Extreme Temperatures
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German scientists show climate driven by natural cycles

Climate reveals periodic nature, thus no influence by CO2
We reported recently about our spectral analysis work of European temperatures [1] which shows that during the last centuries all climate changes were caused by periodic (i.e. natural) processes. Non-periodic processes like a warming through the monotonic increase of CO2 in the atmosphere could cause at most 0.1° to 0.2° warming for a doubling of the CO2 content, as it is expected for 2100.

Fig. 1 (Fig. 6 of [1] ) shows the measured temperatures (blue) and the temperatures reconstructed using the 6 strongest frequency components (red) of the Fourier spectrum, indicating that the temperature history is determined by periodic processes only.

One sees from Fig. 1 that two cycles of periods 200+ years and ~65 years dominate the climate changes, the 200+ year cycle causing the largest part of the temperature increase since 1870.

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Fig. 1: Construction of temperatures using the 6 strongest Fourier components (red), European temperatures from instrumental measurements (blue). It is apparent that only a 200+ year cycle and a ~65 year cycle play a significant role.

Comment: No, CO2 has nothing to do with the extreme climatic changes that we are currently experiencing - and according to the above article, we might have seen nothing yet!

The Winter of 1947 - "Climate disruption" before the current lunacy of "CO2 caused extreme weather" era
The whole CO2 "argument is tiresome and absurd...alarmists living in a fantasy world": Joe Bastardi
Polar vortices have been around forever - they have almost nothing to do with more CO2 in the atmosphere


Cloud Grey

Polar vortex over U.S. brings abnormally mild weather to Scandinavia

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© Sylwia Domaradzka/Barcroft MediaRainy weather in Finland is said to have brought many bears out of hibernation early.
The freezing polar vortex that has gripped the US has extended an abnormally mild winter in Scandinavia and disrupted the seasonal patterns of flora and fauna. The weather system that brought snow, ice and record low temperatures to many parts of the United States this week left Iceland, Greenland and Scandinavia much warmer than normal.

On the back of a generally mild winter, there have been reports of bears emerging early from hibernation in Finland, changes in the behaviour of migratory birds off the coast of Sweden and plants appearing earlier than normal in Norway. Scandinavia and Russia's cold weather during the winter comes from a high-pressure system that keeps warmer, more humid air and low-pressure systems with wind and rain from coming up from the Atlantic Ocean.

The weakening of the jetstream that holds this in place has allowed cold air to spill further south into much of the United States and Canada, while bringing above-average temperatures to parts of Europe.

Snowflake Cold

Heavy snowfall cripples life in hills in Nepal

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Heavy snowfall has crippled normal life across the hills of the far-western and mid-western regions. Bhim Dutta Highway, the only motorway to reach the hills of the far-western region, has been blocked by snowfall since Friday night. Hundreds of buses, trucks and other vehicles are now stranded on the highway. As snowfall continues, the highway is unlikely to be cleared any time soon.

"We are unable to clear the highway as it is still snowing," said Keshav Bohara, inspector at the District Police Office (DPO) of Dadeldhura. "We will start clearing the highway only when it stops snowing." Heaps of snow can be seen in Saukharka and Hugulte areas of the highway; and vehicles are now trapped between these two places. There is no way out for them as long as it keeps snowing in the hilly region.

Fish

Hundreds of striped bass found dead in Connecticut River tributary due to cold

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It appears as if humans weren't the only ones badly stressed by the recent cold snap.

Hundreds of striped bass were found dead this week in the Blackhall River, a tributary of the Connecticut River in Old Lyme, in what state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection officials believe was a natural die-off related to the extreme cold.

Five blue crabs also were found dead.

"We had the same thing happen last year," said David Simpson, director of marine fisheries in the agency's Bureau of Natural Resources. "It was pretty coincidental with the new moon, real low water, very cold weather."

He attributed the deaths, as best as DEEP staffers could determine, to "cold shock," possibly as a result of fish getting trapped in icy cold water by ice and shallow depth.

The DEEP also received reports in Old Lyme of fish drifting out of the Connecticut River and washing up on Long Island Sound beach, but Simpson said he believes those fish were part of the same die-off, which was first reported Sunday by an Old Lyme police officer.

"There's quite a few fish in there and the water really gets shallow during those extreme low tides," he said. "It was a pretty quick change of temperature. There was a salinity change ... I think they just got caught in it."

Snowflake Cold

Time Mag. blamed 'polar vortex' on 'global cooling' in 1974

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© Climate Depot
Global warming activists in academia and the media are now seeking to link record-breaking cold to man-made "global warming." The problem is, the science is failing to support their claims.

