There is no way a climatologist can blame one seasonal variation (in this case a cold variation) on AGW. Much of last winter (2006-2007) was abonormally warm for much of the NH. See the 15 November 2006 through 15 January 2007 anomally (one of the warmest on record); for North America, this was followed by record cold from 15 Jan 2007 through 15 March 2007. Currently, Western Europe is seeing one of thier warmest winters on record (due to a very high AMO); however, if one drives 2 days east of Berlin Germany, the temperatures are downright frigid.

Some of our experts wish to blame any anomally on AGW. This year's La Nina took many by surprise (remember, some experts were expecting a Super El Nino). I think the big question for 2008, will be how quickly the La Nina event will weaken, and when will Solar Cycle 24 begin.

Ya gotta love it ! ! ! ......Looks like there're trying to complete the circle.

At this rate, there will be absolutely no excuse that weather is not climate, climate is not weather and my personal favorite ....the colder it gets means the hotter it has become!

The danger with this kind of narrow minded and self absorbed thinking process is that it will be self perpetuating. Never ..... and I mean NEVER will/can ANYTHING contradict GW with this philosophy. We will be eye brow deep in ice, 12 months a year and it will be all because of global warming ......How's that for job security ! !

Ya gotta love it ! ! !

Brett: Thanks for a lighter moment .....and it's not even Friday! Hopefully the politicians in our group will cool it and return to logical thinking/debating! The so-called real politicians don't appear to need any help with agenda driven bias ! !

I starting to think that the AGW crowd which has morphed into the climate change crowd are starting to sound like a bunch of idiot savants.
Any weather anomoly is caused by...

Global Warming Global Warming Global Warming Global Warming Global Warming Global Warming

Rainman anyone?

it was bound to happen, SOME SCIENTIST SAY, and the picture prooves it...us denying, insensitive, environmentally reckless, selfish, carbon credit negative, co2 HOGS just froze santy claus...in an emergency meeting, the IPCC and NASA jointly stated the cause was an unprecedented chain of events never seen before in all the history of universe where co2 was responsible for this cataclysmic chain of climate forcing centered at the North Pole...negative feedbacks of biblical proportions, whereby greenlandic melting combined with rudolph's methane expellation, triggered an instanteous con trail that did ST Nick in...mass hysteria, including dogs and cats living together is predicted as the implications sink in...who is going to deliver the convenienent untruth movies and scary Globull warming books this xmas...only time will tell whether the world will be able to cope with this man induced catastrophy....

This is stupid. Everything is blamed on global warming, even global cooling.

Lets work on solving cancer, ok? How much money is wasted on this crap? Shame on Al Gore and cult-like followers.

You all think you are sooooo smart. You are clueless! Get a life! GET A LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's odd. Dr. Hansen says that we are running well above normal temperatures the last two months. Six weeks ago he announced that "despite the cool ENSO phase" temperatures were the second warmest on record.

Last winter was cold out west. It was El Nino. This winter is also cold out west. It is La Nina. The patterns on the maps are almost identical. El Nino was supposed to make California flood, but they had drought. La Nina was supposed to dry up California, but it has been wet. Strike three for that theory.
http://hprcc.unl.edu/products/maps/acis/wrcc/DJF07TDeptWRCC.png
http://hprcc.unl.edu/products/maps/acis/wrcc/Last1mTDeptWRCC.png

I found an interesting book at the store last night, put out by LIFE - titled "Nature's Fury." It lists sixteen weather disasters, most of which occurred more than 30 years ago. AGW proponents claims that the weather is getting worse are based on information overload and a lack of historical perspective.

1. The Great White Hurricane - 1888
2. The Johnstown Flood - 1889
3. The Galveston Hurricane - 1900
4. The Tri-State Tornado - 1925
5. The Dust Bowl - 1930
6. The New England Hurricane - 1938
7. The China Floods - 2297 BC to present
8. London's Deadly Fog - 1952
9. The North Sea Flood - 1953
10. Florence Drowns - 1966
11. The Bhola Cyclone - 1970
12. Ethiopia's Drought - 1973 - present
13. The Tornado Super Outbreak - 1974
14. The Blizzard of 78 - 1978
15. Europe's Heat Wave - 2003
16. Hurricane Katrina - 2005

The last page is titled "Nature's Glory - Furious one day, joyous the next."

Unusual Cold caused by Global Warming??

REPLY: aha..hahaaha..ahahahahahahahaha....HAHAHAHAHAH...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!!...CAN'T STOP LAUGHING...HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....CAN'T BREATHE!!!!..AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!...AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.....LOL!!!!...CAN'T CONTROL....THE LAUGHING...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.....AHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!.....

