It’s so cold in the Northern Hemisphere the ocean has frozen in Nantucket. The Great Lakes are 85% frozen over. Cold weather is breaking records in the US. Snow in the southern states of the US has meant 200,000 homes in North Carolina have no electricity. More seriously, 124 people died in Avalaches in Afghanistan. It’s winter.
Nearly frozen waves | Credit JDN Photographer
These waves are giant rolling ice slushies, not solid stationary curls. But apparently things went solid and froze over flat the next day:
‘Most waves were around two feet with some larger sets slushing through around three foot or waist high. What an experience to be absolutely freezing on the beach watching these roll in while I mind surfed them.
‘The next day I drive up to see if things melted but that same 300 yards out of water froze solid on the surface. No waves at all. I’ve been asking all the fishermen and surfers if they have ever seen such a thing. This is a first they all said.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk
Spare a thought for avalanches which killed at least 124 people in Afghanistan.
Wishing all our cold readers the best. Another arctic blast is due next week.
I remember, years ago, hearing about a man from Nantucket……
170
Yep, but not while it was that cold I’ll bet.
80
Warm, cold, what the difference if you’re putting cash in a bucket?
20
Thank goodness I live somewhere warm – brrrr!
100
I was down in Lancaster County, PA, Amish Country, the other day, 4*F, Minus 15C.
I had to get out of the car and into a 10km breeze, almost dropped dead !
A month to go, I’ll be glad to get home.
60
I live in Lancaster county and it is cold. Hervey Bay looks delightful- can I go home with you?
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Niagara Falls have frozen solid. It must be global warming.
http://stevengoddard.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/b-o_1qsxiaa7xn5.jpg
If the above link does not work, this is the link to the blog post.
http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2015/02/26/latest-on-arrhenius-1913-forecast/
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Not to worry, over the next few years GISS and the likes of the BOM will just homogenise the cold away and all you have left will be a false memory.
By 2020, this cold spell is almost guaranteed to have never happened, assuming there is no change in the ethics of ‘climate science’, as it is practiced today.
330
The NCDC and other “experts” are already saying this will be the warmest NH winter on record. They obviously don’t look out the window or go outside.
40
We would all prefer Global Warming, more CO2, more crops, not another ice age. What does it matter if the UN finally sees sense, if the area where 60% of all people live is covered in glaciers. Shut down the IPCC, useless stooges of their communist masters based on the insane idea that governments control the weather. Cancel the meeting in December in Paris. It will make Copenhagen seem like a summer’s day. Now can that $1Bn a day be directed to thorium and fusion research and so there is some hope for humanity? In case the warmists have not noticed, it is not getting hotter and we are rapidly running out of fuel!
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There has been a succession of pretty cold N. Hemisphere winters these past few years. So the average temperate measurements must be less by necessity which means no global warming and that is what the satellite readings tell us.
To explain it away, more warming causes more evapouration which means more water vapour in the atmosphere and more snowfall and freezing temperatures, a rather attenuated piece of logic methinks, but this is one of the simple explanations trotted out. Any others?
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No, that’ll do rob, we don’t want to burrow into that, the lamest excuse works best. Tack the words “climate change” to the end of every second sentence and the media will air any stupid rot you say. Not like you’ll ever be pinned-down and asked to cohesively explain it. Paradoxically, the less data you have, and the less sense you make, the more the media like it.
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It must then be that Helsinki has suddenly been moved to S.H., because it is tediously mild here – when americans get blizzards – with little sea ice, spring definitely weeks ahead of its normal pace. 🙂
Now if you have real statistics on NH winters being cold, I’d be glad to know, since more water evaporating won’t make colder winter weather. I assure you the coldest days are the driest. At summer the situation is slightly different. Humid air feels hot but clouds tune the heat wave away.
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Yup Hugh, that’s 2 mild winters in a row in Helsinki. My friend lives in Pori and she keeps telling me how warm it is, and here I am at about 43 degrees lat. and freezing my butt off:-)) The fact that this is so calls for a much different methodology as to taking temps. These AGW believer fools are usually too dumb to understand “methodology”, they think it’s some kind of breakfast cereal.
