162 Comments

1. The word “c**ling” ist verb*ten! Not in the dictionary!

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2. Thoughtful piece.
   Thank you
   MarkP

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3. Mark you haven’t touched the half of it. The role of temperature adjustments will loom large. Highly anonymous cooling will be edited. Your memories and experiences will be adjusted to fit the consensus view. If you persist heretic, you also will be edited. Soon CRU-NOAA will control every thermometer.

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4. Other people have been doing lockdown projects. This blogger has been looking at temperature records and is reaching heretical conclusions:

   “My first aim has been to go back to basics, to examine the original temperature data, look for trends in that data, and to apply some basic error analysis to determine how significant those trends really are. Then I have sought to compare what I see in the original data with what climate scientists claim is happening. In most cases I have found that the temperature trends in the real data are significantly less than those reported by climate scientists. In other words, much of the reported temperature rises, particularly in Southern Hemisphere data, result from the data manipulations performed by the climate scientists on the data. This implies that many of the reported temperature rises are an exaggeration.”

   https://climatescienceinvestigations.blogspot.com/2020/12/45-review-of-year-2020.html

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5. I won’t get too excited until we have a lengthening “pause”, or perhaps “pause redux”. Even then we ought to measure trends over 30 years rather than shorter periods.

   Even then temperatures themselves are a little too abstract. I would prefer to move the battle onto the alleged consequences of global warming (e.g. declines in crop yields, climate refugees, etc, etc, which there are no signs of). I would be inclined to let alarmists trill about temperature records, and then reply: “And nothing bad happened.”

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6. This is where I came in, about 14 years ago I believe, when Anthony Watts was posting photos of temperature stations placed on tarmac downwind of jet planes, and over at Steve McIntyre’s ClimateAudit they were discussing the adjustments that had to be made when the water for measuring ocean temperatures was hauled aboard in leather buckets instead of oaken ones. Then around 1940 the Brits (who owned 70% of merchant shipping) for some odd reason stopped measuring ocean temperatures and it was left up to the Yanks, who measured with thermometers attached to the hull near the water intake.. Suddenly the temperature of 79% of the earth’s surface jumped by a degree or two, and all because of U-boats.

   Does anyone have a link to an article (Steve Milloy?) pointing out how NOAA recently readjusted early 20th century temperatures downwards, almost doubling 20th century warming from 0.5°C to 0.9°C at the stroke of a pen, and therefore doubling the effort we have to make to keep temperature rise to less than 1.5°C? I mean, if they can admit in 2020 that the true figure for 20th century warming was twice the estimate made twenty years previously, what’s to stop them doing the same thing in 2040? Maybe the true figure for 20th century warming was 1.8°C and we passed the level of catastrophic warming ages ago and didn’t notice?

   The temperature graph is like a piece of string fixed at both ends. Present temperature measurements are correct by definition, otherwise the science wouldn’t be settled, which it is – Q.E.D. And temperatures in the dim distant past can’t be argued with, because they were measured by scientists at a limited number of sites (Central England, Paris, Prague, and – bizarrely – County Antrim spring to mind) and the thermometers used are in museums for anyone to check. So all the adjusters can do is mess with the figures in between, playing merry hell with MBH98 and a whole lot of other settled science.

   And one final thing. About the empty spaces in between which Mark mentions. I once mentioned that Météo France was claiming that my region of France had experienced 5°C of warming in 50 years. France, like the UK, USA, New Zealand etc. possesses a large number of islands scattered over the globe, which must have an inordinate effect on average temperature measurements. If you want to know how hot it is in the middle of the Indian Ocean, it’s Kerguelen or nothing. There’s nothing there but a thermometer, and nowhere else for thousands of kilometres around. And the same goes for the Arctic, where, I read somewhere, NOAA one day chopped the number of reporting stations from hundreds to a dozen or so. My only experience of data sampling was in market research forty years ago. A survey manager who acted like the NOAA wouldn’t last long.

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7. Adjustments to temperature measurements in Oz. https://jennifermarohasy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Changing_Temperature_Data.pdf

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8. For Geoff, a lot of the adjustments are detailed here.https://climate4you.com/
   [thanks – Geoff]

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9. “Whatever the case, the language adopted by NOAA is interesting.” True, and I think we may hear more examples of this if we ever enter a “Pause 2” type situation.

   E.g., “This year 20xx has been relatively cold, but still among the warmest X out of the last XX years.”

   Also then maybe something like: “This year 20xx has been slightly cooler due to X (La Nina/volcanic dust/strong trade winds/heat hiding in the deep oceans/whatever) but CO2 emissions are still rising and global warming has not gone away – it’s just being masked by X, for now. So when X goes away, don’t worry, climate change will return with a vengeance”.

   And then, if it gets a bit warmer again, followed by: “There never was a “pause” in global warming or climate change”, as per the Guardian in 2014:
   https://www.theguardian.com/environment/planet-oz/2014/feb/12/global-warming-fake-pause-hiatus-climate-change

   Move along, nothing to see here!

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10. Thanks for all the comments, and apologies for the delay in replying, due to being busy with other stuff.

    JIT – I’m not excited at all. As I’m at pains to point out in the piece, this is very short-lived cooling so far, and may readily be explicable by something like La Nina. I just find it disappointing that there is absolutely no balance in media coverage, and even NOAA seem to me to be more supportive of an agenda than of objective science.

    I do agree that (at least absent any long-term cooling) the best strategy is to point to the lack of real problems firmly attributable to climate change, despite the hype. But then, we do have a problem in saying that, since much of the media, especially the Guardian and the BBC in the UK, will big up every passing press release relating to climate alarmism, and will happily attribute any and every bad or problematic event to climate change.

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11. Looking for Sky News’s daily climate show I came across their Global Warming Tracker, produced by the University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute.
    https://news.sky.com/story/the-daily-climate-show-track-global-warming-with-our-live-counters-12262823

    This purports to show global temperature change in real time, but in fact is simply a clock recalibrated in °C reproducing a straight line temperature rise from 1880 to the present. It shows temperature rising by about 0.000000001°C per second, completely ignoring the fact that monthly average global temperatures regularly drop tens of millions of times that over a period of months or even years. What does Ofcom think about this fake news?

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12. This is a tragedy, and I feel bad even mentioning it. However, it suggests that cooling extends to China currently:

    “China ultramarathon: Severe weather kills 21 runners”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-57216601

    “Twenty-one runners have died after extreme weather struck a long-distance race in north-western China.

    High winds and freezing rain hit participants in the 100km (60-mile) ultramarathon in the Yellow River Stone Forest, a tourist site in Gansu province, on Saturday.

    The race was halted when some of the 172 runners went missing, and a rescue operation was launched.

    Many of the stranded runners reportedly suffered from hypothermia.”

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13. “Wet and cold May leads to fruit crop delay”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-57255320

    “Fruit crops such as strawberries and plums are expected to be up to three weeks late this year due to the recent cold and wet weather.

    The berry season officially started on 1 May but the chilly conditions have slowed down the growing process.

    Michael Bentley, from Castle Fruit Farm near Newent in Gloucestershire, said it was in stark contrast to last year.

    “Compared to last year they’re going to be about three weeks late. This is nature for you,” he said.”

    Nature, not climate change. And of course he’s right, but if it had been an unusually dry and hot May…?

    I see the media seems to have stopped telling us that spring is arriving earlier every year.

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14. A couple of years (or it could be a lifetime) ago, it was a different story, when the Guardian was reporting on the unease and existential dread lurking just beneath the surface of a warmer than usual early spring:
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/26/i-cant-help-but-be-concerned-readers-spot-early-signs-of-spring

    Quoted are the comments of seemingly random but somehow very Guardian members of the public.

    “It’s lovely but worryingly mild”.

    “The scenes are very beautiful… but I know I’m seeing them too early: climate change terrifies me”.

    “This wild [early blossoming] plum tree grows alongside a public footpath where dog walkers, joggers, families with children and young couples are casually passing without even noticing it.” [The horror…]

    “Watching the way they [bees] are reacting to February temperatures that are really too high is fascinating. Honey bees are the ultimate evolvers, but I can’t help but be concerned!”

    However, fast forward to an unusually chilly April 2021 and it’s all strictly weather:
    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/apr/12/spring-cold-snap-hits-as-england-relaxes-covid-lockdown-restrictions

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15. “Experts warn hillgoers: summer slow to arrive on Scotland’s mountains”

    https://www.grough.co.uk/magazine/2021/05/27/experts-warn-hillgoers-summer-slow-to-arrive-on-scotlands-mountains

    “Mountain experts are warning those heading for the Scottish hills that summer has been slow to arrive.

    Mountaineering Scotland said a Mountain Leader posted pictures of his group on the summit of Ben Nevis last weekend in full winter conditions.

    A spokesperson for the organisation, which represents hillwalkers, climbers, mountaineers and ski-tourers north of the border, said: “While we’re on the countdown to midge season, and ticks have already been making their presence felt in the glens, cooler than average temperatures have meant many late-lying snow patches remain, some of them icy when the temperature drops.

    “Hillwalkers and climbers have been delighted to get back to Scotland’s mountains in recent weeks.

    “But Scotland’s weather hasn’t been playing ball with people’s dreams of returning to the heights.””

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16. NOAA’s report for May 2021 is now in. The global surface temperature was 0.14C lower than in May 2020. It may well be that the cooling trend of the last few months is slowing.

    At least my perception of a cool start to the year in Europe (or my bit of it), which included a cold May, has been borne out:

    “Cooler-than-average May temperatures were observed across parts of North America, the eastern Pacific Ocean, central Europe, and central Asia and India. There was a small area in eastern India that had a record-cold May temperature, encompassing only 0.1% of the world surface with a record-cold May temperature. The European temperature for May 2021 was 0.41°C (0.74°F) above average and was the coolest May since 2004. Several central European countries had their coolest May in at least 10 years. Of note, Germany had its coldest May since 2010, with a temperature that was 2.4°C (4.3°F) below the 1991–2020 period. The United Kingdom’s national temperature was 1.3°C (2.3°F) below the 1981–2010 average and was the coldest for May since 1996. North America also had a temperature departure for May that was above average; however, it was also the coolest May since 2011.”

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17. I really like the way this blogger looks at UK weather

    https://marriott-stats.com/nigels-blog/uk-weather-trends-spring-2021/

    So UK springs have been getting cooler but sunnier and less wet over the last decade. Not that you would gather that from the BBC

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18. MIAB, many thanks for the link – an interesting read.

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19. NOAA’s report forJune 2021 is now in. The global surface temperature was only 0.04C lower than in June 2020. It may well be that the cooling trend of the last few months is slowing still further.

    At least my perception of a cool start to the year in Europe (or my bit of it), which included a cold May, has been borne out:

    “Public urged to count butterflies after year of bad weather”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57859345

    “People across the UK are being asked to take part in an annual count of butterflies amid fears they have been affected by poor weather this spring….

    ..Butterfly Conservation, the wildlife charity running the scheme, said its current records show that many species of butterflies have been affected by this year’s unseasonably cold and wet spring….”.

    Of course, they now have a new way of dealing with inconvenient weather – every type of weather (hot, cold, wet, dry) is due to climate chanage, aka CAGW aka the “climate crisis”:

    “…TV naturalist Chris Packham said participating in the Big Butterfly Count could provide key research on the impact of climate change on wildlife….

    …Conservationists warn the UK is seeing a rising number of extreme weather events, which its thought is a result of climate change, and want to learn about the effects on native butterflies so they can better understand the longer term impact on nature….

    …Dr Randle added: “We really need the public’s help to understand what is happening to our butterfly and moth populations. It’s a small but crucial thing everyone can do.

    “This information will not only help us to protect these species, but also to inform what effect the changing climate is having on our biodiversity.”…”

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20. I’m still awaiting for the numbers from NOAA for their July 2021 global report. However, the numbers are in for their report on the USA in June 2021, and given all the talk about the “heat dome”, I’m surprised by what I’ve just read:

    https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/national/202107

    “The contiguous U.S. average temperature during July was 75.5°F, 1.9°F above the 20th century average, tying with 1954 and 2003 for 13th warmest July in the 127-year record.” So joint 13th warmest July – much lower in the records than I expected, certainly than the MSM headlines had led me to expect.

    “Despite the extreme warmth across the western U.S., temperatures were below average across portions of the southern and central Plains, Midwest, Southeast and Northeast.”

    “The contiguous U.S. average maximum (daytime) temperature during July was 87.7°F, 1.1°F above the 20th century average, ranking in the warmest one-third of the record. Above-average to record-warm maximum temperatures were observed across much of the West and northern Plains. Oregon ranked warmest on record for daytime temperatures. Daytime temperatures were below average across portions of the Southwest and from the Deep South to the Great Lakes and into New England as well as across portions of the Southeast.”