Greenpeace officials concur saying mainland scientists concluded that the extreme cold weather in China was triggered by climate change. "This does not only cause an increase in global warming but also causes extreme weather patterns," said campaigner Edward Chan.

My question is....... Who are the specific scientists making this claim? The only one I see quoted is a polar researcher.

REPLY: These are NOT scientists, Brett. These are agenda driven lunatics. And Greenpeace is a radical leftist America-hating organization that draws attention to themselves by using mega-scare tactics and brutally violent protesting, with the media in their hip pocket....Do not take these fools seriously!

Save the planet from hot air. MUZZLE GREENPEACE!!!!

When I read the blog my first reaction was, Are these people smoking some of that Switch Grass [ BTW Ted, What HAVE you been doing in your spare time? Just Kidding Buddy !! ]. The more I thought about it though, this makes absolutely perfect sense. But not for the reasons that the AGW community belives. Look, if temperatures rise due to some mild CO2 forcings [ regardless of their source ] what happens ? Water Vapor levels go up, Right? Well what happens when WV levels rise- Precipitation levels rise as well. And what does that do? Well if you subscribe to the idea that Precipitation acts as a controlling agent over excess water vapor levels then it would seem to me that you would EXPECT to see GMT's at least stabalize if not actually go down due to increased albedo feedbacks !! Hence the bad weather might be the the result of the negative feedback forcings that are kicking in to lowwer global mean temps. This might not be Global Warming at all. This could be a Global COOLING Feedback mechanism at work !!! Think about this, Water Vapor represents a Potential Greenhouse HEATING element.If you remove the Excess WV through rain and snow, are you not removing the EXCESS heating element as well? Does this not represent a sort of indirect Cooling process? Consider this as well with regards to the sever weather. I just read a couple of days ago on the Web that fewer, but more higher intensity storms have overall greater NEGATIVE cloud albedo feedback characteristics than more numerous but less intense storms. So again, if what we're seeing is the Climates Precipitation Feedback system kicking into high gear, then bad weather would not be an anomoly at all but part of the Earth's natural ocillation back to a cooler climate. I'm going to see if I can find those Web articles and post some Links. In the mean time.... Just some food for thought.

And the absurd lunacy continues…….. read learn and think for yourself
Dr Rebecca Lee Lok-sze , 1964 graduate of Certificate in
Commercial Design, Hong Kong Technical College:

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:VZP8b0-KqS4J:www.polyu.edu.hk/aado/alumni/past_event/opaa/opaa2003Eng.pdf+Rebecca+Lee+Lok-sze&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=7&gl=us&client=opera

She works for Sing Tao News Corporation Ltd. is engaged in media, human capital management, property holding, trading of photographic products and investment holding.
Dr. Rebecca Lee
Founder of the Founder of China Polar Museum Foundation which is under the
Office of National Coordination Committee on Climate Change
Adviser, Hong Kong Leisure and Cultural Services Department
Chairman, Scout Association of Hong Kong
Environmental Protection Board
Vice President, The HK Association for the Advancement of
Science & Technology
Vice Chairman, China Association for Expedition

Funny but nowhere does the word SCIENCE appear in her CV under the word EDUCATION, I could find nothing related to any science courses taken or what her Doctorate is in.
However she does have a certificate in Commercial design!
I could probably get the guy who slices the cold cuts at my local deli to refute her claim and blame the whole thing on the removal of nitrates from baloney. However he never planned trips to Antarctica or climbed Mt. Everest and took pictures. Wait I bet she spent a week at a Holiday Inn Express. That must be it. An expert??? In the land of AGW, WHY NOT?

Brett, as this is a very strong La Nina something like the reverse of what happened with the very strong El Nino in 1998 shouldn't be a big surprise. As such events are rare, even if they are being made stronger by AGW it would be hard or maybe impossible to prove.

But there has been work done indicating that such events should not be a surprise. See this Tsonis paper for example:

"Is global warming injecting randomness into the climate system?

"Recently, data analyses and model simulations have indicated that as the planet is warming, the chance for extreme events increases. Karl et al. [1995] examined precipitation records over the 20th century and showed that the high-frequency (up to interannual) variability has increased. Subsequently, Tsonis [1996] showed that the low frequency variability has also increased. These variability trends indicate that the frequency of extremes (more drought events and more heavy precipitation events) has increased whereas the mean has remained approximately the same. Such a tendency is observed with other variables and is consistent with model projections of a warmer planet."

That is a great picture!!!

