People Used To Think The Earth Was Flat, Too...

I love these people who decry Global Warming as a hoax, such as this fellow at the "Lighthouse Patriot Journal".

The fellow points to freezing weather in Florida as evidence that Climate Change doesn't exist, or may be preempting what would've been a coming ice age.

That's all just wonderful. The problem is that a warming climate doesn't necessarily mean you are going to get unusually warm weather in any one location on the planet consistently. It means that the average temperature over the entire Earth's surface increases year-over-year.

That means that you take all the temperature readings throughout an entire year from every measuring point on the planet, and then find the average of that temperature, and compare that figure to previous years.

It also means that there is more heat energy in the atmosphere. Greater heat energy in the atmosphere means more powerful winds overall. That includes freaky-seeming winds that blow over the polar regions and then back down to more equatorial regions, which moves heat to the polar regions and dumps it there, and then pulls frigid air down on top of us at lower latitudes.

If the strength and amount of wind increases on average each year, you are going to see more freak storms and weather. Bigger hurricanes. Stronger cyclones. Larger and more intense rainstorms in some areas, hotter and drier weather in others. Bigger winter storms as the prevailing winds push up into the polar regions harder and then come further back down with more cold moisture and snow to dump.

It's more about the amount of heat energy in the atmosphere increasing the power of the Earth's winds at this stage than about locally increased temperatures except in the polar regions.

The poles will heat up faster than the rest of the planet because ice is reflective, and reflects solar energy into space. The less of it there is at the poles, the more solar energy they'll absorb.

If you look around and see more powerful and frequent storms than usual, that's what you should expect right now from changes in the AVERAGE temperature around the globe.

It isn't just heat waves, oh Flat Earth People. It is more powerful winds and more powerful and freaky storms. Hold onto Kansas, Toto, unless it's getting flooded, then swim for it. Or dig out of a blizzard, or chip your way out of an ice storm, or haul water out of the well in an extended drought. Whichever one it is, you'll have more of it, and it will probably be windier.

The vast majority of the world's scientists agree that man-made gasses are trapping heat - and therefore energy - in the Earth's atmosphere, and right now that means wind.

If you want to really hear what the world's scientists have to say on the subject, check out the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's multiple comprehensive reports. While you're at it, have a little sympathy for those poor Floridians getting the occasional freak-freeze, and a lot worse hurricanes.

Thank you for reading - and maybe even listening.

Dan