his grand declarations on climate change have been met with skepticism by leaders in a state that’s heavily dependent on oil revenues that have fallen precipitously.

At the same time, environmental groups warned in the lead-up to Obama’s trip that he hadn’t done enough to protect Alaska and the climate. They took particular offense at his administration’s move just a few weeks ago to give Royal Dutch Shell a final permit for expanded drilling off Alaska’s northwest coast.

Oh, you hadn’t heard about that one? Well, remember how it was so ever lastingly vital under BOOOSH that “drill here, drill now” be brought to a screaming halt to Save Teh World? Even his glee squad at CNN is pissed at him for his latest sell out ...

The Last Frontier state is arguably the best place in the United States to see the now-now-yes-really-now effects of climate change. On the U.S. President’s itinerary: melting glaciers, struggling fishermen and the cultural dislocation of Alaska Native villages.

The Arctic is warming at about twice the rate of the rest of the globe, meaning it’s an obvious front line in the war on global warming. That Obama is highlighting the clear and present dangers of climate change is vitally important. It may help wake up the American people to a topic they’ve been slow to embrace. And it may help bolster Obama’s credibility as he heads into global negotiations this December in Paris, where world leaders will try to limit warming to 2 degrees Celsius, which is regarded as the threshold for dangerous and potentially unmanageable climate change.

That number—2 degrees Celsius—is also the reason, however, I find Obama’s trip to the Arctic to be rather ironic. Scientists have argued that the world will not to be able to meet its target of limiting warming to 2 degrees Celsius, measured as a change in temperature since the industrial revolution, if we tap oil reserves in the Arctic. Yet, that’s exactly what the administration is allowing to happen.
...
This is all a numbers game, as McGlade and Ekins show. To meet international climate targets, the world only can burn about 1,000 gigatons of carbon. We’ve already burned through more than half of that carbon budget, and could finish it off in 30 years if things don’t change fast.

Given that context, the Obama Administration’s decision to allow Shell to start drilling for oil off the coast of Alaska makes us look like junkies on the search for the next hit.

That’s clearly not smart climate policy.

Better act fast, because Alaska is heating up muy rapido!! Hmmm, I wonder if this could have the tiniest, teeniest, eensie-weensiest bit to do with any local temperature rise???

Alaska already has warmed 1.7 degrees Celsius in the last 60 years, according to the U.S. National Climate Assessment. Wildfires have burned 5 million acres acres this year alone ...

Posted by Drew458     on 08/31/2015 at 03:06 PM   
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   Saturday - August 15, 2015

Up North In The UK

Even though this looks like a really cheesy photoshop, it isn’t.

Neither is it a still from the new Steven Moffat episode “Dr. Who meets the giant epiglottis”.

Nope. It’s a real person out for a back-country hike this week. Mid-August. In Scotland.

See, with all this Global Warming, they had a really rancid winter up there.  And the snow still hasn’t fully melted. But what’s left behind is tunnels, like the runoff channels under a glacier. Which it almost is I guess.

So it makes for some neat pictures. And a whole lot of cold mud to slog through. But hey, it’s a sure cure for the summer heatwave! If there was any summer heatwave ...

Lots of neat pics, right here.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/15/2015 at 05:38 AM   
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   Thursday - May 21, 2015

Polar Vortex

Damn this climate shift stuff, whatever the cause.

I got up early, freezing. It’s 45 degrees out. It’s the first morning of the 3rd week of May.  This is just wrong, man.

So we started summer bowling league last night. And it’s dinky mini league as we expected, with about 6 teams. Who cares? We’re out to have fun. If we can.

The lane cleaning machine broke. Not broke down, but broke. So it’s flooding the lanes with oil. Pattern? No, we don get no steenkeen pattern. We had puddles.  But what could they do? They couldn’t cancel leagues. As it is, they shifted us down 4 lanes, so the very worst of the flooded lanes weren’t even used. We got the “dry” lanes, after they mopped up most of the oil puddles on the approaches. And what was left was nearly impossible to bowl on.

It was edge to edge out past 50 feet. Ordinarily an oil pattern is about 43 feet long, so that the last 17 feet of the 60 foot long lane is fairly clean and dry, and gives the balls a chance to grab on and do their thing. Not last night. A very short back end gives you minimal ball reaction, which means the balls won’t hook. Flooded lanes quickly lead to lots of carry-down, oil pushed down the lanes by everyone’s balls. And that “feathers” out the front edge of the oil, stretching the pattern further, but only where other balls have been thrown. So it makes the back end spotty, leaving some areas dry, and some oily. And what you get is kind of like driving your car around a corner too fast, slamming on the brakes, and having the anti-lock brakes come on, but only under 2 wheels instead of all 4. It’s very unpredictable.