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Gymmie, I’m at 35 degrees latitude. Temperature is currently minus -7 C and dropping. Snowing all day.
The entire state of Oklahoma and the northern half of Texas are covered with snow.
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Who was it who said just in the past few weeks, that sea surface temperatures off the coast of New England, were way above normal?
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Lobster boats frozen in place in Maine for a few weeks now , I don’t know why They don’t just apply the adjustments that the usual suspects use to the SST and then They’ll be able to motor on out to sea.
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I heard that warmer oceans can hold more ice! LOL
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I’m sure that will be the next excuse , It’ll be something like ” As all the missing heat gathers in the deep ocean just below the depths the Argo buoys can reach it draws the surface heat with it creating more ice on the surface”
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The abnormal cold on the east coast of the USA is caused by the increased waviness of the jet stream; so the story goes. This is all part of climate change according to Rutgers University climate scientist Jennifer Francis and colleagues. You can read the diagnosis here:
http://phys.org/news/2015-02-evidence-link-wavy-jet-stream.html
This is more after the fact theory to justify anomolies that do not fit the script. At some point they have to conclude that these processes are negative feedback. If heating causes wavier jet streams that result in more cloud and snow then, according to the global warming theory, the increased albedo should be reducing heat input.
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It doesn’t take much to pop the Arctic warming causes jet stream excursions excuse , You just have to look back to 1976 :
The Severe winter of 1976-1977 : Precursors and Precedents
And the 2010 paper by M Lockwood et al suggests that jet stream excursions correlate with low solar activity
Are cold winters in Europe associated with low solar activity?
Myself , I’d suggest that something in high solar activity ( possibly heliomagnetic output ? ) stabilizes the jet stream and would go as far to suggest that an unstable jet stream is the “normal” state during glacial periods and the stable jet stream is the “normal” state during interglacials .
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And they do. It’s hidden in the icy depths (not to be confused with the depths where the heat is concealed, because that would be silly).
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Well that was based on the unadjusted freezing point of water. The state-of-the-art high precision best internationally peer reviewed models clearly show that increasing CO2 increases the freezing point of water. All these extra degrees add up so the freezing of the sea surface is simply more proof that it’s warmer than it should be… and is, of course, unquestionably the fault of Mann-kind. The effect is far too complicated and sciency to be conveyed to the average non-governmentally funded scientist.
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Just like they told us: More Hoth weather on the way.
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Hmm coat, scarf, goggles, mittens, light sabre, tauntaun… I’m ready!
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When a change in weather patterns become the norm along the years, that weather becomes climate. It would become what one expects what the weather would be like. (Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get). Where I live, on a small island in the middle of the Mediterranean sea, winters have been getting colder for the past 12 years and the last time we had seen the mercury hit 38C or more in summer time was about 18 years ago.
This winter we had snow, the first time in living memory and most probably an all time record. We also registered an all time record night minimum temperature of minus (yes, minus) -0.4C. This was on new year’s eve.
Having failed miserably in their prophecies, the publicly financed climate scientists are now instigating the character assassinations of those scientists who in one way or another are revealing the corruption that pervades the official climate science cabal. This is not science but dirty politics.
Was it Ghandi who said: First they try to ignore you, then they try to ridicule you, then the fight you, then you win.
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More northern hemisphere warming fun :
Blizzards in Saudi Arabia
Roads blocked in Sunny Spain
A week ago , Jordan covered with something unrecognisable to English schoolchildren
8 days ago 25cm of snow in Jerusalem
record snow in Japan
Don’t worry though , it’ll all go away after adjustments .
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But that American guy with the bow-tie completely humiliated all of us sceptics, by showing an almost bare mountain in Wyoming. OK: a few days later, it was layered with white stuff, presumably either Mexican cocaine, or an illicit, almost mythical, substance called “snow”. Either way, selfish, fossil-fuel users, some of whom have no dickie-bows at all, were clearly to blame.