    “The Alaska average July temperature was 53.7°F, 1.0°F above the long-term mean and ranked in the warmest third of the historical record for the state.
    Areas that experienced above-average precipitation across western Alaska during July also had temperatures that were below average.
    Above-average temperatures occurred across much of the eastern half of Alaska and across the Aleutians.
    The Alaskan wildfire season, to-date, is well-below average.”

    Despite all the talk of wild fires and droughts – “The July precipitation total for the contiguous U.S. was 3.36 inches, 0.58 inch above average, ranking sixth wettest in the historical period of record.”

    “Precipitation was above average across much of the Northeast, parts of the Southwest, South, Southeast, Midwest and Great Lakes. New York and Massachusetts ranked wettest on record for July.
    Following two relatively inactive monsoon seasons in the Southwest, the ridge of high pressure over the West shifted slightly to the east and the monsoon returned in mid-July bringing record rainfall and flash flooding to portions of the Southwest.
    Tucson, AZ, had its wettest July and month on record with 8.06 inches of precipitation.”

    And yet:

    “According to the August 3 U.S. Drought Monitor, approximately 46 percent of the contiguous U.S. was in drought, down from about 47 percent at the end of June. Drought intensified and/or expanded across portions of the northern Plains, northern Rockies, Northwest and from the Great Basin to the Pacific Coast. Drought also emerged across portions of Alaska and intensified across Maui in Hawaii. Drought severity lessened across the Northeast, Great Lakes and portions of the Southwest and central Rockies. Nearly 90 percent of the 11 states across the western U.S. are experiencing some level of drought.”

    A mixed bag, to say the least.

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21. Well, the results are in globally for July, and it’s official – hot, hot, hot:

    “It’s official: July was Earth’s hottest month on record”

    https://www.noaa.gov/news/its-official-july-2021-was-earths-hottest-month-on-record

    “Around the globe: the combined land and ocean-surface temperature was 1.67 degrees F (0.93 of a degree C) above the 20th-century average of 60.4 degrees F (15.8 degrees C), making it the hottest July since records began 142 years ago. It was 0.02 of a degree F (0.01 of a degree C) higher than the previous record set in July 2016, which was then tied in 2019 and 2020.”

    July is the hottest month globally every year, I believe, so we’ll wait and see what happens next month, but it looks as though the cooling trend has ended conveniently in the run-up to COP 26.

    Despite the headline, some of the details make strange reading, given the global result. For instance:

    “The record-warm July temperatures encompassed 5.06% of the world’s surface — the seventh highest July percentage for record-warm July temperatures since records began in 1951. Meanwhile, cooler-than-average conditions were present across parts of the south-central and southeastern contiguous U.S., northeastern Canada, southern Africa, northern Russia, and the southeastern Pacific Ocean.”

    “Asia’s July 2021 surface temperature was 1.61°C (2.90°F) above average — the highest July temperature departure since 1910.”

    ” Hong Kong had its fourth warmest July on record with a temperature that was 0.9°C (1.6°F) above average.”

    “Europe had its second warmest July (tied with 2010), with a temperature departure of +2.37°C (+4.27°F). This was only 0.10°C (0.18°F) shy of tying the warmest July set in 2018. Across Europe, the United Kingdom’s July 2021 temperature of 16.6°C (61.9°F) was 1.5°C (2.7°F) above average and tied as the fifth highest July temperature since national records began in 1884. According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, Helsinki, Finland had its second warmest July on record, behind 2010. ”

    “Meanwhile, North America, South America, Africa, and Oceania had a top 10 warm July.”

    “Australia’s July 2021 mean temperature was 1.77°C (3.19°F) above average, which is the fourth warmest July in the nation’s 112-year record. Regionally, South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory had a top three warm July on record. Queensland had it seventh warmest July on record.

    New Zealand’s July 2021 temperature was 1.1°C (2.0°F) above average and tied as the sixth warmest July on record.”

    With so many places not setting new records, with temperatures maybe in the top 10 (or even the top 2) it’s difficult to see how globally the record was broken, but I suppose it must have been. Funny old business, averaging global temperatures, I guess.

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22. NOAA’s report for August 2021 is now in. They say it was the second warmest August land temperature; 6th warmest August ocean temperature; and 6th warmest combined land and sea temperature for August.

    https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/202108

    Interestingly, despite the hype, at 0.90C above the 20th century average, the combined land and sea temperature was 0.04C cooler than August 2020, which was 0.94C above the 20th century average. One month doesn’t create a trend, and looked at in isolation, the result is meaningless in that respect, but it’s interesting that the retreat from cooling over a 12months period, which retreat was steady for a few months, may now have stopped. Next month’s figures will no doubt reveal more.

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23. Over at NOAA, the results for September 2021 are in, and it was cooler than September 2020. As with last month, none of this is any big deal, but it rather belies the hype at the NOAA website. Combined land and sea temperature was 0.90C above the 20th century average, which means it was the same as August 2021, but 0.07C cooler than September 2020, which was 0.97C higher than the 20th century average.

    And it is reported in hyped terms at the NOAA website, which says this:

    “Only Septembers of 2015, 2016, 2019, and 2020 had a higher September temperature departure.”

    Of course, if one was so minded, one could report it this way:

    “September 2021 was cooler than four of the six Septembers immediately preceding it.”

    I wonder why they didn’t put it like that?

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24. H/T Ross Lea at Bishop Hill Unthreaded:

    “Global Temperature for September 2021 is 0.81C”

    https://clivebest.com/blog/?p=10108&mc_cid=84186e2662&mc_eid=ebc212b1a5

    “The average temperature was 0.81 C in September. This was up a little from August (0.76C). However 2021 is turning out to cooler than recent years with an average annual temperature with 3 months remaining of 0.69C. This makes it on track to be the coolest year since 2014….

    …With just 3 months to go and a continuing la Nina, it looks almost certain that 2021 will either be the coldest or the next coldest of the last 7 years.”

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25. Over at NOAA, the results for October 2021 are in, and it was cooler than September 2020. As with last month, none of this is any big deal, but it rather belies the hype at the NOAA website. Combined land and sea temperature was 0.89C above the 20th century average, which means it was 0.08C cooler than September 2020, which was 0.97C higher than the 20th century average.

    And it is reported in hyped terms at the NOAA website, which says this:

    “…the fourth highest October temperature in the 142-year record. Only Octobers of 2015, 2018, and 2019 had a warmer October..”

    Of course, if one was so minded, one could report it this way:

    “September 2021 was cooler than three of the six Septembers immediately preceding it.”

    I wonder why they didn’t put it like that?

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26. “October 2021 was cooler than September 2020”

    Well yeh, October is usually cooler than September

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27. stew, two responses. First, rather than stealth edit my error, I meant to say that October 2021 was cooler than September 2021, but warmer than October 2020 – it was actually 0.04C warmer than October 2020, but 0.09C cooler than October 2019.

    Secondly, this is a report of global temperatures, not local ones, so I’m not sure you’re correct to say that globally October is usually cooler than September.

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28. Yer right, but would that need a second Dominic Cummings to make any headway?

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29. Over at NOAA, the results for November 2021 are in, and it was cooler than November 2020. None of this is any big deal, but it rather belies the hype at the NOAA website. Combined land and sea temperature was 0.91C above the 20th century average, which means it was 0.06C cooler than November 2020, which was 0.97C higher than the 20th century average.

    Globally, it was a mixed bag:

    “Compared to all months, November 2021 was the ninth highest percentage for record-high temperature for any month since 1951. Meanwhile, cooler-than-average November temperatures were present across much of Alaska and Australia and across parts of Greenland, northwestern China, and the north, eastern, and southeastern Pacific Ocean.”

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30. The NOAA results for December 2021 are in (they have been for some time, but I lost focus while looking at the 2021 year report). Combined land and sea temperature was 0.83C above the above the 20th century average, making it 0.05C warmer than December 2020, but 0.22C cooler than December 2019. It was the coolest month since May 2021, which it exceeded by 0.02C.

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31. The NOAA results for January 2022 are in. Combined land and sea temperature was 0.89C above the 20th century average, making it 0.06C warmer than December 2021 and 0.09C warmer than January 2021, but a whopping 0.25C cooler than January 2020.

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32. I like the word “whopping” but feel it should only be used for ice cream cones or how much gas we need to import !!!

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33. The NOAA results for February 2022 are in. Combined land and sea temperature was 0.81C above the 20th century average, making it 0.16C warmer than February 2021, but 0.36C cooler than February 2020.

    NOAA put a brave face on it with lots of sensational sounding, but rather underwhelming claims:

    “Globally, February 2022 was the seventh-warmest February in the 143-year NOAA record. The year-to-date (January-February) global surface temperature was the sixth highest on record. According to NCEI’s Global Annual Temperature Rankings Outlook, it is virtually certain (> 99.0%) that 2022 will rank among the 10 warmest years on record.”

    Truth is, it’s a mixed bag, and nothing to justify alarmism:

    “The December 2021-February 2022 global surface temperature was 1.51°F (0.84°C) above the 20th-century average of 53.8°F (12.1°C) and tied with 2015 as the fifth-warmest December-February period in the 143-year record.

    The December-February period is defined as the Northern Hemisphere’s meteorological winter and the Southern Hemisphere’s meteorological summer. The Northern Hemisphere winter 2022 temperature departure made it the sixth-highest winter on record. Meanwhile, the Southern Hemisphere summer temperature made it the seventh-highest summer on record.

    Regionally, South America, Europe and Asia had a seasonal temperature departure that ranked among the sixth highest on record. Even though North America and Africa had warmer-than-normal seasonal temperatures, each had their coldest December-February period since 2014 and 2015, respectively.

    During December-February, temperatures were much above average across Central and South America, Europe, the Atlantic, Indian, northern and western Pacific oceans, as well as parts of western and southern Africa and western Asia. In contrast, Canada, the northern Atlantic Ocean and central/eastern tropical and southeastern Pacific Ocean had cooler-than-average December-February temperatures.”

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34. March numbers are in, and NOAA is doing it’s best to put a global warming spin on it, but it doesn’t look dramatic or crisis-ridden to me:

    https://www.noaa.gov/news/march-2022-year-to-date-rank-as-earths-5th-warmest

    “March 2022, year to date rank as Earth’s 5th warmest
    Antarctic sea ice coverage shrank to near-record low”

    Ooh! And?

    “Looking regionally, Oceania had its fourth-warmest March on record while Asia had its ninth-warmest. North America, South America, Europe and Africa all had above-average March temperatures, but none of the continents saw a top-15 warm March.”

    Anything else?

    “Asia also had its fifth warmest year-to-date temperature on record, while South America, Europe, the Caribbean region and Oceania each saw a January-through-March temperature ranked among the nine warmest on record. Africa and North America also were warmer than average, but saw their coolest year to date since 2012 and 2014, respectively.”

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35. April’s numbers are in, complete with “An undated photo showing an Augrabies Falls viewing platform destroyed by flooding on South Africa’s Orange River.”

    https://www.noaa.gov/news/april-2022-tied-as-earths-fifth-warmest

    The breathless, sensationalist nature of the reporting is more and more tabloidesque and less and less scientific in its language.

    Headline statement:

    “April was very warm throughout the globe, with the month tying 2010 as the fifth-warmest April in 143-year climate record, according to scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.”

    Hides some less than dramatic detail:

    “The average global temperature in April was 1.53 degrees F (0.85 of a degree C) above the 20th-century average of 56.7 degrees F (13.7 degrees C), tying with April 2010 as the fifth-warmest April on record.

    Asia had its warmest April on record — dating back to 1910 — with the month running 4.72 degrees F (2.62 degrees C) above average. This surpassed the now second-warmest April in 2016 by 0.09 of a degree F (0.05 of a degree C). Unusually high temperatures across India and Pakistan contributed to the record heat in Asia, with several locations setting new April temperature records.

    Oceania had its fifth-warmest April on record, while Africa and South America saw their ninth and 12th-warmest April on record, respectively. North America was the only continent with a cooler-than-average April, seeing its coolest April since 2018.

    The world’s 10 warmest Aprils have all occurred since 2010, with 2014-2022 all ranking among the 10 warmest Aprils on record.”

    Obviously it has stopped getting warmer, so that fact has to be hidden by sentences like that above. It’s a similar story on the year to date:

    “The global temperature for the year to date (YTD, January through April 2022) was 1.57 degrees F (0.87 of a degree C) above average, making it the fifth-warmest such YTD on record.