So what started out as a humorous, let’s-make-the-best-of-this situation, quickly grew boring, and then frustrating. And then rather bothersome, because every single thing we’ve spent the past decade training ourselves to do, or to not do, was wrong. I threw 11 gutter balls last night. 11. Usually I throw less tha that for an entire season. Overall I had a 314 series, two games under 100. Low game was a 79. Finally, after the 8 of us had thrown 2.3 games each, enough oil had glommed onto our balls and been wiped off, and enough of the rest of it had been pushed around on the lanes, I found I could stand 8 boards to the right and utterly loft my strike ball towards the pocket, in hopes that it would arrive clean enough to dig in and carry through the rack. And it did, getting me marking again the last half of the 3rd game. But we lost that one too,

Right. Hope they get things fixed.

Posted by Drew458     on 05/21/2015 at 05:34 AM   
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   Thursday - May 07, 2015

Prediction: Cool Summer, Long Cold Winter

The sun started “taking a nap” with many less sunspots than typical towards the end of the last solar cycle. It’s still asleep in this solar cycle, and that nap could continue into the next cycle as well. When the heat engine of our solar system is on Idle, does this mean cooler weather for all the planets, including ours?

The sun is almost completely blank. The main driver of all weather and climate, the entity which occupies 99.86% of all of the mass in our solar system, the great ball of fire in the sky has gone quiet again during what is likely to be the weakest sunspot cycle in more than a century. The sun’s X-ray output has flatlined in recent days and NOAA forecasters estimate a scant 1% chance of strong flares in the next 24 hours. Not since cycle 14 peaked in February 1906 has there been a solar cycle with fewer sunspots. We are currently more than six years into Solar Cycle 24 and the current nearly blank sun may signal the end of the solar maximum phase. Solar cycle 24 began after an unusually deep solar minimum that lasted from 2007 to 2009 which included more spotless days on the sun compared to any minimum in almost a century.

So, this cycle is quite a No-Show, and the end of the last cycle was a putz as well. Worse, this cycle’s Maximum was by all counts a Minimum. Ruh-roh Shaggy, we may be in for it.

Going back to 1755, there have been only a few solar cycles in the previous 23 that have had a lower number of sunspots during its maximum phase.
...
...  if history is a guide, it is safe to say that weak solar activity for a prolonged period of time can have a cooling impact on global temperatures in the troposphere which is the bottom-most layer of Earth’s atmosphere - and where we all live. There have been two notable historical periods with decades-long episodes of low solar activity. The first period is known as the “Maunder Minimum”, named after the solar astronomer Edward Maunder, and it lasted from around 1645 to 1715. The second one is referred to as the “Dalton Minimum”, named for the English meteorologist John Dalton, and it lasted from about 1790 to 1830 (below). Both of these historical periods coincided with colder-than-normal global temperatures in an era now referred to by many scientists as the “Little Ice Age”.

I know that last winter was pretty brutal here. This winter seemed nearly as cold, and felt like it came early and stayed late. I know it’s the end of the first week in May, and I had to get up last night to turn the heat on. 

Posted by Drew458     on 05/07/2015 at 08:50 AM   
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   Tuesday - April 28, 2015

I hope April gets here soon

Arrgh, I’m getting tired of this never ending March we’re having. This morning it’s 50° out. Not exactly freezing, but jacket weather without question.  It still feels like the middle of March, and May starts in 3 days.

Posted by Drew458     on 04/28/2015 at 07:56 AM   
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   Friday - April 24, 2015

Please Don’t Snow

It’s a week out from May. And it’s 35°F here. With wind.

WTF?

A significant cooldown has swept into parts of the Midwest and Northeast, so hopefully you haven’t put away your jacket yet after enjoying a taste of spring last week.

This flip to a cooler temperature regime is due to an upper-level trough that has dipped southward into the Midwest, dragging modified Canadian air from the northern Plains to the Northeast. This upper-level trough will make slow progress eastward which will allow the cool temperatures to remain in place.

The air mass has even been cold enough for snow in some locations.

As of Wednesday night, up to 12 inches of snow was reported in Bessemer, Michigan. Some higher terrain locations in western Pennsylvania, western Maryland and northern West Virginia have also seen a few inches of snow.

