Hennessy's View

DailyTech – Sea Ice Ends Year at Same Level as 1979

Thanks to a rapid rebound in recent months, global sea ice levels now equal those seen 29 years ago, when the year 1979 also drew to a close.

Let’s give credit where it’s due: Al Gore.

When Al Gore speaks, the opposite happens. Where Al Gore goes, snow is sure to follow. So when Al Gore frightened a bunch of German kids by telling them that the North Pole would be gone in 5 years, that Santa Claus would die along with his reindeer, and that Polar Bears would either become extinct or catch the last few ice floes south to Europe where they’d “eat little kiddies like you,” you just knew that the Arctic would grow ice faster than Joe Biden’s head grows hair plugs.

And that’s just what’s happened.

Keep in mind, though, that we have only 30 years of satellite data on Arctic ice. So the melts of the past few summers might be dramatic–or they might very common. What do know beyond a doubt is that the Arctic ice experts know no more about Arctic ice than you or I. They were all 180 degrees off about the properties of “new” sea ice.

Why were predictions so wrong? Researchers had expected the newer sea ice, which is thinner, to be less resilient and melt easier. Instead, the thinner ice had less snow cover to insulate it from the bitterly cold air, and therefore grew much faster than expected, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

So the next time an expert at NSIDC says the Arctic is meltic, remember that there is no such thing as an Arctic ice expert.

Technorati Tags: AGW, Arctic Sea Ice, Al Gore

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Even as CO2 levels rise, western Lake Superior is freezing over for the first time years.

The western tip of Lake Superior has frozen over in December for the first time in recent memory, and that could mean a long season of ice angling that hasn’t been seen in years.

“We were just talking that it’s been something like 17 years since we had a good, long ice fishing season at this corner of Lake Superior,’’ said Russ Francisco, owner of Marine General sporting goods store in Duluth. “This is the most ice I’ve seen in December in years. … I wouldn’t go out yet, but if it stays cold and we don’t get a big wind, people will be out there fishing soon.’’

Next question:  Has Al Gore been to Duluth recently?

Elsewhere in the AGW world, Fred Singer posts a brief but debilitating blow (via Jennifer Marohasy) to the AGW idiots at IPCC.  

In conclusion: The IPCC’s ‘most’ is not sustained by observations; the human contribution is very likely only 10% or even less.

There you go.

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Technorati Tags: AGW, Lake Superior

OMG, this is golden:

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Technorati Tags: AGW, Al Gore, fear mongering, global-warming

Winter madness

MSNBC.com leads off this Sunday with a photo montage of serious winter weather from Pacific to Maine. 

To the left, all snow, all winter weather is “freak.”  To those of us with memories longer than our . . . privates . . . and a sense of history that exceeds our senses of fashion, winters are beginning to look a like winters past. 

The temperature was 7 when I got up this morning.  I used to play hockey outside at Steinberg every Sunday in temperatures colder than this. 

Before you scream that weather != climate: I get it.  But climate is the ∑ of weather, is it not? And when we have year after year of decreasing average temperature, increasing average snowfall, and growing glaciers, we have a climate trend of cold.

I’d like to know what James Hansen is doing to keep warming these day.  Perhaps he’s discharging CO2 fire extinguishers in his living room.

Technorati Tags: winter, agw

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Even liberals are noticing that global warming has been reversed.

No doubt Gore and The One will take credit.

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The massive storm brewing out west will plunge Los Angeles into the 30s, threatening all-time record lows for that city.  Seattle is looking at highs in the mid-20s for the week ahead.  That’s cold.  Amazingly, the Ottawa Weather Center predicted this blast last week (here and here).

Meanwhile, to the east and north or Southern California, blizzards will extend from New Mexico to Minneapolis.  The cold and snow is forecast to continue for the next 48-72 hours, striking St. Louis and Chicago Sunday evening through Tuesday. 

This weather comes from Siberia where daily highs have been -80 F for the past few days. Apparently, there’s not much CO2 in Russia.

Meanwhile, the AGW freaks insist that Congress take over the auto industry to save the planet.  I assume they want to save the planet from another ice age. 

Anthony Watts has discovered more fraud by the global warming nuts, this time involving Arctic sea ice. 

This morning I was shocked to discover that overnight, huge amounts of sea ice simply disappeared. Fortunately I had saved the images and a copy of the webpage last night. Here is the before and after in a blink comparator:

The criminals at NANSEN didn’t like the fact that Arctic sea ice was about to exceed the 1979-2000 average.  So they changed the numbers.  What a bunch of lying criminals.  Here’s the e-mail address of the criminal master mind: stein.sandven@nersc.no. 

Meanwhile,  take a look at yesterday’s satellite images of the North Pole and judge for yourself.  On the right is yesterday’s ice.  On the left is 12/12/1980, one of the coldest winters in the past 40 years. 

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I’ll dispense with hyperbole and sarcasm.

I want to congratulate and thank the people who are making Gustav a better experience than Katrina.

The People of the Gulf Coast

You rebuilt, prayed, and left your homes, business, and schools in God’s able hands.  You were rewarded, or will be, for, not only your wisdom in retreating from nature, but your perseverance and faith.  You deserve our help, our thanks, and our support.

Ray Nagin

Mayor Nagin was a laughing stock during and after Katrina.  Since then, he’s rebuilt a major American city and guided it through another hurricane.  Those are tough jobs that small men would not take on, particularly after the treatment we gave him 3 years ago. 

Bobby Jindal

Bobby Jindal was not the governor in 2005.  I get the feeling that Katrina would not have been so bad if he had been. He’s been a true leader throughout.  Congratulations to this outstanding governor.

Homeland Security

I still think we should disband this bureaucracy, but they performed well here. 

Army Corps of Engineers

Rivers belong where they can ramble (Stephen Sch

wartz).  You guys disagree with that.  Somehow, you shored up and improved the levees and stood by them.  Good job.

New Orleans First Responders

As always, you put your asses on the line and did the job.  Get a big kiss from your S.O.  And a raise.

George W. Bush

The man in charge.  Everything that went wrong with Katrina was heaped on your shoulders.  Everything that went right with Gustav belongs on your resume.  Congratulations, Mr. President.

John McCain

In the Hanoi Hilton, you said, “no” when self-preservation ran up against your country.  Today, you put your country before your White House ambition.  You deserve great credit for your sacrifices–all of them.

America

Still, and always, the shining city on a hill whose best days are always before us. 

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CNN (TV, not .com) just reported that the Industrial Levee in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans has ruptured under the strain of water and wind, flooding homes and streets throughout the same area that was devastated by Katrina.

The Army Corps of Engineers’ latest release said that levees were overtopped, relieving some pressure, but all levees were holding.  It’s possible that the CNN’s reporters doesn’t know the definition of a breech.  It’s also possible that the Corps of Engineers’ release was simply older than the breech occurrence.

**UPDATE**

The reporter who said the Lower 9th Ward is flooded has disappeared from CNN’s coverage, and now the network anchors are reporting that all levees are holding.  It appears that the reporter simply didn’t know the difference between overtopping and breeching.  Breeching usually refers to an actual rupture in a levee.  What the video shows is overtopping, wherein high winds push water over the top of the levees. 

**UPDATE**

The Army Corps of Engineers reports that water levels have begun receding at the Army Levee.  A Louisiana emergency manager says, if true, this news would indicate a major turning point and great news.

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