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“Roads blocked in Sunny Spain”
Look, as I keep pointing out, this is a win for the Global Warmers. Some years ago they were predicting that Britain would have the climate of Southern Spain. And now it does!
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More from Sunny Spain : ( Via Ice Age Now )
La Nieve No Tiene Fin which roughly translates as “the snow has no end”
( And I’m going to steal that “And now it does ” line of Yours (o: )
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Remember the big squark a couple of months ago re. Northern Pacific warming?
Now it’s Northern Pacific cooling that has caused “the pause”:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/02/27/what-some-scientists-says-is-causing-the-pause-in-global-warming/
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It may seem cold, but according to scientists the Northern Hemisphere in fact has a record LACK of cold:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2015/02/25/even-as-the-eastern-u-s-freezes-theres-less-cold-air-in-winter-than-ever-before/
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Yeah , it was interesting that to achieve the shrinking pool of cold air effect it looks like the definition of cold air was placed at -5 degrees C at 850mb , next year We will find that the definition has changed to -10 degrees C at 850mb thus confirming the continued shrinking pool of cold air .
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Does anyone know the thermal inertia of the Great Lakes? Or another way, how much more heat will it take to melt the lakes this summer and what temperatures will they have going into next winter. Will the peak summer temperatures be lower this summer than last?
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Leonard
I don’t know the answer to your question but NOAA-Great Lakes Research Laboratory has websites that may be helpful.
Each Lake has its own physical and geographic properties and their freezing and melting rates are vastly different as shown on some of those websites.
I was just looking at today’s ice cover and compared it to the bathymetry maps for Michigan and Ontario and the open water does not correlate completely with depth. Even though Superior is much deeper than Michigan it has frozen quicker and a higher percent this year. Not true for last year.
The pattern of freezing this year is a mystery to me unlike last year.
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Thanks, you have given me a pointer. Yes, the pattern of freezing is hard to understand. But one thought I had was that Lake Superior, being so large and deep, when it freezes might not warm to the same initial point a year later at the first of winter. Instead the water might be colder after every freeze meaning that each year in a series of cold winters might have a colder initial condition at the beginning of winter. This in turn might make the melting next spring/summer later in the year.
The main question I am considering is how many years in a row with complete surface freezing would it take until the lake did not thaw in summer and stayed frozen all year?
Thanks again Arcawaches.
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That one I think I can answer. I have lived in Michigan for 70 years and, Superior to my knowledge, has never stayed frozen all summer in the 20th century. It was ice free last year by June 7. I remember seeing very large icebergs in mid May in the early 1970s along the south shore.
Now, knowing the possible effect of the LIA on record low temperatures in the Great Lakes Region, that is an interesting question for previous centuries. Looking at all time record lows back to 1850, those of the 19th century were significantly below the all time winter lows in the last 100 years. I have seen some lows in the 40 below F range and the lower Michigan temperatures never reach that any more. I haven’t looked at Upper Peninsula records but I have to recent low records would be above those in the 19th century.
30
As a long time Chicagoan (now part time), a couple of qualitative answers. Lake Michigan is further south, and lies north south. So prevailing winds from the west (windy City) cause more surface water overturning, so it freezes less and later than Superior.
As to thermal mass, at its summer warmest along the Chicago beaches, the water was about 5 degrees cooler than ‘normal’. Brisk swim was an understatement. This year coild be even cooler. But it will melt. Even Superior finally lost its eastern ice by july.
30
I look at http://iceagenow.info/ site every now and again. Always worth the look; as for this week [excluding the many US and Canada ice/snow/freeze reports] there are these –
110
Isn’t it about time for the sunspot cycle lag (11 years or so) model’s projection of a big warming drop-off?
60
Have NASA made their announcement yet about it being “the warmest February ever !” ?
… It’s so cold that the WWF still haven’t got round to surveying all the areas where Polar bears live despite you donating them all that money over the years …International Polar Bear day today.
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They’re dying of cold in Tennessee. It’s God’s way of punishing them for disbelief in global warming.