Early Thursday afternoon, scattered snow showers were observed in parts northern Pennsylvania and Upstate New York with temperatures in the 30s and wind chills in the 20s. Snow flurries were reported in the Boston area on Friday morning.

The chilly conditions will continue as we close out the week.

Spring was already nearly a month late in getting here. And all that Anthropogenic Global Warming and Climate Change made Winter last forever, coming in early and staying late, with an almost constant snow cover here from Thanksgiving to the week before Palm Sunday. That’s enough. Go away. Go away and stay away.

I am going to stamp my feet and hold my breath until I get my way. Because that always works.

Posted by Drew458     on 04/24/2015 at 09:28 AM   
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   Monday - March 30, 2015

the king of chumps

WASHINGTON – In a highly anticipated announcement, the United States will offer a roughly 28 percent emissions cut as its contribution to a major global climate treaty nearing the final stages of negotiation, according to people briefed on the White House’s plans.

The U.S. plans to announce its commitment Tuesday, the informal deadline for nations to submit their contributions to the United Nations. Although the goal of 26 percent to 28 percent by 2025 isn’t new — President Barack Obama first unveiled it last year during a trip to Beijing — the U.S. proposal has drawn intense interest from the vast majority of countries that have yet to announce how deeply they’ll pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions as part of the treaty.

Obama’s pledge constitutes the opening offer by the U.S. as world leaders strive to reach a climate deal powerful and ambitious enough to prevent the worst effects of climate change. In the works for years, the treaty is set to be finalized in Paris in December. If it’s successful, it will mark the first time all nations — not just wealthier ones like the U.S. — will have agreed to do something about climate change.

As part of its proposal, known to climate negotiators as an Intended Nationally Determined Contribution, the U.S. will also assert that its contribution is both ambitious and fair, said the individuals briefed on the U.S. proposal, who requested anonymity because the proposal hasn’t been announced.

What metrics the U.S. will use to back up that claim is not yet clear. The European Union, one of the first parties to submit its contribution, pointed to per capita reductions in emissions to show how it is cutting its carbon footprint. But emissions per capita are far higher in the U.S., making it an inconvenient measure for the U.S. to use to show progress.

Being conveniently small, heavily unemployed, generally low production, built from the ground up with massive public transportation, taxed raw as only continental Socialism can do, and with more nuclear power plants than everywhere else combined, Europe wins the “who us, carbon? non!” game without even trying. They own this metric totally.

The U.S. and other developed countries have been aggressively pressing developing nations to step up on climate change — especially those like China and India that are heavily reliant on dirtier sources of energy. Obama has described his strategy as “leading by example” and has sought to use the steps he’s already taken to cut emissions to ramp up pressure on other countries to do the same.

But poorer countries have traditionally balked, arguing their more modest means make reductions more of an imposition and pointing out that historically, they’re responsible for just a small fraction of the heat-trapping gases that industrialized countries have been pumping into the atmosphere for decades. So when Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping both committed to curbing emissions in a joint announcement in November, environmentalists hailed it as a sign that reluctant nations like China were finally getting on board.

IIRC, all China agreed to was to look at it at some point in the future. They didn’t get on board for diddly squat.

Mexico and U.S. agree to co-operate on greenhouse gas cuts — leaving Canada on the sidelines

OTTAWA — The Harper government is temporarily standing on the sidelines as international negotiations ramp up for a United Nations climate conference at the end of this year.

The conference scheduled for Paris in December is supposed to result in a post-2020 global agreement on cutting greenhouse gas emissions — a successor to the Copenhagen accord signed in 2009.

To help the negotiations, countries that are ready have been asked to submit their emissions targets and climate plans by March 31, a Tuesday deadline Environment Canada says it won’t meet.
...
In the meantime, the U.S. and Mexico agreed to a joint task force on climate policy co-operation on Friday after Mexico announced its emissions will peak by 2026 and fall 22 per cent below “business as usual” levels by the year 2030.
...
The Harper government, which has repeatedly stressed that Canada’s climate policies must be co-ordinated with our continental trading partners, is not party to the new U.S.-Mexico task force.

Nor will it submit its emissions targets to the summit organizers this week.

“Canada wants to ensure we have a complete picture of what the provinces and territories plan before we submit,” a spokesman for Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq said in an email Sunday.

How will the U.S. meet its goal? The Obama administration has avoided putting hard numbers on the size of emissions reductions it expects from specific steps the U.S. is taking. In its submission, the EU listed specific economic sectors — such as transportation, energy and manufacturing — where it expects major reductions, and named the specific greenhouse gases it plans to cut.

