With all the snow in bizarre places, people are griping that there is no global warming. Indeed, people are complaining about the beginnings of the next ice age being well underway.
Politics to be set aside because the only debates at hand are, Does mankind have the wherewithal to cause global warming and are we causing global warming? That discussion belongs elsewhere.
What interests me a great deal is the science of global warming. Bear with me here, but the consensus is that if we have a lot of excess snow and cold, it's a sign of global warming.
Here's how it works, as I understand it.
The gulf stream works the way it does because of the differential in temperature between the water in the gulf stream and the water in the northern climates. As a result of it's motion, warmer water is carried up into the northern climates and keeps the area from freezing it's proverbial cajones completely off.
As the globe warms, however, the gulf stream cannot circulate as quickly because the differential between it's temperature and the surrounding water temperature has been reduced. The gulf stream flows more slowly and therefore, less warmth is carried into the northern parts of the world which, in turn, get colder.
And snowier.
Clear as mud? I thought so! Regardless, snow is a sign of global warming. Or so I've heard.
--Wag--
Politics to be set aside because the only debates at hand are, Does mankind have the wherewithal to cause global warming and are we causing global warming? That discussion belongs elsewhere.
What interests me a great deal is the science of global warming. Bear with me here, but the consensus is that if we have a lot of excess snow and cold, it's a sign of global warming.
Here's how it works, as I understand it.
The gulf stream works the way it does because of the differential in temperature between the water in the gulf stream and the water in the northern climates. As a result of it's motion, warmer water is carried up into the northern climates and keeps the area from freezing it's proverbial cajones completely off.
As the globe warms, however, the gulf stream cannot circulate as quickly because the differential between it's temperature and the surrounding water temperature has been reduced. The gulf stream flows more slowly and therefore, less warmth is carried into the northern parts of the world which, in turn, get colder.
And snowier.
Clear as mud? I thought so! Regardless, snow is a sign of global warming. Or so I've heard.
--Wag--