Wild weather in recent years — from Hurricane Sandy and deadly tornado outbreaks to extremes of drought and floods — likely can be traced, in part, to climate change, the National Weather Service director says.
The onslaught of wild weather that has battered the USA in recent years — from Hurricane Sandy and deadly tornado outbreaks to extremes of drought and floods — looks to be part of a “new normal” for weather patterns in the U.S., new National Weather Service Director Louis Uccellini said Wednesday.
In comments to the USA TODAY Editorial Board, Uccellini also cited the “likely” contribution of global warming to the extreme weather.
RICHMOND — U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse frequently takes to the Senate floor to warn against climate change, having done so, by his count, at least two dozen times in the past year. So perhaps it was only a matter of time before the Rhode Island Democrat got around to calling out Virginia’s most prominent global-warming skeptic by name.
Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II, the presumptive Republican nominee for governor, got a backhanded shout-out in a Whitehouse floor speech last week for his unsuccessful legal battle against a University of Virginia climate scientist.
The battle went something like this:
“In 2010, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli used his powers of office to harass former University of Virginia climatologist Michael Mann and 39 other climate scientists and staff,” Whitehouse said in a speech Thursday, which was posted on YouTube. “As a U-Va. grad, I am proud that the university fought back against this political attack on science and on academic freedom.”
A small town in Siberia collects the many small rocks that fell from the sky after the meteor explosion in Siberia last week. Scientists worry that the collectors are damaging scientific evidence. The towns people are just glad to have something to help out. It looks like hard times are not a stranger to this area of the world.
The children are just like children everywhere. The cold doesn’t seem to bother them but I am still cold after watching the video.
Congress has approved $9.7 billion in new aid for victims of Hurricane Sandy, with a face-
saving quick move by the House taken three days after Speaker John A. Boehner earned scathing criticism from New York and New Jersey Republicans for canceling a late-night vote on the funds.
The bill, which will allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency to pay out claims to those who held federal flood insurance, was approved in the House on a 354 to 67 vote. After the House action, the Senate also adopted the bill in a quick unanimous voice vote, sending it to President Obama.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) condemned House Republicans Wednesday afternoon for failing to pass a $60 billion package of funding for Hurricane Sandy relief. In the strongest terms, he accused House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) of letting “toxic internal politics” impede necessary storm relief.
“There’s only one group to blame for the continued suffering of these victims: the House majority and their speaker,” Christie said. “It was disappointing and disgusting to watch.”
Winter Solstice happens on a busy day. As if being the Mayan Doomsday isn’t enough, today is the shortest day of the year, which is what the Winter Solstice is.
Astronomically, Winter Solstice represents the shortest day and the longest night, when the sun is lowest on the horizon in the northern hemisphere. After 12-21-12, the days will get longer. 12-21-12 marks the first day of winter–known to the ancients as the starving time or the dark time. Daylight on Friday, December 21, 2012 will officially be 9 hours, 26 minutes long. Winter begins at 11:09 a.m. (The Washington Post says 6:12 a.m. but who’s counting?)
The Capital Weather Gang reports some interesting facts HERE.
Winter was a very terrifying time for ancient people. Darkness consumed much of their day. Freezing temperatures, snow, ice and freezing rain made life difficult and dangerous. Survival was never a sure thing. Too much snow could trap the ancients inside their shelters which were usually caves. Those who couldn’t get out often died of thirst and hunger. Its no wonder that rituals began and the night before winter began was one of merriment–a little cheer to tide the folks over until spring.
To stand on the South Rim and gaze into the Grand Canyon is to behold an awesome immensity of time. The serpentine Colorado River has relentlessly incised a 280-mile-long chasm that in some places stretches 18 miles wide and more than a mile deep. Visitors to Grand Canyon National Park will encounter an exhibit titled the Trail of Time, and learn that scientists believe the canyon is about 6 million years old — relatively young by geological standards.
Now a few contrarian scientists want to call time out. The canyon isn’t 6 million years old, they say, but more like 70 million years old. If this order-of-magnitude challenge to the orthodoxy holds up, it would mean the Grand Canyon has been around since the days of T. rex.