In contrast, the U.S. is expected to point broadly to the steps it is taking under the climate action plan Obama announced in 2013, such as new rules requiring sweeping cuts from new and existing power plants, stricter emissions limits for cars and trucks, and initiatives targeting specific greenhouse gases like methane and hydrofluorocarbons.

Many of those steps ordered by Obama face major legal challenges and intense political opposition, raising the risk that they could be undermined or even discarded once Obama leaves office in 2017. Contrast that with the EU, where lawmakers have approved a cap-and-trade emissions scheme that U.S. lawmakers have declined to enact.

“Just like every other country, this is a goal — it’s aspirational,” said Alden Meyer, policy director for the Union of Concerned Scientists. “It’s a fairly ambitious objective, especially if you assume that they’re not going to get any help from Congress.”

“Just like every other country, this is a goal — it’s aspirational”

Aspirational? No.

Inspirational? Perhaps, if you still believe in Tinkerbell.

Expectational? Yes, it’s another dumbass move, as expected.

Expirational? You betcha. It’s going to kill us all by flat-lining the economy for generations to come.

Until you see the MSM get behind plans that include building another 200 nuclear power plants, this whole thing is Socialist smoke & mirrors for a One World power grab. Seriously. If all the talk is about cut backs, new fees, raised standards, and magic turbines run by unicorn farts, then all this Climate Change Carbon Come Crap is just an excuse to tax you naked and lower your standard of living to match that of starving swamp algae.

This is America. We can do anything. You want cleaner living? Fine. Me too, although things are pretty clean already IMO. But not at the cost of jobs or quality of life. Plant trees everywhere, and start living at least half underground. Start farming clams, oysters, mussels, and conchs up and down the seaboards. Convert everything to electric power, and build enough nuclear generators to handle the load. Save most of the petrochemicals for building things out of. Plastics. Which become rare, because the “stuff” economy switches back to using metal and wood, and durability becomes the modern watchword.  Perhaps we make just 3 kinds of plastic, all uncolored, all easily recycled formulas. Universal beige. Urban Cars run on electricity and propane. City buses run on propane. City trains run on electricity. Diesel for everything else. 

Posted by Drew458     on 03/30/2015 at 10:55 PM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather • Environment • Obama, The One •  
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   Friday - March 20, 2015

what she said

As we were sitting here watching the snow fall, talking about Spring arriving irrespective of what the calendar says, my wife quips “March is tough. It’s the last month and a half of winter.” Got that one right, honey.

Spring officially begins with the vernal equinox today – though it hardly feels like it in the eastern U.S., where winter is making an unwelcome comeback.

At 6:45 p.m. EDT on March 20, the sun appears directly overhead at Earth’s equator, marking the start of spring in the Northern Hemisphere.

Cool. So today may be the first day of Spring, but it isn’t really Spring until this evening. Which means today’s snow really is the last of the Winter’s.

Posted by Drew458     on 03/20/2015 at 11:06 AM   
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   Thursday - March 19, 2015

oh hardy har har

It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over

Spring officially arrives on Friday, March 20, at 6:45 p.m. EDT, but Old Man Winter may have the last laugh.

Colder air that invaded the Northeast during the middle days of the week will stick around to help produce some wet snow before the week draws to a close.

Despite the colder air, temperatures will be marginal for the storm with a close call between rain and snow along the I-95 corridor in the mid-Atlantic, Long Island and along the southern coast of New England. Much of the snow that falls in this area may melt on roads. However, there will be some exceptions due to time of day and location.

A wintry mix of rain and snow is most likely in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Wilmington, Delaware, and Trenton, New Jersey. The storm is likely to impact travel in this area, including the potential for flight delays due to poor visibility and deicing operations. Motorists and pedestrians should be prepared for delays on Friday.

Areas farther north such as Harrisburg, Allentown and Scranton, Pennsylvania; New York City and White Plains, New York; Hartford, Connecticut; and Boston are likely to be cold enough for all or mostly snow.

Looks like the sky should start falling here Friday morning, just in time for rush hour. Gee, how wonderful. Well, most of the stuff that was on the ground has melted away or shrunk into ice blocks, so I guess it was time for a refresh.

Posted by Drew458     on 03/19/2015 at 08:43 AM   
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   Wednesday - March 18, 2015

A Grain Of Salt For All That Water

Glacier Melting, Sea Levels To Rise 11 feet, We’re All Gonna Drown!!

