More Global Warming

Mahonri · Senior Bucketkeeper

More Global Warming

Cat Herder · Understander of unimportant things

No. It's called lake effect. The dumping of snow in such a short period is caused by a persistant cold weather front that is blowing down from Canada and across Lake Ontario... Upstate New York (from Buffalo on over through Rochester and the Palmyra area and over to Albany) get this sort of stuff on a regular basis. Usually, it is spread out over the winter, but this year, the delay of significant snow in December and January and now the persistance of the the cold front that has gripped the Great Lakes area for the past week or so is more likely related to the El Nino effect going on in the Pacific.

Here in Michigan, we get lake effect snow too (particularly on up north on the UP and along Lake Michigan), but not usually to that magnitude seen in upstate New York. Here in SE Michigan, we've actually had very little snow this year. The past several years, it has typically amounted to a couple three feet altogether, but it also usually melts regularly so that it is not just piles and piles of snow.

The same lake effect helps to moderate temperatures and climate during the summer, which makes the Great Lakes states (particularly close to these inland seas) ideal for growing certain fruits and vegetables.

arbilad · Head Chef

In my mind global warming is a sham. It is indisputable that the earth is warming but so far it has not been by a great deal. It is also indisputable that the earth goes through regular cycles of cooling and warming.
Mars too is going through a period of warming right now. Are our SUVs affecting them as well?
Not to mention that the most frequently cited culprit of global warming is carbon dioxide. Did you know that human output accounts for less than 1% of all carbon dioxide output across the globe? Also, carbon dioxide is not the most influential green house gas - water vapor is. Water vapor has an order of magnitude more influence than carbon dioxide does.

Mahonri · Senior Bucketkeeper

Interesting.

It's been more cold in Phoenix this year than in the past 20 years. Of course talk to me in August and we'll see what's happened.

arbilad · Head Chef

BTW, I want to stress that it is not my opinion that nothing funny is going on with the weather. Our weather is getting weirder and weirder. I just don't buy the argument that man is destroying the weather and within a short time the globe will be super hot and uninhabitable.
We still need to be good stewards of the Earth that we have been given, of course. It is good that there are many recycling methods available now, for instance. It is nice that the air in the LA area is now more breathable because the cars put out less smog. But I don't believe that our industrial society is killing the planet.

Roper · Senior Bucketkeeper

Seems to me that if people were as concerned about polluting their own internal environment as they are about others polluting the external envirnment, our world would be a much better place to live.