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No its weather. Fictitious deities or powers of any kind are not required.
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And winter with a vengeance not seen in living memory.
Sea water freezes at a lower temperature, about 28.4° F, than fresh water at 32° F. And for many 10s of thousands of cubic feet of sea water to freeze at the latitude of Nantucket is amazing to say the least. It has to have been a lot lower than 28.4 for a long time to produce that solid a freeze.
In spite of California being what it is I’m glad to be here and not there.
So much for global warming.
I wonder if Al Gore owns beach front property on Nantucket.
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“I wonder if Al Gore owns beach front property on Nantucket?” if true this would explain,
– The origin of “The man from Nantucket” limericks.
– The Gore effect on Nantucket freezing.
– A giant container spotted on the beach is being used for Gore’s ice bucket challenge.
– Stories of a mysterious white Whale beaching itself and wailing about everything.
– Stories of the white Whale being dumped by a Tipper picked up by the Media.
– The reason Martha’s Vineyard is more populated than Nantucket.
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Yonni,
You’ve been working overtime again. What did I warn you about that, especially those Nantucket limericks? You better slow down or you’re going to send a bunch of us, not to mention yourself to the hospital with terminal laughing. 🙂
But Tipper — I’ve got to admit it, that’s the best pun I’ve seen in quite a while.
10
One day last week, there was not one place on the East Coast of the USA that was above 33*F. Except for the Florida Keys and Key West.
Miami, Florida was at 33*.
And there is a shortage of cold air ???
This was all over the evening news. CNN, ABC, Fox, MSNBC.
I wonder how long it takes for those announcements to disappear forever ??
.
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It’s cold weather caused by global warming. It’s more dangerous than the old fashioned kind of cold weather.
If you pay more in taxes, we can return to the safe kind of cold weather. The weather will look the same but it won’t be your fault anymore.
One more thing…you won’t be allowed to stop paying the taxes, because the wrong kind of cold weather might come back.
90
When the sea froze up near Nantucket,
I don’t know how anyone stuck it,
When asked for advice,
On this warming-caused-ice,
Alarmists will all try to duck it.
200
The UN has finally let the cat out of the bag when Christiana Figueres, the UN’s executive secretary of the Framework Convention on Climate Change said it wants to destroy capitalism. The UN’s Climate Change issue is a false ploy.
http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/021015-738779-climate-change-scare-tool-to-destroy-capitalism.htm
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As if we didn’t know it. But screw her and her pals. I intend to fight back. If they want no holds barred then I’m willing to go that route with them. So are many of my fellow citizens as evidenced by the overwhelming Republican resurgence last November and other sources I pay attention to.
Sorry there, Ms. Figueres but the people own this country and they don’t like you or what you stand for.
We can win this fight if we’re only willing to fight.
I’m like Winston Churchill, who in the face of Nazi aggression said, “Millions for defense but not one penny for tribute.” I think a lot of people, even warmists, will not want to see the goose that lays their golden egg go down in flames. May ISIS descend on their plans like a plague of locusts.
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An environmentally friendly old bag wants to destroy capitalism? well I guess that Figueres!
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But the climate forecasts are the same – I remember reading on this site a couple of weeks ago that everywhere is going to be warmer than everywhere else.
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Like the proverbial snake eating it’s own tail?
Well I noticed that too but it can’t work out because there is no place called everywhere. I have been to nowhere however. It’s called Wake Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Do you think maybe they mean nowhere? 😉
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Don’t confuse the real Wake Island with the Tourist attraction on the mainland.
The island has absolutely nothing to offer but it’s military value. Ain’t nuthin there is an understatement. 150 people according to the reference.
50
I don’t know about Helsinki, but it is now colder on the other side of the North Atlantic than it was 10 years ago. At least where I am, which is also a maritime environment. I would also say that the past year was the coolest I have experienced in this part of the world. (That it’s not just biased perception is indicated by the fact that there’s been a real snowfall in 4 of the last 5 winters, leaving snow on the ground for at least a few hours, while 10 years ago snow simply didn’t occur during the winter in this locale.)