According to Wikipedia, the surface area of all the oceans in the world combined is 139 million square miles.  11 feet is 0.002083333 miles, so raising sea levels the world over by 11 feet requires 289,583.33 cubic miles of water. Since water expands about 10% when it freezes, that much water requires 318,541.67 cubic miles of ice. Using the mean ice thickness of East Antarctica, 7300 ft, and rounding that to a convenient 1.5 miles (7920 ft), this leaves an ice square sheet a nominal 461 miles long on each side. This is a square equal to the distance from Chicago IL due south to beyond Waynesboro in southern Tennessee, east from there to Fayetville NC, and then north to a bit east of Jamestown NY. All that, a mile and a half thick.

Right. Next bit of info ... the sea ice around the polar continent turns out to be thicker than expected. Granted, only about 10% of all the circumferential ice has been measured at this point.

Antarctic ice thicker than previously thought, study finds

First of its kind robotic survey of underside of sea ice floes reveals denser ice fringing the continent

Groundbreaking 3D mapping of previously inaccessible areas of the Antarctic has found that the sea ice fringing the vast continent is thicker than previous thought.

Two expeditions to Antarctica by scientists from the UK, USA and Australia analysed an area of ice spanning 500,000 metres squared, using a robot known as SeaBed.

The survey discovered ice thickness average between 1.4m and 5.5m, with a maximum ice thickness of 16m. Scientists also discovered that 76% of the mapped ice was ‘deformed’ – meaning that huge slabs of ice have crashed into each other to create larger, denser bodies of ice.

Ok, perspective established, Science News updated. On to the daily FEAR NEWS story ...

Study raises concerns over big, rapidly thinning Antarctic glacier

(CNN)Scientists have raised concerns about a large, rapidly thinning glacier in Antarctica, warning it could contribute significantly to rising sea levels.

They say they’ve discovered two openings that could channel warm seawater to the base of the huge Totten Glacier and bring the threat of potentially disastrous melting.

The glacier is bigger and thinning faster than all the others in East Antarctica.

It contains enough ice to raise the global sea level by at least 11 feet (3.4 meters), according to researchers from the University of Texas at Austin who were among the authors of a new study published this week in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Scientists had previously detected warm water on the seaward side of the glacier. But until now, they had found no evidence that it could threaten coastal ice.

“We now know there are avenues for the warmest waters in East Antarctica to access the most sensitive areas of Totten Glacier,” said Jamin Greenbaum, a University of Texas Ph.D. candidate and the lead author of the study.

Worries about other parts of Antarctica

The two gateways on the seafloor that lead to the base of the glacier offer an explanation for why Totten Glacier has been melting so fast.

Scientists have already warned about the consequences of melting ice in West Antarctica. NASA said last year that glacial retreat in some areas ”appears unstoppable.”

The increase in sea levels that would be caused by the melting of all the ice in Totten Glacier is estimated to be roughly equivalent to the contribution from a collapse of the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Oh, and by the by ... this is the end of summer way down under. Whatever ice melting there is, is at it’s maximum right now. In about 5 weeks winter will set in, and everything will freeze right up again. Including the penguins. But until then, be afraid. Very, very afraid. Cuz we’re all gonna diiiiiiie!!!

PS - The Totten glacier is that big. Wiki says it has a drainage basin of 538,000 sq km, which is very close to that 461x461 mile square. (538,000sq km = 227,722 sq miles = 455.76x455.76 miles) It would have to melt completely. And not a drop refreeze anywhere else.

Posted by Drew458     on 03/18/2015 at 04:35 PM   
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   Thursday - March 05, 2015

A Little Extra Excitment In NY

Three people were transported to hospitals Thursday morning after a Delta plane skidded off a runway at New York’s LaGuardia Airport during a snow storm, prompting the airport to announce it will be closed until 2 p.m. ET.

The plane, a MD-88 that was traveling from Atlanta to New York, was carrying 125 passengers and five crew members. Those on board were able to exit the plane on emergency slides. Passengers trudged through the snow in an orderly line after climbing off the plane.

The condition of those transported to hospitals was not immediately clear, but authorities reported only minor injuries.

Aaron Smith, a passenger in Row 13 told MyFoxNY.com that the plane’s left wing was sheared off of the plane.

“Little shaken up,” Smith said. “I don’t think any of this is going to sink in until tomorrow.”

The airport announced that it was closed Thursday due to an “aircraft incident.”

Authorities are investigating the cause of the incident. Authorities said at a press conference Thursday afternoon that shortly before the incident, two planes landed without incident and pilots reported “good breaking action.”

