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100 Posts in 100 Days: Day 17
Jan. 17th, 2012 10:53 amOne of the best articles I ever saw on global warming had a very simple message. It said that it would be better to call it global weirding rather than global warming. It said that global warming didn't mean that everyone would consistently get warmer, but that established weather patterns would be disrupted. Some areas, in fact, would be colder than normal. Some would be drier than normal.
I think the original article was on TWC some years ago, so likely it's gone now. But the thing I took away from it was that we could expect change in the patterns we were used to.
I've spoken to a couple of friends on the subject recently. One reminded me that when you are looking for a temperature change in the atmosphere, if you want to detect warming, you look at the average lows because that's where it's seen first. If you want to detect cooling, you look at the average highs.
One thing I noticed on the climate data for this area over the last few months is that the daily low has consistently been 10-20 degrees above average. We've also had a really weird pattern going where we get a quick shot of cold air and then the temperatures go way above normal again. The temperature didn't get below 45 last night. 45 degrees when the normal low is about 18!
That's not scientific at all of course, because I need a hell of a lot more data than one month to spot a trend. Climate is years of seasons, not one isolated month. Still, it's definitely weird.
That data exists in a rather interesting map from the USDA. The map is of US hardiness zones, and the borders are determined by the lowest temperatures. It has changed, and although the latest map isn't quite ready, there's an interesting comparison between 1990 and 2006
http://www.arborday.org/media/mapchanges.cfm
I find myself wondering when we're going to take this kind of data seriously enough to do something about it. Will I be able to grow citrus here in WV in my lifetime? We're already just about to the point to be able to do traditional peaches (as opposed to the cultivars intended to handle very cold temperatures in the winter). How much more will it change?
I think the original article was on TWC some years ago, so likely it's gone now. But the thing I took away from it was that we could expect change in the patterns we were used to.
I've spoken to a couple of friends on the subject recently. One reminded me that when you are looking for a temperature change in the atmosphere, if you want to detect warming, you look at the average lows because that's where it's seen first. If you want to detect cooling, you look at the average highs.
One thing I noticed on the climate data for this area over the last few months is that the daily low has consistently been 10-20 degrees above average. We've also had a really weird pattern going where we get a quick shot of cold air and then the temperatures go way above normal again. The temperature didn't get below 45 last night. 45 degrees when the normal low is about 18!
That's not scientific at all of course, because I need a hell of a lot more data than one month to spot a trend. Climate is years of seasons, not one isolated month. Still, it's definitely weird.
That data exists in a rather interesting map from the USDA. The map is of US hardiness zones, and the borders are determined by the lowest temperatures. It has changed, and although the latest map isn't quite ready, there's an interesting comparison between 1990 and 2006
http://www.arborday.org/media/mapchanges.cfm
I find myself wondering when we're going to take this kind of data seriously enough to do something about it. Will I be able to grow citrus here in WV in my lifetime? We're already just about to the point to be able to do traditional peaches (as opposed to the cultivars intended to handle very cold temperatures in the winter). How much more will it change?