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Give the northern hemisphere a couple more winters like that and no warming worrier will dare stick their nose out and claim it’s getting hotter. The red faces will be getting more numerous and it won’t be due to hot weather.
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Going from previous form , I suspect that the warmist shrieking will get louder and louder to try and counter reality , expect it to reach a crescendo after the Paris summit . Next phase will probably be a retreat from the global warming position , a desperate defense of climate change followed by a fall back to the previously prepared position of climate disruption . That’s assuming the usual suspects don’t decide to abandon all pretext and go the full totalitarian on humanity in the meantime .
40
The cause of the warming last century shows a strong correlation with the activity of a close star.
http://hockeyschtick.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/over-200-peer-reviewed-papers.html
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Jennifer and Joanne (alphabetical order)
You remain magnificent.
The crucial difference is that the ideological wall is now not beginning to crumble …..it’s collapsing.
20
Will this summer in Australia be the hottest since the earth was a ball of fire?
20
The ‘denier’ phase of the climate wars is almost over. The next phase will be a discussion of the ‘new’ global climate issue, global cooling. There will be calls for firings – the political response – to public panic, due to the rapidity and magnitude of the cooling. There is nothing new under the sun, what we have and will experience has happened before.
Solar large scale magnetic field vs time (Check out the solar northern magnetic field strength vs time, what are the implications of flat lining?)
http://wso.stanford.edu/gifs/Polar.gif
Abrupt climate change is cyclic. Who would have thought that? The cyclic abrupt climate change correlates with solar magnetic cycle changes.
http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2003/2003GL017115.shtml
http://cc.oulu.fi/~usoskin/personal/nature02995.pdf
Unusual activity of the Sun during recent decades compared to the previous 11,000 years
http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/440/1/012001/pdf/1742-6596_440_1_012001.pdf
The peculiar solar cycle 24 – where do we stand?
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/record-chill-to-depart-east-mi/43049701
February 2015: A Frigid Month for the Record Books
Arctic Air Breaks All-Time Record
Minus 19 F Cape Girardeau, Missouri, set its all-time record low on Feb.19, 2015. Minus 18 F
Erie, Pennsylvania, tied its all-time record low on Feb.19, 2015. Minus 13 F
Bristol, Tennessee, shattered its all-time record on Feb.20,2015. The old record was 13F. (New record) Minus 11 F
Lynchburg, Virginia, set its all-time record on Feb.20, 2015.
The Great Lakes have set an all time record for ice cover for this week in history.
http://iceweb1.cis.ec.gc.ca/Prod20/page2.xhtml?CanID=11080&lang=en
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Great lakes ice cover has increased to 86.8%. Best on forecasted temperatures continued record, frigging cold for another week. There is a good chance of 100% ice cover of all five lakes.
http://coastwatch.glerl.noaa.gov/glsea/cur/glsea_cur.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Lakes
20
You guys seem to forget that we now talk about “Climate Change”. “Global Warming” is so 1990s.
Too hot/too cold= climate change. Fewer cyclones/more cyclones= climate change. Less rain/more rain= climate change. You get the idea.
Remember when the rain refused to stop, the ice refused to melt, the crops refused to fail, temperatures refused to endlessly rise etc. the whole gravy train was about to run off the rails. Change from global warming to climate change and suddenly every unusual weather event that falls outside some mythical Goldie Locks age of climate stability (1950-1980?) can be used to push the case for action that usually involves the movement of government (taxpayers) money into the pockets of those who proclaim that they can control the planets climate. What fun.
By the way I notice that the Southern Oscillation Index has been in negative territory for over 12 months. This usually indicates El Nino conditions. Drought conditions in western Queensland may indicate a weak El Nino event but here is the thing, isn’t all the extra energy going into the oceans supposed to produce much more powerful El Nino/La Nina events? Big droughts and general mayhem.
I suppose weak EL Nino/strong El Nino (you guessed it),=climate change.
00