    Asia had its fourth-warmest YTD on record, Oceania had its seventh warmest and Europe saw its 11th warmest. South America had its ninth-warmest January-through-April YTD on record, while North America saw its coolest such YTD since 2014. ”

    We are told that “Polar sea ice coverage was low”, but the detail behind that claim is less dramatic:

    “Arctic sea ice extent (coverage) averaged 5.43 million square miles in April, 243,000 square miles below the 1981-2010 average and the 11th smallest for April since records began in 1979. Despite being below average, it was the largest April sea ice extent since 2014. Antarctic sea ice extent for April 2022 was 2.25 million square miles — 390,000 square miles below average — tying with 1981 as the fourth-smallest April sea ice extent on record. Only the Aprils of 1980, 2017 and 2019 had smaller sea ice extents.”

    The Antarctic sea ice extent sounds small, until one reflects that ice levels were at these levels (or below) in 1980 and 1981. Arctic sea ice levels have been kept since 1979 only. We are not told how long Antarctic sea ice levels have been kept, but if that date is 1979 also, then these numbers don’t tell us much.

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36. “New Evidence Shows Global Warming has Slowed Dramatically Over Last 20 Years”

    https://dailysceptic.org/2022/05/19/new-evidence-from-weather-balloons-shows-global-warming-has-slowed-dramatically-over-last-20-years/

    “Further scientific evidence that global warming starting to run out of steam over two decades ago has been presented by an international group of leading scientists. In a major re-evaluation of data from meteorology balloons rising through the troposphere, the scientists confirmed that temperatures have mostly paused since around 1998. The discovery can only add to pressure to re-open the so-called ‘settled science’ debate around global warming and the central part it plays in the 30-year rush towards Net Zero.

    Readings throughout the troposphere, Earth’s lower atmosphere that extends in parts up to 15 km altitude, have been available for many years. The researchers were able to use measuring metadata to improve the consistency of records obtained from almost 700 global locations, recording twice a day since 1978, at 16 pressure levels. The slowdown since 1998 observed in the balloon data is confirmed by accurate satellite data, which also shows a current pause of about 91 months. An earlier pause from 1998 to 2012 has been largely wiped from all the major surface temperature datasets.”

    Worth a read. I am in no position to comment on the science, though I thought this was interesting:

    “…So why is there so little current warming being recorded by satellites and meteorological balloons in the troposphere, yet for the major surface datasets it is onwards and upwards, business as usual? None more so than at the U.K. Met Office, where the inconvenient 1998-2012 pause was finally removed in 2020 by a 14% temperature uplift. Here is the change from HadCRUT4 to HadCRUT5….”

    “…In 2013, the move from HadCRUT3 to HadCRUT4 introduced the first temperature boost. Along with the 2020 uplift, the extra heating is thought to amount to as much as 30%. In addition, some earlier records were moved downwards, and this had the effect of accentuating the recent rise. Similar adjustments have been made to other major datasets, including those run by NASA and the U.S. weather service, NOAA. Professor Humlum looked at the adjustments to the NASA GISS dataset and found that “half of the apparent global temperature increase from January 1910 to January 2000 is due to administrative adjustments to the original data since May 2008”.

    The adjustments matter, of course, because they provide covering fire for every journalist, activist and politician looking to promote global warming, without necessarily having full mastery of the scientific brief. Using the figures from its twice-adjusted HadCRUT database, the Met Office felt able recently to make an absurd 50-50 prediction that temperatures would leap by almost half a degree centigrade to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels in one year before 2025. As expected, the message was faithfully reported by journalists across mainstream media, seemingly keen to support the political agenda behind Net Zero….”.

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37. Mark, I have argued before that it doesn’t benefit the alarmist case if by various shenanigans – searching for reasons to adjust the data in the “wrong” woods – they achieve +1.5 C. Because if we cross that threshold and apocalypse does not ensue, what then for their case that this benchmark was key?

    The key benchmarks of climate disaster or whatever we are supposed to call it are or should be its physical effects on people – the victims of extreme weather, the climate refugees, etc – all with the necessary perspective showing what has happened in such places in historical times.

    Top is the body count, which is going the “wrong” way as far as the alarmist case is concerned.

    LikeLiked by 1 person

38. Jit: I’ve been wondering, like the Guardian, about a radical change of terminology on our side. Let me try with ‘global heating’.

    The amazing news, you see, is that global heating has come down 99% since 1920.

    That’s using the only metric that matters.

    Corollary: whatever we’ve been doing right since 1920 we must continue to do.

    (Improving the wellbeing of ordinary human beings, through technology, medical and otherwise, seems to be the main thing. There’s legitimate debate to be had there. But seen this way we’ve already cracked the global heating problem.)

    LikeLiked by 1 person

39. May 2022 results are in at NOAA. More attempts to hype something distinctly ordinary, so far as I can see:

    “May 2022 among Earth’s top-10 warmest
    Year so far sixth warmest on record”

    https://www.noaa.gov/news/may-2022-among-earths-top-10-warmest

    “The globe wrapped up May 2022 as another warm one in the record books, with the month ranking as the ninth-warmest May in 143 years.”

    9th warmest, eh? They hide their disappointment well. By the way, it was a cold May (again) where I live. Actually, when they go into a little more detail, they perhaps have cause to be disappointed:

    “The average global temperature in May was 1.46 degrees F (0.81 of a degree C) above the 20th-century average ranking as the ninth-warmest May on record — but the coolest May since 2013.”

    “Temperatures were above average in southern North America, central South America, western Europe, central Africa, northern and central Asia and eastern Australia. Temperatures were cooler than average across parts of western North America, southern South America, eastern Europe, southern Africa and mainland Southeast Asia.”

    Not exactly climate chaos, is it?

    Nothing much going on here either:

    “Season (March through May 2022)

    The average global temperature for the season was 1.53 degrees F (0.85 of a degree C above average), making it the sixth-warmest March-May on record.

    The Northern Hemisphere had its fifth-warmest spring on record, while the Southern Hemisphere saw its 10th-warmest autumn. ”

    Ditto this:

    “Eastern Pacific hurricane season began: May 2022 produced four named storms globally, including two that reached tropical cyclone strength (winds of at least 74 mph) — which was near normal.”

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40. Given that apparently everywhere in the world is hotter than ever this month, this month’s report from NOAA should be interesting when it arrives in August. For now we must content ourselves with the report for June, and how disappointing it is for climate alarmists:

    “June 2022 was Earth’s 6th-warmest on record”

    https://www.noaa.gov/news/june-2022-was-earths-6th-warmest-on-record

    “Looking at just land temperature, June 2022 was the Northern Hemisphere’s second-warmest June on record — 2.81 degrees F (1.56 degrees C) above average — behind June 2021’s record high land temperature. Europe and Asia also had their second-warmest June land temperature on record.”

    So, going down, not up, given that last June was hotter. And why look ONLY at land temperatures? I thought the missing heat was hiding in the oceans. Apparently not, if we have to ignore the cooling oceans in order to come up with hyped up claims about land instead. Even the pesky climate models aren’t helping:

    “According to NCEI’s Global Annual Temperature Outlook, there is a greater than 99% chance that 2022 will rank among the 10-warmest years on record, but only an 11% chance that it will rank among the top five warmest.”

    Anything else exceptional?

    Well, “Much of South America experienced near-to-cooler-than-average June temperatures. As a whole it had its coolest June since 2016”.

    And:

    “Tropical cyclone activity was about average: June 2022 produced five named storms across the globe, which is near-normal activity for June. “

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41. The results from NOAA are now in for July 2022, and once again they have to work very hard to maintain the scary narrative, with not much in the way of records being broken (August’s results may fit the bill for them a bit better, I suppose, at least in the northern hemisphere):

    https://www.noaa.gov/news/earth-had-its-6th-hottest-july-and-year-to-date-on-record

    “Earth had its 6th-hottest July and year to date on record”

    “Regionally, July 2022 was among the top-10 warmest Julys on record for several continents. North America saw its second-hottest July on record, Asia had its third hottest, South America had its fourth hottest and Europe had its sixth hottest.” Africa’s was tied at joint-13th.

    “Asia had its second-hottest such YTD on record with Europe seeing its fifth hottest. Africa, North America and South America all had an above-average YTD, though it did not rank among their top-10 warmest on record.

    According to NCEI’s Global Annual Temperature Rankings Outlook, there is a greater than 99% chance 2022 will rank among the 10-warmest years on record but an 11% chance the year will rank among the top five.”

    Arctic sea ice was “the 12th smallest July sea-ice on record”.

    Near-average cyclone activity for the globe in July 2022 (I’m guessing near-average is a euphemism for below average).

    Oceania had its coolest July since 2012. An all-time cold temperature record of -6C was set in Hilston Airport in Australia.

    Speaking of Australia:

    “Weather tracker: strong wind and heavy rain to continue in Australia”

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/22/weather-tracker-wind-rain-australia

    “Strong winds are expected to continue to lash Australia this week and, while the peak speeds are not anticipated to be exceptional, the vastness of the area affected will be unusual.

    As low pressure moves to the south-east, high pressure is likely to develop across Western Australia before heading eastwards.

    Initially a plunge in temperature is expected as southerly winds penetrate northwards into the heart of the Australian landmass, with nighttime temperatures only a couple of degrees above freezing for many.”

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42. After all the hype about a sweltering drought-ridden August and summer (in the northern hemisphere) NOAA’s monthly and seasonal report is in, and it must be a grave disappointment to those who have been writing and reading the febrile climate stories of the last weeks and months.

    Earth had its 6th-warmest August on record

    North America and Europe both had their hottest Augusts on record as Asia recorded its fourth-hottest August. South America, Africa and the Oceania region all had warmer-than-average Augusts but none saw a top-10 warm August.

    Season (June through August) | Year to date (YTD)

    The season was Earth’s fifth warmest on record — tied with 2015 and 2017 — at 1.60 degrees F (0.89 of a degree C) above the 20th-century average.

    According to NCEI’s Global Annual Temperature Outlook, there is a greater than 99% chance that 2022 will rank among the 10-warmest years on record but less than 11% chance that it will rank among the top five.

    Antarctic sea ice set record low [but at only 4.2% below average. Meanwhile…]

    The August 2022 Arctic sea ice extent was 16.8% below the 1981-2010 average and the 13th smallest August sea-ice extent on record.

    Although Africa had a warmer than average month, this was Africa’s coolest August since 2013

    The globe saw nine named storms in August: Four of the nine named storms reached tropical cyclone strength (74 mph or higher), including Super Typhoon Hinnamnor, the first Category 5 tropical cyclone of 2022. August 2022 had no named tropical cyclones in the Atlantic, which is only the third August since 1950 — along with the Augusts of 1961 and 1997 — with no activity in the Atlantic. This August also marked only the seventh year since 1950 to have recorded no hurricanes in the Atlantic basin through August 31.

    But this is the one that casts doubt in my mind regarding taking NOAA seriously as anything other than climate propagandists. I always suspected they had a climate change agenda, but assumed that everything they wrote was accurate and strictly factual. What about this?

    About one third of Pakistan was under water in August due to record-breaking rainfall from an unusually strong monsoon season…

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43. The numbers for September 2022 are in from NOAA:

    https://www.noaa.gov/news/september-2022-tied-as-earths-5th-warmest-on-record

    They continue to push the warming narrative, even though the statistics let them down somewhat. E.g.:

    Earth’s warming trend continued last month, with September 2022 tying with 2021 as the fifth-warmest September in 143 years.

    That strikes me an oxymoron. How can a warming trend have continued when this September was no warmer than last September, and four earlier Septembers were warmer still?

    It was a mixed bag globally:

    Regionally, North America had its warmest September on record, besting the previous record set in 2019 by 0.54 of a degree F (0.30 of a degree C). Asia and Africa had their fifth and sixth-warmest Septembers, respectively. Despite having above-average temperatures, South America and Europe had their coolest Septembers since 2013.

    As for the year to date:

    The YTD average global temperature was the sixth warmest on record at 1.55 degrees F (0.86 of a degree C) above the 20th-century average.

    According to NCEI’s Global Annual Temperature Outlook, there is a greater than 99% chance that 2022 will rank among the 10-warmest years on record, but less than a 5% chance that it will rank among the top five.

    Which doesn’t exactly strike me as justification for the claim that the Earth’s warming trend continued.

    As for sea-ice:

    Sea ice coverage was below average: Globally, September 2022 had the eighth-lowest September sea ice extent (coverage) on record. Last month’s Arctic sea ice extent averaged 1.88 million square miles — about 595,000 square miles below the 1981-2010 average — tying September 2010 as the 11th-smallest September extent in the 44-year record. Antarctica had its fifth-smallest September sea ice extent on record at 6.95 million square miles — 190,000 square miles below average.

