Evil climate denier Anthony Watt says 2001-2010 was the world’s snowiest decade in, well, decades. And Rutgers University has the stats to back him up. But Al Gore says you should just ignore all that fluffy white stuff you’re up to your ass in.
“Just as it’s important not to miss the forest for the trees, neither should we miss the climate for the snowstorm,” Gore wrote in a wonky Op-Ed for The New York Times.
“The heavy snowfalls this month have been used as fodder for ridicule by those who argue that global warming is a myth,” he acknowledged.
“Yet scientists have long pointed out that warmer global temperatures have been increasing the rate of evaporation from the oceans,” he wrote. And that puts “significantly more moisture into the atmosphere – thus causing heavier downfalls of both rain and snow.”
Unfortunately for the Goracle, Watt and the Rutgers University Global Snow Lab respectfully disagree. At least we think it was respectful.
“Now that we have reached the end of the meteorological winter (December-February,) Rutgers University Global Snow Lab numbers (1967-2010) show that the just completed decade (2001-2010) had the snowiest Northern Hemisphere winters on record. The just completed winter was also the second snowiest on record, exceeded only by 1978. Average winter snow extent during the past decade was greater than 45,500,000 km2, beating out the 1960s by about 70,000 km2, and beating out the 1990s by nearly 1,000,000 km2. The bar chart below shows average winter snow extent for each decade going back to the late 1960s.”
Who’s your money on?
Source: New York Daily News, WattsUpWithThat.com
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
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Of course there is an explanation. There wasn’t supposed to be heavy winters anymore because of global warming right? However, since this is the heaviest winter decade on record, that can be explained away with global warming too. Awesome…
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damn its hot in here. turn down the heat al gore says we are causing global warming.
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I’m not sure I understand what you’re getting at. That the Snow Lab found this to be the snowiest decade on record does not refute global warming at all, as Gore pointed out. In fact, heavier than average snowfall is entirely consistent with global warming (as your quote from Gore reflects). The past decade was not only the snowiest on record, but also, according to NASA, the warmest. However, the strongest evidence for global warming comes from physics and chemistry, not from recent temperature records. We understand the chemical and physical properties of CO2 (and other greenhouse gasses like methane), and they tell us that increased atmospheric CO2 must increase the amount of re-radiated heat trapped by the atmosphere. This in turn must increase the net heat absorption of the earth. Hence, global warming. These are just facts. The short-term weather is a relatively poor indicator of this overall long-term warming, as it is affected by cyclical variation (the seasons, El Nino, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, etc.). A particularly warm or cold year means little. By the way, a side effect of elevated CO2 is increased levels of dissolved CO2 in the ocean, which was predicted to lead to ocean acidification and this is also being observed. I suppose I have just wasted a few minutes here, but I hope you will be inspired to spend some time investigating the complexities of climate science.
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…AKscientist… Explain to me then why all the c02 that I pump into my live plant fish aquarium hasn’t turned the water into battery acid? Now that I use all that c02, the plants and fish are as happy as can be, and the ph stays a perfect 7.0-7.2 . All that ocean acidification that was observed, has now been confirmed that it was dust particles from African dust storms that could even be seen from space, that drifted across the Atlantic and settled in the water. Coral sea fans that were taken from the reefs showed the parts that were damaged had the same dust particles from the dust that was blowing across the Atlantic from Africa. But then they can’t tax the crap out of use for dust!!! so c02 it is!!! and if c02 did cause things to warm then every coke and beer can would explode!!! they only explode if exposed to heat, they do not create heat.
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well global warming does cause more snow, exept when it doesnt.
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look at the graph – if warming causes more evaporation causes more snow, how come the bars go down, down, down for the three prior decades when warming was supposed to be in full swing? phil jones and his pals confirmed for us in their hacked emails that global temp has in fact been cooling since 1998. and what do you know, the following decade there’s more snow – this would seem to confirm when the bars go down it’s warming and when they go up it’s cooling, just like one would expect – jones and the ipcc have been playing with flawed computer models for too long, the same models that failed to predict the cooling we’ve experienced since 1998 – the models, and the fake science behind them, are being exposed one revelation at a time
don’t forget, nature bats last
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AKscientist. Thank you for pointing out to all the fools who thought climate was based on temp. averages, that temp has nothing to do with cooling and warming. Thanks for clarifying that it is the physics!
BTW, the Oz Great Barrier Reef scientists regular surveys show the coral to be as healthy in these recent `physics warmed` years, as in the past. The CO2 obviously was not absorbed there, as the Australians know a trick or two to protect their reef. Maybe knowledge gleaned from the manufacture/handling/consumption of trillions of gallons of fizzy Fosters Lager. (Peer revewed data in The NSW Brewery Journal, 1856)
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When there is a lower snow cover than usual, then it is due to global warming.
When there is a higher snow cover than usual, then it is due to global warming.
When there is the same snow cover as usual, then it is due to global warming.
AGW is a beautiful theory that takes any and all inputs and outputs…higher taxes and more government control every single time.
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It has to be cold to snow , does’nt it , or maybe thats another fable , they forced down our throats