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Tim Palmer, a climate scientist and professor at the University of Oxford in the U.K., has published a somewhat controversial Perspective piece in the journal Science. In it, he theorizes that heavy thunderstorms in the western tropical Pacific (due to global warming) this past winter caused changes to the flow pattern of the jet stream, which resulted in the "polar vortex" that chilled the northern part of North America for the first four months of 2014. The winter of 2014 was cold in the U.S., of that there was no doubt. Subzero temperatures became the norm and heating bills skyrocketed. At the time, very few who experienced it were blaming it on global warming, but that may very well have been the cause anyway, Palmer suggests--despite the fact that global temperatures haven't been rising lately.
The abstract (and link to paywalled journal article) can be found at: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/344/6186/803
(Score: 2) by Open4D on Friday May 30 2014, @10:05AM
Well, here's the latest report. http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1/ [www.ipcc.ch] Knock yourself out.
As I've said before [soylentnews.org], this is just selective reading of the data. You're better off looking at the full graph [nasa.gov].
We always need more data. The only way we can be 100% sure about the results of this emit billions of tonnes of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere experiment is to let it run its course. But when you're pretty sure you know the results will be devastating, I'd rather we cancelled the experiment and accepted that we'll never be 100% sure.
Hmmm, interesting idea. Well, I'd be tempted to hunt your grandchildren down in 50 years and draw their attention to your reckless disregard for their generation's wellbeing.