1.06.2010

A distinction for naysayers

FRIGID TEMPS & LAME FOX JOKES

In 25 years living on “God’s Little Acre” here in Anderson, S.C., I don’t remember any period of sustained low temps like we are experiencing. For the fourth night in a row, temps dipped into the teens.

You Yankee readers might scoff, but here in Dixie we aren’t used to this kind of sustained cold. DemWit commenters Frodo in Georgia and Tiny in Florida’s panhandle are expecting snow.

There is a very thorough ARTICLE on CNN this morning about the sustained frigid weather across the nation. The report covers everything from record lows and wind chills to citrus crops in Florida to churches and Salvation Army shelters opening for the homeless.

All of this, of course, means it’s time for the goofballs on Fox News to start making lame jokes about global warming.

So, I thought this a good time to rerun the following from The Center for American Progress (2/14/07), which I originally noted on my archived blog, “I See My Dreams,” in February 2007:

AN IMPORTANT DISTINCTION

“WEATHER is current events; it refers to the ‘state of the atmosphere at a given time and place.’ Weather is a snapshot of the climate at any one instant. Although the two are related, their relationship is indirect. ‘The chaotic nature of weather means that no conclusion about climate can ever be drawn from a single data point, hot or cold. The temperature of one place at one time ... says nothing about climate, much less climate change, much less global climate change.’ ”

“CLIMATE is the ‘composite or generally prevailing weather conditions of a region, as temperature, air pressure, humidity, precipitation, sunshine, cloudiness and winds, throughout the year, averaged over a series of years.’ In other words, climate refers to recorded history."

So, dear reader, when Brit Hume, Glenn Beck and their Fox News colleagues start yuck-yucking it up about today’s WEATHER being a sign that there’s no concern about CLIMATE change, you will know they’re just STUPID.

Not that you weren’t already aware of that.

8 comments:

Infidel753 said...

For the fourth night in a row, temps dipped into the teens.

Those temps are seriously out of line. Tell them you'll complain to their temp agency if they don't leave those teens alone. Oh, wait, never mind.....

Seriously, this is just another expression of anti-science dumbth. Like the creationists who refuse to study any of the actual evidence on evolution, they're not interested in finding out what's really going on. They just want to blather away any challenges to the positions their ideological biases have led them to take.

In fact, as you probably know, global warming is expected to lead to an intensification of storms due to increased evaporation from the oceans, leaving to increased precipitation. And, yes, some areas will get colder in the winter than they previously have.

Leslie Parsley said...

" The temperature of one place at one time ... says nothing about climate, much less climate change, much less global climate change.’ ”

Gee, I thought whateve happens in Nashville happens in Phoenix!
Even a science illiterate like me understands this.

a poet said...

aint nobody missin the cold this year. well. much of anyone. intensification is such a big word for some people that i guess they would just rather go with al gore is tryin to make money offa climate change. yeah. right. hope your warm returns soon.

Sue said...

I like the cold and snow. Here in NJ we were looking more and more like S. Carolina in the winter, so I welcome snow!

Bud says we are going into an ice age!

B.J. said...

Poet! How nice to see you here. How are things in the Windy City and its environs? Need I ask? Got your Christmas card and enjoyed it!

I-753: LOL!!!!! Good one. I have seen so many sentences and headlines which came out that way. When Bill Waller was elected governor of Mississippi he decided to have two inaugural balls, one for his “Colonels” and one for the general public. The banner headline on the newspaper I worked for was: “Governor has two balls.” (I didn’t write it.)

Sue: Tell Bud a part of Antartica has sloughed away and the glaciers are melting. However, this earth will probably see another Ice Age along the way.

Leslie: You get it, but there are many who don’t!

BJ

Jerry Critter said...

Don't confuse me with facts. My mind is already made up. Climate, weather, global warming. Huh?

Jerry Critter said...

Also, check out this chart from the National Center for Atmospheric Research via Bob Cesca. The number of record "highs" far exceeds the number of record lows.

Tiny said...

Uh, concerning Governor Waller, was he anywhere near that brass monkey who lost his..um...uh...you know...what the governor had two of? Tiny heard the brass monkey's froze off.

Poet, an old schoolmate told me those Noble Peace Prizes that were given to Al Gore and Pres. Barack Obama were just useless pieces of paper. Tiny said, "Damn! I wish someone would give me one of those useless pieces of paper and $1.4 million that comes with it."

For that kind of money Tiny would clim...a...mate and even give a pi...um...uh...Oh never mind.. She will probably just have to weather the storm!