Brett,

One minute for a Google search turned up information on Dr. Rebecca Lee Lok-Sze. She has a certificate in commercial design. Here is a snippet of info on her.

Dr Rebecca Lee has transformed herself from a professional designer, photographer, painter and writer to a polar scientist. She has traveled virtually to every corner of the globe. She has been recognized as the first woman explorer to reach the Arctic, Antarctic and Mount Everest. In recent years, she has devoted her energies to the global environmental movement, and established the China Polar Museum Foundation in 1997. She is now working with hundreds of Chinese polar scientist to conduct continuous research on the environment.

http://www.eoc.org.hk/eoc/otherproject/eng/color/youthcorner/programmes/careerchallenge2003/bio/rlee.htm

I'm sure our resident alarmists will eat this story up, especially since a "polar researcher" is quoted. However nowhere on Google can you find information on her doctorate. She is not a scientist, only an activist.

This is the garbage that gets printed and posted as "news." And then alarmists cite this junk as "proof" that man-made global warming exists just because it is in press. What gullible fools.

Michael Crichton in his book State of Fear had a section where the fictional head of an environmental advocacy group stressed how important it was to focus on extreme weather events as being caused by global warming. The temperatures may not go up much (or at all) and the oceans may not rise measurably but that was no excuse not to sound the alarm and raise money. There were always going to be extreme weather events to draw on.

This has become so ridiculous they should book it at The Improv.

Hi Steve Bloom,

So all this trapped heat is making it cold?

Next time I want to freeze some plants, I'll put them out in the greenhouse.

Brett,
Awesome pic. Trying to figure out how the guy is breathing?

""Is global warming injecting randomness into the climate system?"

Now the climate is going to get random.

This is pathetic.

Steve Bloom,

Randomness in climate systems? How profound! That is some serious insight right there folks.

Hey guy, are you blinded by science?

The weather is not a static thing. Temperatures rise and temperatures fall. Yes, temperatures have been warmer than average for a while, but there is no proof that it is caused by man.

Most of the people who are in a frenzy about GW now are probably the same ones who were screaming about global cooling back in the 80's.

When I see an article about man caused GW, I laugh and move on to another site because sites like this one have lost all credibility with me.

Incredible,
isnt this something out of George Orwells 1984 doublethink; War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Cooler is Warmer.
Why cant they just be honest and admit they havn't a clue and that the the forces governing the Earths climate are just too great and complicated to
be simulated by some computer model, just look at the real World outside. Throw the towel in and save the taxpayers a bundle, the computer models dont pay my heating bills!
It's FREEZING.
It's difficult to make predictions - especially about the future -Nils Bohr ( I think )

30 years of "unprecedented warming - greatly exaggerated at the poles" as demanded by AGW theory, has led to no change in total polar ice and no change in the earth's polar albedo. During that same time, polar bear populations have doubled, causing increased pressure for food in some areas.

http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/global.daily.ice.area.withtrend.jpg

But every schoolchild in America knows that that the ice is nearly gone, and that the polar bears are going extinct as a result. Thank you AGW types for contributing to the dumbing down of America.

I agree Veets, that's gonna leave a mark.

I'll be curious to see the reaction of the AGWers to this prophetic annoucement.

Personally, I am waiting for the claim that AGW has made it sunny.

"Recently, data analyses and model simulations have indicated that as the planet is warming, the chance for extreme events increases. Karl et al. [1995] examined precipitation records over the 20th century and showed that the high-frequency (up to interannual) variability has increased. Subsequently, Tsonis [1996] showed that the low frequency variability has also increased. These variability trends indicate that the frequency of extremes (more drought events and more heavy precipitation events) has increased whereas the mean has remained approximately the same"

In other words, an AGW event will closely resemble a Global Cooling event. Tsonis' model simulations mirror much of the world's climate from 1320-1850 (extremes in both temperature and precipitation patterns).

Also, I think anyone would be hard pressed to argue that our climate and weather patterns are normally homogeneous. Oscillations in any number of atmospheric variables will produce extremes no matter what regime we are in. If anything, anthropological evidence has found more high frequency variations in precipitation and temperatures during a cooling regime.

Hi JP,

It looks like the La Nina is already weakening. SST's off the west coast of South America have switched from cold to warm in recent weeks.

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/sst/ani-weekly.html

The cold outbreaks across Asia are due to La Nina. Just like the warm, snowless winter where I live is largely due to La Nina.

Yes, kids, you can have other variables effect a chaotic, non-linear system. It's just that these variables are temporarily. It's just that the anthropogenic signal has become significant and is continuing to grow day by day.