    They do their best, but the warming narrative is still running away from them. 11th smallest extent in a series covering only 44 years, for the Arctic. Antarctica did better for them at 5th smallest, but they don’t tell us how long those records exist for. If it was for more than 44 years, I suspect they would have told us.

    Australia doesn’t get a mention, possibly because its being cold and wet doesn’t fit the narrative.

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44. Mark, another thing that bothers me is “Earth had its 6th-hottest July and year to date on record”

    when they say “on record” the PR part never seem to give us a clue when the supposed “record” began.

    written history seems to be discounted because it’s “not recorded”

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45. dfhunter,

    NOAA claims here:

    https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/global-climate-202209 that its records go back 143 years. Of course, even that covers up the fact that until well into the 19th century most places across the globe had no weather stations and data, and even now there are many blanks on the map.

    The historical record, on the other hand, provides lots of useful information about extreme weather events going back hundreds of years, albeit not with the precision of modern measuring equipment. This is why the hockey stick (based on proxies which some regard as dubious) is so important in support of climate hysteria. If we relied on historical writings alone, we might be left with the dangerous impression that what’s going on with the weather right now isn’t particularly unusual. And that would never do.

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46. The numbers for October 2022 are in from NOAA:

    “Earth had its 4th-warmest October on record
    Europe saw warmest October in 113 years”

    https://www.noaa.gov/news/earth-had-its-4th-warmest-october-on-record

    As usual, the headline from this ostensibly scientific organisation (which earlier this year repeated the gross untruth that “about one-third of Pakistan was under water”) is suitably alarming and alarmist. Once again, however, much of the detail must be really disappointing for alarmists:

    In its “climate by numbers” section on temperature, it tells us, among the highlights, that:

    Looking regionally, the Northern Hemisphere had its second-warmest October on record, just behind October 2015. Europe had its warmest October on record, Africa tied 2003 for its third-warmest October, while North America and Asia each had their sixth-warmest Octobers on record.

    Not included in those highlights, but listed on the map lower down, if you look for it, is the information that Oceania had its coolest October since 2016, while South America had its coolest October since 2013.

    What of hurricanes and the like?

    The headline is “The tropics were active”. Not sure that’s justified by the narrative:

    October 2022 saw 15 named storms — the sixth-highest October count since 1981. However, since only five of those storms reached tropical cyclone strength (74 mph or higher), and two reached major tropical cyclone strength (111 mph or higher), the number of tropical cyclones and major tropical cyclones were both below 1991-2020 averages. The Atlantic had near-normal activity with three named storms including one hurricane, Julia.

    The headline might be justified only for the east Pacific:

    The East Pacific had four named storms and the West Pacific had seven, both above-normal counts for the month.

    For sea ice, the headline is “Sea ice coverage remained low”, which, dear reader, depending on your point of view, might or not be justified. With regard to the Arctic, the headline could have been something like “Arctic sea ice continues to recover”:

    Globally, October 2022 saw the fifth-lowest October sea ice extent (coverage) on record. Arctic sea ice coverage ranked as the eighth lowest in the satellite record — about 880,000 square kilometers (340,000 square miles) below the 1991-2020 average. Antarctica had its second-smallest October sea ice coverage on record, about 820,000 square kilometers (320,000 square miles) below the 1991-2020 average.

    The biggy, of course, is the question of where the year is likely to rank in the list of hot years. More greenhouse gases mean every year should be hotter than the one before, after all…But not this year, it seems:

    According to NCEI’s Global Annual Temperature Outlook, there is a greater than 99% chance that 2022 will rank among the 10-warmest years on record, and less than a 2% chance that it will rank among the top five.

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47. “South Pole Hits Record Cold November Temperatures”

    https://dailysceptic.org/2022/11/20/south-pole-hits-record-cold-november-temperatures/

    Extreme cold records continue to tumble at the South Pole. Three recent days – November 16th, 17th and 18th – have recorded a daily record, with the 18th plunging to –45.2°C, compared with –44.7°C on the same day in 1987. The records follow the six-month winter of 2020-21, which was the coldest since records began in 1957. Inexplicably, all these facts and trends have escaped reporting in the mainstream media. The excuse might be that it is just weather, and temperatures have always moved up and down. But the excuse doesn’t seem to apply to the July 19th U.K. high of 40.3°C at RAF Coningsby, recorded at the side of the runway used by after-burning Typhoon jets. This record high has barely been out of the Net Zero headlines ever since.

    In fact, anything getting colder barely gets a look-in these days. Arctic sea ice is making a significant, near silent comeback. Summer ice at the end of September covered 4.92 million square kilometres, which was 1.35 million sq kms higher than the 2012 low. Over on land, the Greenland ice sheet may have increased in size over the last year to August 2022. Meanwhile, the zoologist Dr. Susan Crockford has reported that this is the fifth year out of the last seven that enough sea ice has formed along the west coast of Hudson Bay by mid-November for hunting polar bears to be able to head out to the ice, “just as it did in the 1980s”.

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48. “Biden sends federal aid as Buffalo digs out from weekend ‘epic snow event’
    Snowstorm, worst since 2014, closed schools and forced Buffalo Bills to relocate game due to massive 77in lake-effect snowfall”

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/21/buffalo-lake-effect-snowfall-federal-aid

    Joe Biden is sending federal aid to western New York to help state and local authorities clean up from the massive storm that dumped as much as six feet of snow in western and northern parts of the state, the White House announced on Monday.

    The emergency declaration authorizes the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief in 11 counties hit by the lake-effect snowstorm on Friday and Saturday.

    The New York governor, Kathy Hochul, thanked Biden for granting her request for emergency aid, after she called on the national guard to help clear what she called an “epic snow event” in which the early season storm dumped what is typically a month’s worth of snow over the weekend.

    The National Weather Service recorded 77in by Saturday in Orchard Park, home to the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, and 72in in Natural Bridge, a hamlet near Watertown off the eastern end of Lake Ontario.

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49. BBC – brief bit on news at 1 then nothing, wonder if they will report deaths.

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50. It’s weather, not climate, of course, but 2022 is probably not going to be a particularly hot year, despite the summer heatwaves in some of the northern hemisphere. What with the cool southern hemisphere in 2022, recent snowstorms and ultra-low temperatures in north America, and now this:

    “Weather tracker: temperatures plunge to -45C in parts of Russia
    Andrew Stewart (Metdesk)
    Siberian cold front forecast to push into China, Mongolia and then UK by Wednesday”

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/28/weather-tracker-temperatures-plunge-as-low-as–45c-in-parts-of-russia

    A large area of high pressure covering the whole of eastern Europe is bringing severely low temperatures across Siberia. In a part of the world where temperatures are often below freezing at this time of year, the mercury has been 20C to 25C below average in areas over the weekend, with central and eastern Russia experiencing temperatures widely of -25C to -45C.

    Over the next couple of days, westerly winds will result in temperatures rising above average in northern Russia but temperatures will remain 10C to 20C below normal in southern Russia. The orientation of the high-pressure system will allow northerly winds to send the cold air southwards across central and eastern Asia over the next few days. Temperatures will fall widely below average here too, with northern and eastern parts of China and Mongolia particularly affected. Temperatures here will fall 10C to 20C below normal by midweek as the same area of high pressure builds in and traps the cold air with temperatures struggling to rise above freezing by day.

    Incredibly, by Wednesday, the huge area of high pressure affecting Russia and China will stretch all the way into the UK with an easterly wind sweeping cold air westwards across Europe.

    It’s O/T on this thread, but as it’s my thread, that’s fine ;-), and I think it’s interesting:

    Away from Russia, there will also be a lot of cloud within this easterly flow across much of Europe. While demand for energy will increase because of the low temperatures, the low amounts of sunshine, below average wind and reduced precipitation mean that energy produced by renewable sources will be well below normal.

    Back to the cold weather:

    Meanwhile, across the Atlantic Ocean, central and western parts of the US another cold plunge is expected at the start of this week as cold air dives south from Canada once again as an area of low pressure tracks north-east. However, warm, moist air will be drawn up from the Gulf of Mexico on the eastern flank of the low pressure, bringing a risk of severe thunderstorms and potentially tornadoes to several southern states on Tuesday, especially Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi. As the low pressure continues to track north-east through the week, colder air will eventually affect eastern parts of the US as well.

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51. re the US, the UK MSM have been strangely quiet on this for some reason.
    but I’m sure the “jet stream” will get a mention soon, just to balance how the UK/western Europe was hottish while US freezes.

    have said before that the “jet stream” seems to be the main driver for our weather in UK, always has been.
    not sure if the big waves it now seems to be showing are new/climate related.

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52. “Royal Navy digs out world’s most remote post office from Antarctic snow”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-63849546

    The Royal Navy has come to the aid of four UK women working at an isolated Antarctic scientific base after its buildings were buried in heavy snow.

    Sailors and Royal Marines from HMS Protector spent two days digging out the Port Lockroy site.

    The damaged roof of Bransfield Hut – home to a museum, gift shop and world’s most remote post office – was fixed….

    …They [the women who have just arrived] were setting up, assisted by three other staff who are leaving shortly, ahead of the austral summer – which falls between November to February in the southern hemisphere – when heavy snowfall of between two and four metres (6-12ft) deep arrived…

    …The team from HMS Protector shifted several tonnes of snow and carried out temporary repairs….

    …Warrant Officer First Class Lee “Rattler” Morgan, who was part of the rescue team, said he was “taken aback” by “the sheer amount of snow”, adding that the buildings “had all but disappeared”…

    It’s weather, not climate, but there does seem to be an awful lot of cold weather around just now, in both hemispheres.

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53. The latest alarming headline on NOAA’s monthly global update, for November 2022 this time:

    “Earth saw its 9th-warmest November in 143 years
    Polar sea ice coverage was fourth-lowest on record for November”

    https://www.noaa.gov/news/earth-saw-its-9th-warmest-november-in-143-years

    But 9th warmest? Not getting any warmer, is it? And the detail is even less encouraging for an alarmist:

    Europe tied 2000 for its third-warmest November on record. South America, Asia and Africa each had a November that ranked among their 20 warmest on record. North America had a warmer-than-average November, but it did not rank among its top-20 warmest.

    Or how about this?

    According to NCEI’s Global Annual Temperature Rankings Outlook, there is a greater than 99% chance that 2022 will rank among the 10-warmest years on record but a less than 1% chance that it will rank among the top five.

    Or this?

    Six named tropical storms formed in November: Of those six, four reached tropical cyclone strength (74 mph winds or higher), but none reached major tropical cyclone strength (111 mph winds or higher). The North Atlantic, with three hurricanes, was more active than normal during November. The West Pacific had below average activity for the month with two named storms, including one typhoon. No storms were active in the East Pacific during November for the first time since 2017.

    Plus, Oceania had its coolest November since 1999, South America had its coolest November since 2013, and November temperature in the contiguous United States was well below average. Indeed, parts of the Pacific northwest had their coldest November in nearly 40 years.

    Ice melt isn’t quite as predicted either. I’m’ neither a climatologist nor a mathematician but I’m struggling to see how the first sentence below is consistent with the sentences that follow:

    Globally, November 2022 saw the fourth-lowest November sea ice extent (coverage) on record.
    Arctic sea ice extent in November averaged 3.75 million square miles, which is about 165,000 square miles below the 1991-2020 average. This marks the eighth-smallest November extent in the 44-year record. The Antarctic sea ice extent ranked fifth smallest on record at 5.81 million square miles, or about 313,000 square miles below the 1991-2020 average.

    How can Arctic 8th smallest on record and Antarctic 5th smallest on record combine to give polar 4th lowest on record?

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54. Mark – from your NOAA link, they also say –
    “The average global land and ocean surface temperature for November 2022 was 1.37 degrees F (0.76 of a degree C) above the 20th-century average. This ranks as the ninth-warmest November in 143 years, but the coolest November since 2014.”

    they are tying themselves in knots to keep the warming/heating meme alive.

    surely somebody at NOAA must think/say – this is becoming embarrassingly stupid.

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55. dfhunter, yes, it is more than a little embarrassing. I stopped taking NOAA seriously when they repeated the claim that 30% of Pakistan was under water. This year looks to be ending in a cold way too – cold in the Antipodes, cold in much of the northern hemisphere. Here’s today’s weather news from north America:

    “US winter storm barrels east with millions under weather warnings”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-63978321

    Some 500,000 people across four states – Nebraska, Wyoming, South Dakota and Minnesota – are under blizzard warnings, with powerful winds and heavy snowfall making travel difficult. Millions more around the country are under less severe winter weather alerts.

