Greenland Uncertainty
The New York Times has a front-page article today on the melting of Greenland’s ice. Greenland occupies a special place in the global warming watch, as it contains an extraordinary amount of frozen water (a Gulf of Mexico’s worth, according to the article). Should all of this ice melt abruptly, it would indeed make for a Hollywood-style doomsday scenario (at least for human civilization) (more…)
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September Snow?
By any standard, we’ve just seen a very unusual weather event: a ‘winter’ storm in SoCal—in the month of September.
NWS was forecasting accumulations of 18 inches in the Southern Sierra, with higher totals possible. It may be an exaggeration to say we saw as much rain overnight here in L.A. as all of last season, but it sure felt like it.
Is this a harbinger of a big Sierra winter? It’s not too late to pick up a Mt. Baldy season pass…
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Global Dimming
PBS’ Nova is running a new episode on a phenomenon they’ve dubbed, “Global Dimming”—the reduction of the sun’s intensity due to atmospheric pollution. On its surface this might seem like a perfectly obvious consequence of pollution, but, as the documentary demonstrates, scientists are making astonishing discoveries about its true scope (more…)
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GW Alert: Russia Plants Flag Under North Pole
Here’s a chiller of a story for you from the Los Angeles Times: Russian submarines planted the national flag on the seabed two miles beneath the North Pole, claming the land as an extension of Russia’s continental shelf—and therefore within their domain for oil and gas exploration.
It turns out that Global Warming, which is melting the ice, made the move possible. And rich petroleum reserves are believed to be located in the region. More oil to burn means more warming means less ice means more access to oil, and so on, leading credence to those who believe we humans are going to burn every last drop of oil on the planet and damn the consequences (more…)
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The Big Thaw
National Geographic Magazine has posted their latest cover story online: The Big Thaw, on the Earth’s vanishing icepack. That the world’s glaciers and permanent snowfields are melting is certainly not news. What is surprising is how fast the ice is melting.
The loss of polar ice and glaciation has been predicted for years. But scientists are now finding themselves astonished by the rate of melt. Says Eric Rignot, at NASA’s JPL, “We see things today that five years ago would have seemed completely impossible, extravagant, exaggerated.”
National Geographic’s article offers an alarming explanation of the discrepancy (hint: are you familiar with the ‘Tipping Point’ theory?). If you are interested in that vast, uncontrolled human experiment known as Global Warming, I recommend reading the entire article.
It is a preview, I fear, of many more surprises to come.
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El Nino or El Nada?
Some of you may recall this was supposed to be an El Nino Winter, with above-average precipitation for the western United States.
What happened? This winter can be charitably described as a cruel hoax: currently, Los Angeles is (arguably) experiencing its driest winter on record.
To the north, even Mt. Shasta (!) is experiencing a dry winter—though dry for them is still looking mighty good compared to what’s happening down south.
Before we abandon all hope, yes, there is snow in the High Sierra. Look for touring opportunities in the Mammoth Lakes region, north through Yosemite/Tioga Pass, to the Sawtooths and Twin Lakes. No guarentees, however, as to whether any of it will be skiable through May, so plan your road trips early.
On the subject of weather, here’s an interesting LA Times article on a ‘rebel’ climatologist who correctly predicted we’d see record drought, rather than the wet season expected by everyone else. Interesting, no?
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Sierra Winter?
As we continue to hear reports of more snow in Colorado, prospects on the home front remain kind of…well…dismal.
Over at the ESAC, Sue Burak’s avy forecast for the day notes, “There is more hazard from hitting rocks than starting an avalanche.”
On top of that, a bitter cold snap is settling over the range, promising to stir up stability troubles that could linger throughout the season.
Does this sound familiar? Last year looked almost identical at this time, though the cold snap didn’t really kick in until February.
Of course, I’d welcome the second half of last year, when record snows blanketed the Sierra (minus the instabilities, please), but these dry early winters certainly test the spirits.
If you like to engage is such speculations, it does make me wonder if we’re getting a glimpse of a human-induced warmer future. At least the Coloradans are happy. And the San Juans are only a quick 14 hour drive away. Sigh.