No, no, you journalistic rider of the extra short school bus, wearer of the safety helmet with the double chin strap, good “braking” action. Good “breaking” action is exactly what you got when you didn’t have the other kind ... one wing snapped right off. D’uh.

And of course it was a Delta plane. From Atlanta. Southerners never could drive in the snow!

The plane spun out and stopped halfway down the runway, with the nose out over the icy waters of Flushing Bay. Another few dozen yards and this could have been a terrible calamity.

See more ... in the UK papers, of course, who have all the pictures.

Posted by Drew458     on 03/05/2015 at 02:07 PM   
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   Wednesday - March 04, 2015

knock it off already

THOR set to hammer North East

“1-2 punch coming up here”

The eastern half of the U.S. braced for yet another round of punishing winter weather Tuesday, with snow and freezing temperatures already hitting the northeast. Right behind it was a wave of heavy snowfall, freezing rain and potentially record-setting low temperatures that was poised to hammer a swath stretching from east Texas to the Mid-Atlantic region later this week.

“It’s kind of a 1-2 punch coming up here,” Michael Musher, a National Weather Service meteorologist, told FoxNews.com on Tuesday.

Round 1 was already in effect late Tuesday in New York and Boston, where up to four inches of snow, sleet and freezing rain were expected overnight in what is already a record-setting winter for the white stuff in Beantown.

But the main event was poised to strike the Midwest beginning Wednesday morning, when freezing rain was expected to descend on the southern plain states. As temperatures transform rain into snow throughout the day, parts of the region, including Louisville, Ky., Cincinnati, Charleston, W.V. and Pittsburgh could see six to 12 inches, Musher said. Meanwhile, a corridor stretching from Washington, D.C. and Baltimore up to New York City could get another six inches by the time the event pushes out on Thursday.

The latest round of winter misery is especially disheartening for Bostonians, who have already suffered under what is officially the snowiest winter on record. Musher said 99.4 inches had already fallen in December, January and February, shattering the previous record of 81.5 inches set in the winter of 1993-94, and 104.1 inches have fallen in the region beginning in late 2014.

Organizers of Boston’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade say the event will go on as planned March 15, despite the eight-and-a-half feet of snow that has fallen on the city this winter — but they are asking for help in clearing the route.

Like heck. We had punch 1 on Sunday, dropping almost half a foot of white. Punch 2 came yesterday, laying down another 3 inches. Punch 3 might be more of a jab; it’s a blissful 38°F outside and wet slop is slopping down from the sky. Then Punch 4; the real storm shows up tonight and stays for at least a day, delivering another load. 2 inches? 3? 6? 8? Who the hell knows at this point?



A bunch of relatives just got back from a nice long cruise on a private catamaran in the US Virgin Islands. Perfect weather every day; they spent at least a week wearing just swimsuits and sunglasses. And sent us a link to hundreds of happy sunny pictures, of warm waters, sunny skies, and soft tropical breezes. I hate them. 

Another terrible winter day in the US Virgin Islands

Posted by Drew458     on 03/04/2015 at 09:11 AM   
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   Tuesday - February 24, 2015

C-c-c-cold

Horry Clap, it’s -7°F outside. And the sun is up, bright and shining. I bet it was -9 or -10 before dawn.

I wouldn’t know. I was blissfully asleep. For almost 5 1/2 hours. Longest sleep I’ve had in a week.

No, I didn’t fix the heat yet. But I had a really solid pile of blankets on the bed, 6 layers deep plus I slept in my clothes. I even put a tattered old cashmere sweater around the pillow. So I slept great under all that. Like childhood memories of camping in New England in summer, with surprise frosty nights in August. Let the weight of all the blankets crush the cold out of you.

TV news says temperature records were broken all over the tri-state area.




If you’ve got to go outside, layer up my friends. Wool and cashmere by your skin, a few layers of loft over that, and something on the outside to block the wind. Go long; cover your waist, your backside, your thighs, your knees. Don’t even think about not wearing gloves and a hat. Mittens are better, but get good mittens. Wool lined leather, with cuffs. And put your fashionista shoes for the office in a bag, and get out the snow pac boots. Dress like you’re 6. It’s snowsuit and red rubber boots weather. Mitten clips optional, but recommended. And pee first this time, m’kay?

OMG, remember these?

Damn, I am fixing that heater today. Or else.




local commuters waiting for the train

Posted by Drew458     on 02/24/2015 at 07:23 AM   
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