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56. And speaking of polar ice:

    “Arctic Summer Sea Ice Stopped Declining a Decade Ago – But Scientists Have Hidden It”

    https://dailysceptic.org/2022/12/15/arctic-summer-sea-ice-stopped-declining-a-decade-ago-but-scientists-have-hidden-it/

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57. It’s weather, not climate, but it still sounds pretty serious, and not the sort of thing Americans might have been led to expect from the “climate crisis”:

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/18/us-major-winter-storm-expected-christmas

    A major winter storm system is expected to strike much of the US days before Christmas, potentially snarling holiday travel as motorists and air travelers contend with heavy snow, powerful winds, and bitterly cold temperatures across several regions.

    This sprawling storm system coincides with the arrival of an Arctic air mass that will consume much of the country “this upcoming week”, according to the National Weather Service. Between Tuesday and Saturday, temperature highs are expected to average from 10 to 35F below normal from the north-west to the eastern two-thirds of the US.

    In the northern plains and upper midwest, temperatures could plummet into the negative teens fahrenheit and extend into the central plains. From the midwest to the mid and northern portions of the eastern seaboard, temperatures are expected to fall into the single digits and teens, the meteorological agency said.

    Even the southern US will not be spared, with temperatures potentially dropping in portions of normally temperate states such as Florida and Texas. The northern Gulf Coast might see below-freezing temperatures, according to the Weather Channel.

    The storm system could bring still more weather extremes. AccuWeather’s senior long-range meteorologist, Joe Lundberg, said: “This is the type of setup that can lead to ground blizzards in parts of the central states.”

    “This storm will likely become intense, feeding on the extremely sharp variation between the surging arctic air arriving from the central states and relatively warm air across the south-eastern US,” warned AccuWeather’s chief meteorologist Jon Porter. “Major east coast storms over the decades have occurred in this type of setup, bringing the risk for heavy snow and rain, gusty winds, coastal flooding, severe thunderstorms and even tornadoes on the southern side of the storm.”

    The system will come after a powerful storm dumped snow across portions of the eastern US this weekend, leaving about 144,000 electricity customers without power from northern New York to Maine, NBC News reported. Some Maine residents might be blacked out until Monday or Tuesday as numerous roads were impassible, the outlet said.

    “Heavy snow will continue over Maine while heavy lake effect snow continues over western and north-central New York into Monday,” the National Weather Service said on Sunday. Meanwhile, the northern plains could face wind chills as low as -60F.

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58. Out of curiosity, I thought I’d take a look at the 10 hottest years evah, and I found this. NASA, not NOAA, but I assume alarmists would accept its findings:

    https://climate.nasa.gov/ask-nasa-climate/2224/the-10-warmest-years-not-exactly-forever-ago/

    In order:

    2014; 2010; 2005; 1998; 2013; 2003; 2002; 2006; 2009; 2007.

    In other words, nothing since 2014 has made the top 10 (according to NASA, anyway), and 8 out of the top 10 were 2010 or sooner. It doesn’t exactly fit the narrative.

    Caveat – plenty of other websites claim otherwise.

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59. “Hundreds of flights cancelled as winter storm and cold sweeps the US”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64061588

    A powerful Arctic winter storm is making its way through the US and parts of Canada, bringing with it frigid temperatures and flight delays ahead of the busiest travel days of the year.

    More than 100 million people across the US are under winter weather alerts, and snowy conditions are expected to wreak travel chaos this weekend.

    Major airports have already cancelled flights in anticipation of the storm.

    The cold snap could bring the coldest Christmas in decades, say forecasters.

    The National Weather Service (NWS) said bone-chilling temperatures of -50F (-45C) and -70F were possible by the end of this week in some parts of the country…

    …The Arctic air mass is projected to travel as low as the US-Mexico border, where strong wind gusts will dip the temperature to 15F (-9.4C) in El Paso, Texas.

    Even Florida, the Sunshine State, is projected to see its coldest Christmas in 30 years….

    I think 2022 is less and likely to make it anywhere near the record books for record heat, whether in the UK or globally.

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60. Mark – the BBC Weather guy gave it a very brief mention after 6pm news.

    had it been heatwave or forest fires, well that fits the “nudge” narrative & would be pushed.

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61. dfhunter,

    In fairness, that BBC article does play it with a straight bat, unlike the Guardian:

    “Historic heat to extreme chill: why is the US experiencing a cold snap?
    Blistering cold events are becoming more stark and pose a threat not only to humans but to entire ecosystems”

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/21/us-winter-weather-storm-cold-snap

    Despite the headline, I can see no detailed explanation as to what’s going on, beyond the obvious, that a cold front is moving swiftly and dramatically down from the Arctic. That’s “what” rather than “why”, in my book. The whole article is written in climate apocalypse language, of course, and ends with:

    They may well be the coldest temperatures I ever experience for the rest of my life in this part of the world,” said Swain.

    As people around the world brace for more extreme heatwaves and extreme rainfall events – made more likely by the climate crisis – Swain said, we will still have to navigate these sharp shifts. “This is a reminder that we can still get these kinds of events even in a warming climate.”

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62. Was there not a film about this sort of weather back in 1987 Trains, Planes and Automobiles with John Candy and Steve Martin. A comedy about trying to get home for Thanks Giving in a snowstorm .

    LikeLike

63. Mark & James

    as Mark says, they have now covered it, showing how bad/cold it is.
    they also said it’s the worst in about 30yrs I think (so that film has it about right).

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64. ps – wonder if they will report how many died due to “Arctic bomb cyclone”
    I hope not many, as long as they can get heat from some source.

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65. A disgracefully misleading (website front page) headline from the BBC:

    “Canada’s polar bear population plummets – government report”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64083507

    The report isn’t about Canada’s polar bear population, it’s about a small part of the polar bear population in the western Hudson Bay region. The BBC report does its best to blame climate change for an estimated 27% decline over 5 years in that specific area’s polar bear population, but if you persevere, we learn:

    …the document cautions against making a direct link between the decline and the loss of sea ice, pointing that four of the past five years have seen good ice conditions.

    It suggests that changes in the local seal population could be a contributing factor.

    The report also cites the bear’s migration to neighbouring regions….

    So it’s not decline at all, rather it’s migration. Perhaps they’re moving south, in view of the weather in North America just now!

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66. It isn’t just north America:

    “Heavy snow in Japan kills at least 17
    Many deaths caused by people falling from roofs or being buried underneath thick piles of snow sliding off rooftops”

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/26/heavy-snow-in-japan-kills-at-least-17

    Heavy snow in large parts of Japan has killed 17 people and injured more than 90 while leaving hundreds of homes without power, disaster management officials have said.

    Powerful winter fronts have dumped heavy snow in northern regions since last week, stranding hundreds of vehicles on highways, delaying delivery services and causing 11 deaths by Saturday.

    More snowfall over the Christmas weekend brought the number of dead to 17 and injured to 93 by Monday morning, according to the disaster management agency…

    …Many parts of north-eastern Japan reported three times their average snowfall for the season….

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67. The 1987 film referred to above might have been referring back to 1977:

    “US braces for more deaths as ‘blizzard of the century’ grips nation
    Rescue crews struggle to reach stranded residents in Buffalo, New York, where dozens have been killed in winter storms”

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/27/us-braces-for-more-deaths-as-blizzard-of-the-century-grips-nation

    Erie County executive Mark Poloncarz told a press briefing that the county’s death toll will probably surpass that of Buffalo’s blizzard of 1977, when nearly 30 people died.

    On the back of extreme cold and snow in north America and Japan, watch the narrative change subtly – from global warming, to climate change, to climate crisis, I expect the next iteration to be extreme weather.

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68. “2022 will be warmest year ever for UK, Met Office says”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64111625

    This links to the Met Office report, whose figures at this stage are provisional, but I imagine they will be confirmed next week:

    https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/press-office/news/weather-and-climate/2022/2022-provisionally-warmest-year-on-record-for-uk

    Interestingly, although they are claiming it as the hottest year, not one of the individual seasons – not even summer (at 4th warmest) – was the hottest season recorded in the UK. The warmest (relatively speaking) was autumn, which was the 3rd warmest, spring was 5th warmest, and winter was 8th warmest.

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69. I notice that the BBC – which had been playing the US winter cold with a fairly straight bat – has now cottoned on to how the Guardian is reporting it, and has stopped highlighting the tragic number of deaths caused by the weather across north America over the last few days, but is now reporting in its headlines on the still tragically large, but rather smaller numbers in New York state instead. The headline on the front page of the BBC website no longer refers to 60+ deaths, but instead reads “Death toll rises to 34 in New York after winter storm”. Click on it, and the headline becomes:

    “US winter storm death toll rises as bad weather drags on”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64111839

    If you can be bothered to read the story (and I suspect and fear some people just skim headlines, which is why I imagine the BBC plays these games), and you do find out the extra information:

    A powerful winter storm that slammed North America has claimed more lives in the US state of New York, local officials say.

    At least 34 people have died in Erie County, which includes the city of Buffalo, county executive Mark Poloncarz said on Wednesday.

    Authorities are still trying to identify three of the victims.

    The storm that swept across the US over the holiday weekend has killed at least 60 people in eight states…

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70. After the excitement of record January temperatures in parts of Europe for a few days, I see that snow is forecast to return to the European ski slopes this week. Meanwhile:

    “In photos: Severe cold wave grips north India”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-64143204

    A severe cold wave has gripped many parts of northern India, with temperatures plummeting to -6C (21F) in Indian-administered Kashmir. The famous Dal Lake, as seen in the picture above, has partially frozen, making it hard for boatmen to ferry passengers and tourists.

    …India’s capital Delhi has also been reeling under a severe cold wave. Some areas of Delhi have recorded temperatures as low as 2.2C. The cold snap has been particularly hard for Delhi’s homeless people who mostly sleep on pavements…

    …The cold wave has also been causing serious health issues, especially in Delhi which also sees severe pollution levels during winter months….

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71. “Widespread damage to California coast in wake of major storms”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64192850

    A deadly storm has inflicted widespread damage in northern California dumping record-breaking rain along the coastline.

    Huge waves washed away walls of homes, while mudslides, sinkholes and flooding were reported throughout the region.

    Two deaths were reported on Thursday. A toddler died after a tree fell on his home, and a 19-year old woman died when she crashed her car due to wet roads.

    The forecast is for more ominous weather for the weekend and next week.

    As of Friday afternoon, over 53,000 homes and businesses were without power after hurricane-force winds knocked over large trees and downed power cables.

    Neighbourhoods of San Francisco are still recovering from flooding, while weather forecasters say more wet and windy weather is coming to the area.

    The rain has fallen on areas that were already saturated from a New Year’s Eve storm…

    …Further inland, the Sierra Nevada mountains have accumulated over one foot of heavy snow, and more is expected.

    The mountains are expected to receive up to three additional feet of snow in the coming days, according to the National Weather Service.

    A “stronger” atmospheric river is expected to arrive Monday and persist into Tuesday, forecasters say, bringing more precipitation and gusty winds.

    So much for eternal drought caused by man-made climate change.

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72. “Climate change: Europe and polar regions bear brunt of warming in 2022”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-64213575

    Lots of sensationalism, but the bottom line is:

    The data from Copernicus, the EU’s climate monitoring service, says 2022 was the fifth warmest year globally.

    The BBC didn’t bother to provide a link to the Copernicus report, but it’s easy enough to find:

    https://climate.copernicus.eu/global-climate-highlights-2022

    Dotted among the heating hype are some other pieces of climate news, such as:

    2022 is one of the five coolest years of the last eight; data uncertainties prevent a reliable ranking of these five years.

    And:

    Temperatures were most below average over the tropical eastern Pacific, indicative of continuing La Niña conditions.
    Relatively low temperatures and high rainfall over eastern Australia in 2022 are also features typically linked with La Niña events.

    The more detailed report is here:

    https://climate.copernicus.eu/globe-2022

    Interestingly that “fifth warmest” appears to be a close run thing:

    So, despite rushing the headline out, it might turn out not to be the 5th warmest year after all. If not, what’s the betting that any downgrading won’t receive the same publicity as the initial report?

    I think NOAA’s annual report on the global climate for 2022 is due out on Thursday, so watch this space.

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73. I meant to cite this from the detailed Copernicus report:

    ERA5 shows 2022 to be fifth warmest year, though only marginally warmer (by between 0.03 and 0.05°C) than 2022, 2018 and 2015, and marginally cooler (by 0.04°C) than 2017.

