Let's talk about the weather

[slave2bacon]

Turns out Mohonk has the best weather records .... anywhere.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/science/earth/16moho.html?pagewanted=1&8dpc

"The record shows that on this ridge in the Shawangunk Mountains, about 20 miles south of the better-known Catskills, the average annual temperature has risen 2.7 degrees in 112 years. Of the top 10 warmest years in that time, 7 have come since 1990. Both annual precipitation and annual snowfall have increased, and the growing season has lengthened by 10 days. "

[Richard]

Fascinating...it's is ironic that my first inclination in a "let's talk about the weather" post is political. This certainly belies the "climate" in this country. Sadly, the science of the climate change phenomina is overwhelmed by the emotional political content of most discussions. The article, to its credit, stayed clear of politics and pointed out the consequences to a small patch of the planet and left it to each of us to draw a conclusion as to the danger the earth faces and, ultimately, the impact to each of us that inaction brings.
_________________
"Be quick, but don't hurry."

[TriassicDoc]

As a scientist who looks at this stuff, here is generally what *I* do in my scientific process:

I have a core (or any record) to analyze. I have no preconceived notions of what I will find, but I usually am pretty negative going into it ("this isn't going to work, my data is going to be terrible, it isn't going to make any sense, I'm never going to get funded, my career is over and it doesn't matter, etc.").

I get the data back and as clear as day there is a HUGE change at ~200 years ago. Another huge change closer to the top (most recent) part of the record. Scream?! Awesome, I have great data, publishable, etc.

But, you see, this is what is going on with everyone's data... there are tremendous changes that are clear as daylight due to some event that began ~200 years ago (The Suess Effect). The only clear event that we can recognize at the moment is industrialization. When leaded gasoline was banned, there was a clear and noticeable change in the atmosphere recorded in many different records from all over the world. When you change atmospheric chemistry and physical properties (ie, temperature, pressure), it rebalances itself with the oceans to find equilibrium. This really messes up our oceans' habitats (ocean pH changes in response to increased acidity and freshwater input) and the strength and location of trade winds.

Finally, it doesn't take a genius to figure out from photographic comparisons that we're losing our glaciers.

Personally, I think it's too late and industrialization and development is going in the wrong direction anyways.

Sorry for the long post, I'm in Baltimore with not a whole lot to do