Time Magazine was one of the first media outlets out of the gate with an article by senior writer Bryan Walsh blaming the "historic cold snap" on "climate change" and warning readers that global warming will bring more record cold! "This week's events show that climate change is almost certainly screwing with weather patterns ways that go beyond mere increases in temperature - meaning that you'd be smart to hold onto those winter coats for a while longer," Walsh wrote. See: Polar Vortex: Climate Change Could Be the Cause of Record Cold Weather TIME.com

Walsh went on to refer to the ubiquitous phrase "polar vortex" to attempt to explain how carbon dioxide emissions have essentially made the polar vortex "wobble like a drunk on his 4th martini."

The only problem for Time Magazine is the publication is on record in 1974 blaming the same phenomenon on - global cooling! See: Time Magazine Goes Both Ways On The Polar Vortex: 'In 1974, Time Mag blamed the cold polar vortex on global cooling' - In 2014: 'Time Magazine blames the cold polar vortex on global warming' (via Real Science)

Other warmists have joined in blaming record cold on "global warming." Meteorologist Eric Holthaus, who announced in 2013 that he was going to have a vasectomy to help save the planet, boldly proclaimed on Twitter "Yes, you can thank global warming for this taste of the 'polar vortex'."

Megaphone

Pat Robertson: Global warming is a scam because there are no SUVs on Jupiter - He's right, but he's still a nutter

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Televangelist Pat Robertson pointed to the cold U.S. weather on Tuesday - and the fact that there were no "SUVs driving around in Jupiter" - to assert that global warming was a scam created by scientists.

"The inconvenient truth is it's getting cold," Robertson said, riffing off the title of Al Gore's climate change documentary. "And some parts of America are colder than Mars! Why? We've got a special story today about how come we could very well be entering another little ice age."

Later in the show, the TV preacher laughed and noted that the Russian-flagged ship Akademik Shokalskiy had been stuck in ice near Antarctica while trying to research global warming.

"There's just one problem," he said. "The Earth isn't getting warmer. In fact, it's because of the Sun. The Sun is now showing signs that we're headed for something very, very different: global cooling."

Snowflake Cold

Big freeze: Arctic winds expected in UK as blanket of snow follows devastating floods

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© PAA snow plough at work on the A66 in County Durham yesterday

Snow left parts of Britain under a carpet of white yesterday with the country braced for a Big Freeze.

Just as the devastating floods of recent weeks start to recede Arctic winds threaten to sweep in next week bringing ice, harsh frosts and wintry showers.

The mercury is expected to plunge below freezing across the UK with regions left sodden after the relentless rain now facing new misery.

Bitterly cold winds threaten to send temperatures plunging to -10C (14F) in the North while the South will shiver in lows of -4C (25F).

Snowflake Cold

No respite from cold wave in North India, 3 die in Uttar Pradesh

india cold
© Unknown
Three persons died due to severe cold in north India where icy winds swept through most parts and mercury plummeted by several notches.

Delhiites also witnessed a cold and chilly day with the mercury settling at 5 degree Celsius, two notches below normal and the maximum temperature also showed a similar trend settling at 20.4 degrees Celcius.

Three persons died due to severe cold in Uttar Pradesh, including two in Ghazipur district and one in Barabanki district, as night temperatures fell in different parts of the state, MeT officials said.

Snowflake Cold

Snowy owls leave Arctic to invade frozen North America

In normal times, the arctic bird of prey known as the Snowy Owl stays up north, feasting upon the flesh of lemmings. But these are not normal times, so the owls have come south with the terrible arctic weather. "They are just absolutely everywhere and there's a lot more coming," says an expert who knows about the owls.


Ice Cube

More ice on Lake Michigan than seen in decades

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Lake Michigan water levels hit historical lows last year, but this cold winter may be helping in the Great Lakes' recovery.

According to Environment Canada, the Great Lakes haven't had this much ice so early in the season since the late 1980s. reat Lakes ice can be a bad thing, especially for shipping: a week before Christmas, a freighter carrying 17,000 tons of coal got stuck on thick ice on Muskegon Lake. This meant Consumers Energy had to cancel its last two coal shipments of the winter.

On the plus side, ice has the benefit of raising water levels in the Great Lakes. Alan Steinman of the Annis Water Resources Institute explains, "When you have more ice formation, you have less direct contact with the atmosphere, less opportunity for evaporation and that keeps the water levels up."

For the last 20 years with lower ice coverage, more water had evaporated, contributing to the low water levels seen last year. "We were setting records for the lowest water level in recorded history," explains Steinman. Another benefit to more ice coverage and less evaporation is less cloud cover and less lake effect snow. In other words, you will see the sun more.