    The difference between the six datasets for individual years is larger than the difference between 2022 and the years ranked between fourth to eight warmest in the ERA5 dataset. Thus, while ERA5 shows 2022 to be fifth warmest, there is likely to be a range in the ranking once all data sets become available. This section will be updated with statistics based on all datasets in April 2023 at the latest.

    During 2022, according to ERA5, there was no record-breaking monthly value for the globe, but each of the months June, July and August 2022 were ranked among the three warmest.

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74. Hot on the heels of Copernicus telling us that 2022 was the 5th warmest year on record, NOAA tells us it was the 6th warmest:

    “2022 was world’s 6th-warmest year on record
    Antarctic sea ice coverage melted to near-record lows”

    https://www.noaa.gov/news/2022-was-worlds-6th-warmest-year-on-record

    The report commences with these words:

    The planet continued its warming trend in 2022, with last year ranking as the sixth-warmest year on record since 1880, according to an analysis by scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

    They (the opening eight words) strike me as a gross exaggeration, given that temperatures peaked in 2016, and the temperature bars accompanying the summary show at best a static trend since then, and arguably one of slight cooling since 2016.

    The report itself is sensationalist, with its “Selected [and they are selected – perhaps selective would be a more appropriate word] Significant Climate Anomalies and Events in 2022” being skewed towards alarm. But then this is the organisation that repeated the claim that one-third of Pakistan was under water at one point last year (it wasn’t).

    But it still had to admit:

    In the Arctic, the average annual sea ice extent was approximately 4.13 million square miles — the 11th-smallest annual average sea ice extent in the 1979-2022 record…

    …Global tropical cyclones were near average: A total of 88 named storms occurred across the globe in 2022, which was near the 1991-2020 average. Of those, 40 reached tropical cyclone strength (winds of 74 mph or higher) and 17 reached major tropical cyclone strength (winds of 111 mph or higher). The global accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) — an integrated metric of the strength, frequency and duration of tropical storms — was the fourth lowest since 1981.

    December 2022 was warm: The average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces in December was 1.44 degrees F (0.80 of a degree C) above the 20th-century average. This ranks as the eighth-warmest December in the 143-year NOAA record.

    Regionally, Africa tied 2016 for its second-warmest December on record. South America’s December ranked fourth warmest on record, while Europe saw its 10th warmest. Although North America and Asia both had an above-average December temperature, neither ranked among the 20 warmest on record.

    So, at least arguably, no cause for alarm, and no warming trend since 2016.

    Needless to say the Guardian has a field day:

    “Warm 2022 makes the past eight years hottest ever recorded
    World Meteorological Organization data shows last year’s average temperature was 1.15C more than pre-industrial levels”

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/12/2022-hottest-global-temperatures-past-eight-years-climate-crisis

    And it repeats – for the umpteenth time – the false claim about “flooding that inundated approximately a third of Pakistan”.

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75. As always – weather not climate – but rather extreme (the wrong way for “world on fire” alarmists)@

    “Weather tracker: record rain for California, -62C in Siberia
    It’s been very wet in San Francisco and parts of New Zealand, while extreme cold has swept across Russia”

    …Meanwhile, extreme cold has swept across Russia, with an extraordinarily cold -62.1C recorded in the remote town of Dzhalinda in Siberia on Tuesday 10 January. This is the first time temperatures have fallen to -62C in Siberia since 2002. Temperatures this low have become less and less frequently reached over the decades, but this doesn’t mean they are no longer possible. The lowest temperature ever recorded in Russia was -67.8C in 1933.

    The extreme cold is set to linger across eastern Russia through next week. There is a chance for more records to be set with temperatures remaining around 15-20C below the seasonal average. Some parts of central and south-west Asia have also been experiencing unusually cold conditions over the last week. The monthly record low temperature for Nurata in Uzbekistan was broken on Thursday 12 January, reaching -29.2C. The cold will similarly continue to affect south-west Asia for the coming week, but looking likely to become less intense.

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76. “Global Warming Trend Slumps After Pausing for 20 of the Last 24 Years”

    https://dailysceptic.org/2023/01/13/global-warming-trend-slumps-after-pausing-for-20-of-the-last-24-years/

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77. Mark,
    from your Copernicus report –

    “ERA5 shows 2022 to be fifth warmest year, though only marginally warmer (by between 0.03 and 0.05°C) than 2022, 2018 and 2015, and marginally cooler (by 0.04°C) than 2017.”

    they call “0.03 and 0.05°C” marginal!!!!

    have always wondered what error bars they use & still make these statements as a fact?

    LikeLiked by 1 person

78. “Warning of unprecedented heatwaves as El Niño set to return in 2023
    Scientists say phenomenon coupled with growing climate crisis likely to push global temperatures ‘off the chart’”

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/16/return-of-el-nino-will-cause-off-the-chart-temperature-rise-climate-crisis

    All sorts of terrible predictions accompany this article, including:

    Prof James Hansen, at Columbia University, in New York, and colleagues said recently: “We suggest that 2024 is likely to be off the chart as the warmest year on record. It is unlikely that the current La Niña will continue a fourth year. Even a little futz of an El Niño should be sufficient for record global temperature.” Declining air pollution in China, which blocks the sun, was also increasing heating, he said.

    Who knows? Certainly not I. But all being well I will review that prediction in 12 months’ time.

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79. Prof James Hansen, at Columbia University – thought he had retired – seems not.

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80. I wonder if this will make it to NOAA’s summary of climate events in January 2023?

    “China: Northern city of Mohe reports coldest temperature”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-64378176

    China’s northernmost city, Mohe, has recorded its lowest temperature since records began.

    Mohe – known as “China’s North Pole” – is in the province of Heilongjiang, close to the Russian border.

    On Sunday, its local meteorological station recorded a record-low temperature of -53C (-63F) at 7am. The previous coldest temperature on record in the city was -52.3C, in 1969.

    However, the temperature is still shy of China’s national record.

    The coldest temperature ever recorded in China is -58C, in the city of Genhe, Inner Mongolia in December 2009…

    …The Xinhua News Agency said a number of areas in the Greater Khingan mountain range, which spans Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang, saw new record low temperatures over the weekend.

    Since Friday, temperatures dipped below -50C in Mohe for three consecutive days, which outlets have said is unprecedented.

    Beijing News reported on Friday that coal consumption has increased by a third in the city, as the cold weather bites…

    Of course, the BBC is quick to tell us:

    …China has seen record temperatures over the past year, for heat as well as cold.

    Earlier this month, the Xinhua news agency said that the country had recorded the hottest summer and autumn in 60 years, with multiple cities breaking records.

    Climate change increases the likelihood of extreme weather generally – and while scientists agree global temperatures are rising, that doesn’t mean we will stop having periods of very cold weather.

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81. “North Korea issues ‘extreme cold’ weather alert”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-64383442

    North Korean authorities have warned of extreme weather conditions in the country as a cold wave sweeps the Korean peninsula.

    Temperatures are likely to dip below -30C in the northern regions, which are also the poorest part of the country, the state radio broadcaster said.

    Coastal areas are also expected to see high winds, according to state media.

    South Korea too has issued a cold wave warning and northern China has been experiencing record low temperatures.

    Temperatures are also expected to drop to their lowest in a decade in Japan this week….

    Don’t, whatever you do, get the wrong idea, though. The BBC earnestly assures us:

    Scientists say extreme weather, including cold waves, is becoming more common because of climate change.

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82. “Afghanistan: Freezing weather kills at least 124 people”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-64386145

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83. dfhunter, well spotted.

    It’s a tragic story, but the truth remains that extreme cold kills far more people than extreme heat, however much the Guardian might try to obscure that fact. The BBC tends to put “extreme weather” stories on the science & environment section of the website, but stories about extreme cold have been coming thick and fast (too fast for their liking, I imagine), so I see they buried this one in the Asia section of the website, and it got nowhere near the science & environment section. Didn’t fit the narrative, I suppose.

    LikeLiked by 1 person

84. “Millions in US north-east brace for ‘once-in-a-generation’ Arctic blast
    Meteorologists warn frigid weather could bring record-breaking low temperatures to New York, New Jersey and New England”

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/03/arctic-blast-us-north-east-cold-weather

    More than 15 million people in the US north-east were bracing for “once-in-a-generation” Arctic blast on Friday and Saturday, as meteorologists warned frigid weather could bring record-breaking low temperatures.

    An Arctic cold front is expected to bring wind chills of -50F (-45C) in parts of northern New England, and the National Weather Service (NWS) warned dangerous wind chills were likely in an area stretching from northern Pennsylvania to Maine…

    …In New Hampshire’s Mount Washington state park, atop the north-east’s highest peak, record-breaking wind chills of -110F (-79C) and wind speeds topping 100mph were expected…

    …As people in the north-east braced themselves for the cold, in the south temperatures began to rise on Friday after freezing weather left 430,000 people without power on Thursday….

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85. “Weather tracker: extremes of heat and cold hit South and North America
    Conditions in parts of South America up to 10C above average as US records its coldest ever temperature”

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/feb/06/weather-tracker-extremes-of-heat-and-cold-hit-south-and-north-america

    Yes, there’s this:

    Unrelenting and record-breaking heat is expected to continue across parts of South America this week. Temperatures are forecast to reach the mid-to-high 30s celsius for Chile, Argentina, and Paraguay, with maximum temperatures possibly hitting 40C across northern Argentina.

    These temperatures are at least 5-10C above the climatological average, with the extreme heat expected to continue at least until the middle part of February….

    But there’s also this:

    …Meanwhile, parts of Europe such as the Balkans, Greece, and Turkey will plunge into a cold spell this week, with temperatures forecastto fall 10-15C below the seasonal average. Minimum temperatures will plummet to between -10C and -20C, with the coldest temperatures looking to be around the Dinaric Alps during the middle part of this week.

    Turkey will be hit with strong winds and heavy snowfall too, with maximum snowfall accumulations of more than a metre across the Pontic Mountains in the north of the country during the first part of this week. Turkish Airlines has already cancelled 240 domestic and international flights out of Istanbul airport to prepare for the incoming cold weather.

    A severe cold snap affected Canada and north-eastern parts of the US last week. The dangerously low temperatures and strong winds triggered threat-to-life warnings in several states, with officials cautioning that hypothermia and frostbite could set in within minutes. A number of cities also opened warming centres to safeguard the homeless.

    Temperatures at the summit of Mount Washington in New Hampshire fell to -47F (-44C) on 4 February, the lowest recorded in the state in February. Additionally, an extraordinarily low wind chill temperature of -108F (-78C) was observed at the station, making it the coldest recorded in the continental US. Furthermore, a state of emergency was declared in Boston, Massachusetts. A minimum air temperature of -10F (-23C) was recorded in the city on 4 February, the lowest since January 1957.

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86. January’s NOAA report is in, and it still isn’t getting warmer:

    “Earth had its 7th-warmest January on record”

    https://www.noaa.gov/news/earth-had-its-7th-warmest-january-on-record

    Much is made of low sea-ice, the new low temperature records in Asia aren’t mentioned, but they do admit that global tropical cyclones were below average. They also admit that Oceania had its coolest January since 2007. The nature of the reporting is such that it’s increasingly difficult (especially given the parroting at the time of the claim that the Pakistan floods last year saw one-third of that country under water) to regard NOAA as anything other than an alarmist organisation.

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87. “What you need to know about this week’s wild weather”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64722641

    A massive winter storm will blanket US cities from coast to coast this week, even as it will feel like early summer in other parts of the country.

    More than 30 million people in 22 states are under winter weather alerts as of Tuesday, bracing for a mix of heavy snow, rain and wind.

    The National Weather Service (NWS) has warned the storm will be “extremely disruptive” to those in affected areas.

    But unseasonably warm conditions are forecast for millions more Americans.

    But there’s more cold than warm…

    …High snowfall in California
    Winter weather alerts extend from California to Maine, with mountain ranges across the US west expecting up to two feet (61cm) of snow.

    The effects of the storm were already being felt on Monday across the Cascades and Northern Rockies mountain ranges in the country’s northwest.

    The heavy snow and strong winds are spreading south and east, and could include Los Angeles and parts of southwest California.

    LA will experience “the coldest storm of the season, and possibly of the last several years,” according to its local NWS office.

    Gale force winds accompanied by extremely cold air are expected through Wednesday, and high surf may create dangerous conditions along the coast through Thursday.

    Graupel – also called snow pellets or soft hail – is also forecast in elevated parts of the state.

    Blizzard conditions in Minnesota
    The storm is expected to intensify as it sweeps east, dumping snow at a rate of up to two inches (5cm) per hour across the High Plains, upper Midwest and Great Lakes regions.

    “By late Tuesday night and more exceptionally on Wednesday, the major winter storm will take shape and spread tremendous snowfall, both in coverage, rates, and amounts,” the weather service said.

