A Real Blue Meanie

[poliphilo]

We watched the weather forecast. A great, amorphous, blue bulge of severe stuff- a real blue meanie-  was burgeoning up from the South West. It swelled as far as Brummagem- where it was met by winds from Scandanavia- a hail of chunky, little arrows- which bounced against it and started pushing it back . Phew!  We northerners will be spared the worst. Nevertheless it snowed again last night.

They say this is the harshest winter for 18 years. 

And the planet is warming up?

Comments

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

And the planet is warming up?

Well, yes. It's the harshest winter for 18 years, which means we've had nearly 20 years of warm winters. If you go back to the 60s, winters were much colder and we could guarantee snow every winter. (At least as far as I recall.) Besides, it's certainly warming up in Australia. If only we had some kind of heat exchange system between the northern and southern hemispheres!

Global warming is actually terribly complicated, but one effect is that climate becomes more extreme. The type of storm that used to strike once every 50 years will now appear once every 7-10 years. There's just more energy in the weather system, and as it's a chaotic system that doesn't follow simple rules, everything is going to get harder to predict.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's true- we've had some ridiculously mild winters. This is more like it was in my childhood.

I'm a bit of a sceptic about global warming- mainly because I'm a contrarian. If everyone is lining up to tell me that such and such a thing is true I start wanting to look for the flaws in their argument.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

My husband started as a sceptic, but after all the weather recording he did for his PhD, he is now convinced that the climate is changing.

Whether that's due to the activity of human beings or whether it's just due to us still warming up after the last ice age is a separate and much more complicated question.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't suppose we can actually answer that question. What annoys me is that the Al Gore faction have assumed the moral high ground without- actually- having proved their case.

[chochiyo-sama.livejournal.com]

Yes, this was what I was going to say. With global warming comes more extreme weather. I believe I heard that there were tornadoes in England last year--and that is almost unheard of.

When i was a child, we had snow up to the roof of our chicken house. the last several years, we've only had puling 4 or 5 inch snowfalls.

The ocean currents get screwed up, and hten all the weather goes bonkers as well.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, we've been getting tornadoes- but only little ones. I don't think anyone has been killed by a British tornado yet.

It does seem as if global weather is becoming more extreme.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

We've had the coldest Autumn and Winter in decades down here in southern Spain. Today it feels a bit warmer and right now it's 61ºF/16ºC. Acceptable but not as warm as it should be.

I'm glad the Blue Meanie missed you this time around.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It seems that weatherwise we're living in "interesting times".

[glitzfrau.livejournal.com]

I think this is the meanest winter ever. Divil the snow have we had in Manc, while it's been blowing a blizzard in Dublin and London is one great snowball fight! Where's my snow day off work, eh?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

No snow in Manchester?

There's plenty up here in the hills, five miles away.

[veronica-milvus.livejournal.com]

I'm exiled to a London hotel overnight as the chances of getting out of the Chilterns tomorrow morning for my business meeting are close to zip. We are expecting 20cm.

But I suppose I might be on my own for the entire meeting if nobody else makes it!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I believe you'll be getting the full force of the blue meanie.

I rather think it's trying to rain up here.

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

Just for the record -- back in the fifties there were many Christmases without a trace of snow, or even good skating ice. I remember receiving skates, skis, sleds, that sat unused until February some years. I remember scorching hot summers when we would head for the swimming hole (without permission!) to cool off for the afternoon.
However, in the 1990's I remember summers that were unseasonably cool so many days that I had to bring a wool blazer with me wherever I went. My daughter who was living in San Francisco at the time told me that I was having San Francisco summers (mild and wet).
I dont know about global warming, but I do know about climate change, just from my own observations.
This year seems more like the weather of the 1940's and later on, the 1970's -- hot summer,with a cold ice-and- snowy winter.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The climate is changing. I guess it's in perpetual flux. The big question is whether human activity is affecting it or not. I'm inclined to think not, but the other party is in the ascendant right now.

[le-oef.livejournal.com]

the idea of man made climate change is a fraud. just another power/money thing for the elite. a new GLOBAL enemy that calls for laws, fines, punishments ETC.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'm inclined to agree with you.

[silent-mouse.livejournal.com]

Well, we here had an awful drought so far - we are now at third of the usual amount of the rain that was supposed to happen until now, so it seems that this summer a full ban on irrigation is likely. (And that means no grass in gardens and parks at all, among other things.) So I believe in climate changes, they are just more complicated than warming - it's more extreme weather that previously.
And I will trade any amount of today's 24 degrees (the average for February is 12, btw) for snow or rain. Will give excellent exchange rate!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

If only such an exchange were possible! I'm getting fed up with winter- with always being cold and/or damp. I want to see the sun.

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on that. Maybe we could all SING the sun back? The Amerinds used to sing and dance the rain down, so if it worked for that it should work in reverse, yes?
We are ALL trying to rush the spring...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

You know what? I've done that.

We were at a Pagan camp about fifteen years back- and the rain was bucketing down- and Ailz started up a Native American sun chant- everyone joined in- and it worked. The rain cleared and the sun came out.