Drop, cover, and hold on. How many folks knew what to do here in Virginia in Augus 22t, 2011, the day of OUR big earthquake? I sure didn’t so I sat there yelling ” earthquake!!!!” Probably not as dumb of an idea as what some people did but not real productive.
What I do remember afterwards is all the people who insisted that you were supposed to run outside. Probably 75% of the people I talked to swore on a stack of bibles the “getting outside” thing was right off the earthquake civil defense how-to page. Well, not so.
Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, is dead at age 82. He is best remembered for his famous words:
“One small step for man…one giant leap for mankind.”
He had had heart surgery 3 weeks ago and was thought to be recovering without complications.
He had a long, distinguished career in the NASA Space Program. He commanded the Apollo 11 mission and landed on the moon in July 1969. He was truly a great American hero. Many of us remember where we were when we sat breathlessly and heard those words….one small step for man. No one today can imagine our excitement and yes, fear, for those astronauts. We Americans were so proud that summer of 1969 when much of America had been divided by the Vietnam War. Neil Armstrong and those other astronauts, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, united the nation like no one else could.
Please leave your own tributes to Neil Armstrong. Neil slipped the surly bonds of earth today…
Over the next several days, Curiosity is expected to send back the first color pictures. After several weeks of health checkups, the six-wheel rover could take its first short drive and flex its robotic arm. Read more…
The Roswell incident turned 65 this week. The above video is from 1989 and is excellent, but it is lengthy. So is Roswell for real or just another bunch of nut jobs with conspiracy theories?
Happy anniversary, Roswell, N.M. It was 65 years ago today that the Roswell Daily Record blasted an infamous headline claiming local military officials had captured a flying saucer on a nearby ranch. And now, a former CIA agent says it really happened.
“It was not a damn weather balloon — it was what it was billed when people first reported it,” said Chase Brandon, a 35-year CIA veteran. “It was a craft that clearly did not come from this planet, it crashed and I don’t doubt for a second that the use of the word ‘remains’ and ‘cadavers’ was exactly what people were talking about.”
Some of Mann’s main points and charges in include:
– “New McCarthyism” in US legislature directed at US climate scientists; details
– Death threats, dead rats, scientists’ families threatened.
– Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., campaign has aimed to discredit climate scientists…
– Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, misrepresented Mann’s science
– National Science Foundation and other panels have cleared Mann
– Koch Brothers, Scaife Foundation, involved in fossil fuel efforts to discredit the climate science
– Organized email and letter campaigns have intimidated and silenced climate scientists; details
– Believes intimidation campaigns will fail if “exposed to the light of day”
The political war against scientists has been described as the new McCarthyism because scientists have been so bullied and intimidated, many just do their work and keep their mouths shut. This behavior has been going on for over 10 years. Our own attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli sued for Mann’s emails. He was told he didn’t have standing.
The tobacco industry attempted to silence science for years. The attitudes in Europe are quite different than in the United States, for example. There has been a strong attempt to silence the entire science community who researches changes in climate. I wonder who could be trying to silence them? Hmmmmmmm …the fossil fuel industry? Perhaps.
I am simply not willing to bet the ranch on industry being right and the preponderance of scientific findings being wrong. That just makes no sense and there is only one earth. You screw that up, and there is no place else to go. The bullying and McCarthyism must stop. The use of government to thwart distribution of scientific discovery and discussion is a serious violation of trust and use of taxpayer money.
Nye brings up an important point. Thousands of scientists can agree and all it takes a few naysayers to have people in denial. Most scientists believe that there is climate change.
All time records are being set. In the last 17 years, 16 of those years have been the hottest on record. We need to invest in electrical storage systems. We can lead the world change to meet these challenges. We can also improve our economy.
The weatherman on WRC 4, Doug Kammerer, has blamed global warming for this heatwave. Some conservative bloggers have called him a nut case. Pot meet kettle.
Nye is relating the forest fires to global warming and the dehydration of the forests because of the heat. Ever seen an entire tree do what appears to be spontaneous combustion? No lightning strikes, no fire wall…just burst in to flame. I saw it once. It made me a believer. Where did I see this? Utah, in the desert.