    Blizzard warnings have been issued in portions of Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota.

    Minnesota faces the likelihood of gusty winds and one of the city’s top three snowfall events of all time – as much as 25 inches (64cm) from Tuesday through Thursday.

    The weather service for the Minneapolis-Twin Cities area has warned of “life-threatening travel disruptions” as well as potential power outages and tree damage.

    Freezing rain and thunderstorms
    Heavy rainfall and severe thunderstorms are forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday in the Midwest and Upper Plains, from Oklahoma through Ohio.

    Icy roads may cause concern as the winter storm system moves northeast later in the week.

    Much of the northeast region has seen little snow accumulation this winter, but could see freezing rain and ice from Wednesday through Friday.

    Parts of Maine, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont are on alert for a winter storm….

    The unusual warmth in some areas is, perfectly reasonably, also worth a mention. What’s behind it all?

    Temperatures will hit record highs for the month of February in hundreds of US cities across the Southeast, mid-Atlantic and eastern seaboard.

    Cities like Atlanta, Georgia and Nashville, Tennessee will see temperatures reach about 77F (25C) by Thursday, while cities in Florida could hit peaks above 86F (30C) – usually not seen until May or June.

    Other parts of the country will simultaneously face record lows, with temperature readings five degrees colder than average in parts of Montana, Wyoming and Nebraska….

    …North America typically faces dynamic jet stream patterns during the winter that create a battleground of cold and warm air.

    But jet streams this winter have been “more extreme”, and have been accompanied by ample moisture from the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, according to climate scientist Andrew Kruczkiewicz.

    “All winter, we’ve seen this persistent pattern, where the western US is seeing below-average temperatures and the eastern US is seeing above-average temperatures,” he told the BBC.

    “What makes this week different is that we’re seeing an intensification of the pattern.”

    And just when I thought they weren’t going to make the inevitable connection, the article finishes with:

    Mr Kruczkiewicz, a researcher at Columbia University, said the extreme weather event’s length and severity will be studied for its connection to climate change.

    I bet it will!

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88. “Study Finds Zero Loss of Antarctica Sea Ice – But BBC Spins as “New Record Low””

    https://dailysceptic.org/2023/02/21/study-finds-zero-loss-of-antarctica-sea-ice-but-bbc-spins-as-new-record-low/

    Worth a read, IMO.

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89. On BBC TV news today (with a 5 sec pic of snow in Morocco) – something like “A fruit and veg shortage on shop shelves across the UK could last weeks, as stormy weather disrupts the harvest at farms in Spain and north Africa. Production of tomatoes, strawberries and peppers across the region has been hit by ‘difficult weather conditions’, the British Retail Consortium said.”

    only google post on this I could find & source for the above quote –
    https://metro.co.uk/2023/02/20/fruit-and-veg-shortage-may-last-weeks-as-storms-hit-spain-and-morocco-18315757/

    can you guess what is blamed?
    partial quote –
    “In 2021, the World Health Organisation warned that more frequent extreme weather due to climate change will disrupt global food systems.
    A report said the crisis could undo 50 years of progress in health and reducing poverty, with the impact on agriculture one of the main challenges.”

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90. Difficult weather conditions is presumably a euphemism for cold. Extreme weather is now taking over from heat. At least they’re not blaming Brexit…

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91. “Los Angeles blizzard warning is first since 1989”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64753583

    Parts of usually balmy southern California are under their first blizzard warning since 1989.

    Forecasters are predicting record snowfall of up to 8ft (2.4m) in mountains to the east of Los Angeles by Saturday.

    A massive storm has already brought major blizzards and temperatures below freezing to much of the northern US….

    I must, in fairness, mention the flip side of the coin:

    The cold snap comes as parts of the US southeast basked in a record-breaking heat wave.

    However, the area of north America affected by unusual cold seems to be increasing, and the area reported to be setting heat records seems to be shrinking – it has now reduced to “parts of the US southeast”.

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92. Still it goes on in California:

    “California pounded by snowfall as storms shutter national parks”

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/01/california-winter-storms-snow

    Storms push snow depths to near record levels in Sierra Nevada mountains, as brutal weather stretches across western US

    California saw little reprieve on Thursday as severe winter weather continues to hammer the state, setting the stage for record breaking snow accumulation across the Sierra Nevada mountains. Heavy snowfall is choking off entry and exits from tourist towns, closing popular national parks, piling snow as high as rooftops, causing dangerous travel conditions and leaving thousands without power, with more snow on the way.

    California’s famous Yosemite national park has been closed indefinitely, citing concerns about dangerous travel in and out of the park, while further south, Joshua Tree national park also closed down due to “inclement weather”. Photos on social media showcased popular cabins and campgrounds buried in white. Locals in Tahoe, who began referring to last month as “februburied”, are bracing for more whiteout conditions as a series of winter storms pushed snow levels this season past 12ft – the highest they have been in decades….

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93. There’s more from California:

    “Unprecedented snowfall on US west coast is ‘once-in-a-generation’ event
    California governor declares state of emergency in 13 counties while Portland, Oregon, sees second snowiest day in history”

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/02/west-coast-snowfall-once-in-a-generation-california-oregon

    The west coast of the US, from Oregon to the mountains of California and the golf courses of Phoenix, has received nearly unprecedented levels of snowfall this week in what officials are calling a “once-in-a-generation” event.

    The mountainous regions of California have received so much snowfall – more than 40ft of snow since the start of the season – that entire towns have shut down as they are virtually cut off from the rest of the state. The governor has declared a state of emergency in 13 counties due to the unusual snowfall.

    Portland, Oregon’s largest city, saw its second snowiest day in history with almost a foot of snow while further south in Arizona the suburbs of Phoenix received a dusting of snow.

    “This rain and snow bucked the trend and it’s highly unexpected,” said Ryan Maue, a meteorologist and former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief scientist. “It’s like once in a generation.”…

    …Bianca Feldkircher, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said a persistent blocking pattern over the Pacific Ocean plus cold air migrating south from the Arctic have created the conditions for widespread snowfall along the west coast.

    “Not only were you getting significant snowfall in areas that already see snow, you were also seeing snowfall on lower elevations in southern California, which is super rare,” said Feldkircher.

    For example, the forecast on 1 March warned of snowfall for parts of Phoenix, which Feldkircher said is “super unusual” for this time of year. And last week, Portland saw abnormally high snowfall rates and recorded nearly 11in (28cm) – the second snowiest day in the city’s history….

    How does this fit with the world frying alarmist agenda? Well, it doesn’t, but you can guarantee it will be deemed to be consistent with it:

    …With respect to human-induced climate change, meteorologists say it is challenging to nail down what part it is playing in the west coast’s peculiar winter season.

    But increasingly extreme weather is expected as global temperatures rise. “Heat produces moisture, moisture produces storms, and heat and moisture bind to produce even more severe storms,” Feldkircher said….

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94. “super unusual” said Bianca Feldkircher, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, wonder what she calls Hot spells.

    at least they quote ““This rain and snow bucked the trend and it’s highly unexpected,” said Ryan Maue, a meteorologist and former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief scientist. “It’s like once in a generation.”…

    I think I remember Ryan from old Climate Audit days, seemed to push back on the “planet is doomed” meme.

    ps – nothing on this on the UK TV news I have seen, drought (linked to climate change/maybe/) in France & Spain, on the BBC News today

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95. “Coldest day of year expected in parts of UK next week
    Yellow warnings for snow and ice for most of Scotland and north-east England on Monday and Tuesday”

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/mar/04/uk-weather-coldest-day-of-year-expected-in-parts-of-uk-next-week

    Next week will bring the coldest day of the year so far across parts of the UK, with yellow warnings for snow and ice in place for most of Scotland and north-east England.

    The Met Office said the week would begin with temperatures dropping to near freezing in northern parts of the UK, with parts of north-east Scotland feeling like -4C (24.8F).

    The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued a cold weather alert and placed north-west England and Yorkshire under a level 3 alert, meaning there is a 90% chance of severely cold weather, icy conditions or heavy snow, which could increase the health risk to vulnerable people. The rest of the UK has been placed under level 2.

    All areas will be placed under alert between 1am on Monday and midnight on Thursday…

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96. “Snow and travel delays expected amid cold snap”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-64883505

    …Some across Wales and the Midlands will be waking up to a covering of snow this morning.

    However, conditions are expected to get worse as Thursday goes on for parts of north Wales and then especially so, hills of northern England where an amber weather warning is force from 3pm this afternoon.

    Snow will continue to accumulate through into Friday morning with the potential for 30-40cm in the Peak District and Pennines and risk of communities being cut off.

    Even to lower levels in north Wales, the north Midlands, northern England, southern Scotland and to the east of Northern Ireland, 2-10cm of snow is possible by Friday morning causing fresh disruption.

    It was the coldest night of the year – again – as temperatures plummeted to -16C in Altnaharra in Scotland.

    This is the second time in a row the hamlet in the Highlands has broken this year’s record, with the area reaching a low of -15C on Tuesday night….

    It’s weather, not climate, but it’s a bit embarrassing for the alarmists, all the same.

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97. “Lake Tahoe’s Emerald Bay completely freezes over for the first time in 30 years
    The rare event is the result of the region experiencing its snowiest season in 70 years, with more storms expected to hit the state”

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/14/lake-tahoe-emerald-bay-freeze

    Amid an onslaught of intense winter storms that have hit California in recent weeks and sent record snow across the Sierra Nevada, Lake Tahoe’s Emerald Bay has frozen over for the first time in decades.

    The bay, a treasured landmark on the lake’s south-west shore and popular destination, regularly gets icy during Tahoe’s chilly winters, but has not frozen completely in 30 years. Last week, as temperatures in the region fell below freezing, California state parks staff snowshoed in and found a thin layer of ice covering the bay.

    “It’s fairly common for it to freeze to a certain extent, especially along the edges of the bay,” Kaytlen Jackson, with the California state parks’ Sierra district, told SFGate. “Every year I’ve lived here, I’ve seen it freeze to some extent. It’s uncommon for it to freeze completely like it is now.”

    The bay has remained frozen since, Scott Elliott, the California state parks Sierra district superintendent, said on Tuesday.

    The rare freeze comes as Lake Tahoe, which is experiencing its snowiest season in 70 years, continues to grapple with the extreme weather hitting the state. The region has been hit particularly hard and the snow has outpaced officials’ ability to respond to it, leading to treacherous road conditions, buried towns and roof collapses…

    …“It’s a very heavy winter,” Elliott said. “In 18 winters here this is the biggest winter I’ve seen in that stretch. We’ve hit that point where I’m seeing snow – in terms of height – in places I’ve never seen it.”..

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98. Meanwhile NOAA’s monthly report for February is in:

    “February 2023 was Earth’s 4th warmest on record
    Europe saw its second-warmest winter as global sea ice set a new record low”

    https://www.noaa.gov/news/february-2023-was-earths-4th-warmest-on-record

    The warm start to 2023 continued with last month ranking as the world’s fourth-warmest February in 174 years.

    Last month also wrapped up a very warm December–February season for the planet as global sea ice set a record low for February, according to scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.

    4th warmest? I can’t argue with it, but I’m not sure how when you analyse what they say about different regions:

    Regionally, Asia had its seventh-warmest February on record, while South America, Europe and Africa all saw a top-20 warm February. North America and Oceania both had a warmer-than-average February, although temperatures did not rank among the top-20 warmest.

    So that 7th warmest, a top 20 finish (where in the top 20 not specified – though in the detail we learn that for South America it was the 13th warmest, and Asia was the 7th warmest – but it’s probably safe to assume it’s not at the top of the list) and a non-top 20 finish. That adds up collectively to 4th warmest?

    Also in the detail, we learned that the Caribbean islands had their coolest February and winter since 2012, and Oceania had its coolest summer since 2012.

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99. I should have provided links for the February 2023 report by NOAA. First there is the brief summary:

    https://www.noaa.gov/news/february-2023-was-earths-4th-warmest-on-record

    Then one in a little more detail:

    https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/global-climate-202302

    The latter does provide a little more context, so I assume that the climate alarmism in the first one is for public and media consumption. The second link takes the reader to a page which does at least include things like this:

    Temperatures were near to cooler than average across parts of western and northern North America, northeastern Asia, and northern Australia. Sea surface temperatures were near to below average over parts of the central Indian Ocean and the southeastern, central, and eastern tropical Pacific.

    It rather gratuitously went on to take the sting out of those cooling references by adding:

    None of the world’s surface had a record-cold February.

    It will be interesting to see how (if!) they report on the cold and snow in the USA, including California, when March is over.

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100. In the interests of balance, I find the following in the guardian, to my surprise:

     “Weather tracker: why is it so cold in California at the moment?
     Precipitation has made western US very cold and wet, with one ski lodge declaring snowiest season on record”

     https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/31/weather-tracker-cold-california-wet-snowiest

     The first 5 paras are devoted to the cold and precipitation in California, including this:

     It has also been exceptionally cold, with average temperatures at least 2-3C below normal for this time of year, and dipping to more than 5C below normal in many places. As a result, in mountainous regions precipitation has been falling mostly as snow, often very heavy and frequent, bringing accumulations great enough to bury an entire ski lodge in Rimforest, California.

     Mammoth Mountain ski resort has declared this the snowiest season on record, reporting totals of 17.6 metres at its main lodge and a staggering 22.1 metres at the summit. Cold and wet conditions are expected to linger through next week and beyond.

     It then goes on to talk about the heat in Spain, so I have to concede that the Guardian has for once mentioned cold more than heat in a weather/climate report.

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101. NOAA’s report on March 2023 is in, and it again screams a global headline that seems adrift from the detail continent by continent. I can only assume that the warmer ocean temperatures that have been claimed recently push up the global average temperature, since the land temperatures weren’t breaking records in March:

     “Earth just had its second-warmest March on record
     Polar sea ice coverage for March 2023 ranked second smallest recorded”

     https://www.noaa.gov/news/earth-just-had-its-second-warmest-march-on-record

     The planet continued its exceptionally warm start to the year with its second-warmest March on record.

     Global sea ice coverage also felt the heat, with sea ice running at its second-smallest extent since records began in 1979, according to scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.

     So far so scary. Yet:

     Looking at the continents, Asia had its second-warmest March on record, and South America and Africa each had their fourth-warmest. Europe saw its 10th-warmest March on record, while North America had a warmer-than-average March, but it did not rank among the top-20 warmest on record.

     And Oceania saw its 17th warmest March on record.

     Continents saw the 2nd, 4th, 4th, 10th, 17th and outside top 20th warmest March, yet overall it’s 2nd?

     And Iceland recorded its coldest March since 1979.

     As for storms:

     The tropics saw a lower-than-average number of named tropical storms, but one of those was record large: Four named tropical storms occurred across the globe in March, which was less than average. All four reached tropical cyclone strength (winds of 74 mph or higher), with three of those reaching major tropical cyclone strength (winds of 111 mph or higher). The exceptionally long-lived Tropical Cyclone Freddy in the South Indian Ocean set a record for the largest amount of accumulated cyclone energy — or ACE, a metric that indicates the amount of energy released by a tropical cyclone during its lifetime — for any storm on record.

     Not mentioned in that headline, but included in the detail, is the fact that the western Pacific Ocean saw the formation of no named storms in the first quarter of the year, and that this has happened only 13 times in the last 43 years.

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102. It looks as though the failure of the land to warm in accordance with the climate prognostications doesn’t matter. A warming ocean is being used both to claim ever higher global temperature averages, and is now also the next cause for climate angst, apparently:

     “Climate change: recent, rapid ocean warming alarms scientists”

     https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-65339934

     A recent, rapid heating of the world’s oceans has alarmed scientists concerned that it will add to global warming.

     This month, the global sea surface hit a new record high temperature. It has never warmed this much, this quickly.

     Scientists don’t fully understand why this has happened.

     But they worry that, combined with other weather events, the world’s temperature could reach a concerning new level by the end of next year.

     Experts believe that a strong El Niño weather event – a weather system that heats the ocean – will also set in over the next months.

     Warmer oceans can kill off marine life, lead to more extreme weather and raise sea levels. They are also less efficient at absorbing planet-warming greenhouse gases.

     The article comes complete with scary red graphics.

     LikeLiked by 1 person

103. Mark, I woke up to this on the BBC news this morning and went straight to the article, to discover that it is in fact the usual false information and alarmist BS from the BBC.

     https://jaimejessop.substack.com/p/hyper-alarmism-bbc-reports-absurd

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104. “Weather tracker: An unusually chilly start to May in India and eastern US
     Record minimum temperatures observed in northern India, as clashing conditions bring thunderstorms in US”

     https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/05/weather-tracker-unusually-chilly-start-may-india-us

     It has been a historically chilly start to May in India, thanks to an unusually strong low-pressure system that moved in from the west, sweeping humid air from the Arabian Sea across the subcontinent. The resulting overcast skies reduced the heating effect from the sun, which combined with the brisk winds and abnormally high rainfall to lower temperatures significantly.

     May is considered the final month of the Indian summer, before the monsoon season begins in June, and is the hottest time of the year for many parts of India. However, in the past week large parts of the country have been about 10C colder than normal, with many weather stations in northern India observing record minimum temperatures for the month.

     The effect has been noticeable in Delhi, where temperatures failed to exceed 30C (86F) between Sunday and Tuesday, in comparison with the average daily high of 39.9C (103.8F). Residents on Thursday morning woke to shallow fog filling their streets, a phenomenon almost unheard of in the city. Temperatures were as low as 15.8C (60.4F), making Thursday the third-coldest May morning since modern records began in 1901.

     Temperatures are expected to slowly return closer to normal over the next few days, but there are some concerns that this unusually cold and humid period could delay or weaken the onset of the monsoon.

     Meanwhile, the eastern US has been experiencing some unusually cool and unsettled weather this week, thanks to a lingering area of low pressure that is slowly moving out into the Atlantic….

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105. “April Mediterranean heatwave ‘almost impossible’ without climate crisis
     Extreme event would have been expected once in 40,000 years before global heating, scientists estimate”

     https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/05/april-mediterranean-heatwave-almost-impossible-without-climate-crisis

     And the exceptional cold in India. How likely did the “climate crisis” make that, I wonder?

     LikeLiked by 1 person

106. Oh God, it’s hard to keep up with these jokers at WWA. They keep churning out this rubbish. I haven’t looked at it yet but it’s almost certain that the statement “almost impossible without global heating” actually means “almost impossible WITH global heating” because their statistical analysis and model runs FAILED to adequately explain the extreme temperature divergence – meaning that factors other than a general warming MUST be responsible for the extreme temperature. I’ve exposed this con before, but they just keep at it, with the help of the main stream media.

     https://jaimejessop.substack.com/p/the-evolving-pseudoscience-of-extreme

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107. Yep, as usual, they calculated a return period of once every 400 years for this 3 day ‘heatwave’, even in the current warmer climate – and that was a very uncertain figure. The models all greatly underestimated the observed intensity of the April heatwave, but the authors nevertheless concluded that climate change made the event much more likely! They called it a “super rapid analysis”. I call it super rapid BS.

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108. “Summer weather: will there be a heatwave?”

     https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/65560104

     Is the BBC whistling in the dark with that headline, to keep its spirits up?

     You’d be forgiven for thinking things have taken their time to warm up this year. While overall temperatures have been around average this spring, there’s been a real lack of very warm days.

     England and Wales had to wait longer for the thermometer to climb above 19C than in any year since 1986. Even in early May temperatures only edged into the low 20s. In many recent years we had already seen 25C or higher by this point in the year.

     It’s also been a very wet spring for many, especially in the south and east of the UK. Torrential downpours and thunderstorms have caused flash flooding in places….

     Well, that’s no surprise, given that the BBC and the Met Office have been banging on about the likelihood of a drought due to climate change…

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109. April’s results are in, and NOAA is still using the warm oceans to say it’s been warm, when land temperatures aren’t (overall) so high at all:

     “April 2023 was Earth’s fourth warmest on record
     Southern Hemisphere saw its warmest month on record; Global ocean temperature reached a record high for April”

     https://www.noaa.gov/news/april-2023-was-earths-fourth-warmest-on-record

     Last month added to the planet’s warm year so far, as April 2023 ranked as the world’s fourth-warmest April on record.

     Earth’s global ocean temperatures were record high for the month, and the second-warmest for any month on record, according to scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.

     How so?

     The average global temperature in April was 1.80 degrees F (1.00 degree C) above the 20th-century average of 56.7 degrees F (13.7 degrees C), ranking as the fourth-warmest April in NOAA’s 174-year climate record. April 2023 marked the 49th-consecutive April and the 530th-consecutive month with temperatures above the 20th-century average.

     The Southern Hemisphere had its warmest April and warmest month on record. The April 2023 temperature surpassed that of the previous record-warm month — March 2016 — by 0.10 of a degree F (0.06 of a degree C). Meanwhile, the Northern Hemisphere had its ninth-warmest April on record….

     Statistically insignificant? Be that as it may, looking at the temperature by continent, and there’s nothing to see here, so the warm claim must be driven by the seas:

     Looking at continents, Africa had its fourth-warmest April on record, while South America tied 2007 for its ninth-warmest April. North America, Europe and Oceania had an above-average April temperature, but didn’t rank among the top-20 warmest Aprils on record.

     And yet, although the seas are warm (according to NOAA) they’re still not as warm as in 2016 (though that difference may also be statistically insignificant), so to my simple brain something doesn’t add up.

     As for:

     The Southern Hemisphere had its warmest April and warmest month on record…

     that can only be because there is so much water in that hemisphere – land temperatures being joint ninth warmest (South America); 4th warmest (Africa, though much of it is in the northern hemisphere); and outside the top 20 (Oceania). Also Antarctic sea ice was only the third lowest (for April) on record. The map of the world tagged with “extreme” events doesn’t really show anything extreme either. There’s not much to see here, yet NOAA says there is.

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110. If it’s a press release on the subject of ‘climate change’, you start out with the default assumption that EVERYTHING they say is LIES. Then (if you can be bothered), you sort the disinformation from the outright lies, the misinformation from the disinformation, and the half-truths from the misinformation, and then what you are left with should be the truth – and you might need a microscope in order to see it!

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111. Mark, on the BBC re. last year’s 40.3C ‘record’ set at RAF Coningsby:

     “What’s the risk it’ll get that hot again this year? It’s extremely unlikely. Scientists estimate that – in our current climate – the hottest parts of the country would only expect the temperature to reach those record levels about once every 1000 years. So if it were to happen again in 2023 that would be very worrying indeed.”

     Sounds like a challenge to me. Can they find a digital thermometer on a runway or aircraft taxiing zone, somewhere in central or southern England, which will come up with the goods on one really hot day of the year? Then they can say the immortal words: ‘be afraid, be very afraid’.

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112. I saw the headline, and expected to read about drought and heat being the culprit:

     “Pick-your-own strawberry growers warn of disappointing year”

     https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-66132271

     Not a bit of it:

     British strawberry growers are reporting a “disappointing” season due to weather conditions.

     Pat Wilson, owner of Scalby Grange, a pick-your-own farm in Gilberdyke, East Yorkshire, said a cold spring had stunted growth.

     Customers were now playing “hunt the strawberry” during what should be a peak period, he said.

     British Berry Growers, which promotes the industry, agreed it had been “a late start” to the strawberry season.

     Mr Wilson, who has been farming for 45 years, said only 2007, when summer floods devastated crops, was worse for yield.

     He said: “It’s been really disappointing and frustrating not just for us, but also for our customers who come expecting to find lots of strawberries to pick.”

     Mr Wilson said strawberries were the farm’s main crop. Usually, his field yields five or six tonnes of the summer delicacy each year.

     However, this year it is likely to be only a fraction of that, with Mr Wilson blaming the late arrival of warmer temperatures….

     …Mr Wilson said: “It was mid to late April before we saw some decent temperatures. You need temperatures up to the mid teens [degrees Celsius] for strawberry plants to get going. For a long time, it was lower than that, with night-time temperatures around zero.”

     A late frost in early May also killed a large number of plants, he said.

     Mr Wilson said the problem has been seen at pick-your-own farms across the country, where strawberries are not usually grown under cover, unlike supermarket suppliers which use heated poly tunnels.

     Anticipating problems, Mr Wilson and his wife brought forward plans to establish another field, planting 30,000 strawberry plants in May. Some have now ripened but more sunny weather is needed, Mr Wilson said…

     …Nick Marston, chairman of British Berry Growers, said: “It’s been a late start to strawberry season this year. The chilly spring weather meant British strawberries came into season a month later than in 2022….

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113. While the UN, BBC, Guardian et al go into hyperdrive about how hot it is (it isn’t here in Cumbria), here’s one that’s not getting quite so much publicity (though fair play to the Guardian for reporting it all):

     “‘Pure magic’: snow falls on Johannesburg for first time in 11 years
     Residents of the South African city delight in rare snow day caused by a surge in humidity and cold temperatures”

     https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/11/pure-magic-snow-falls-on-johannesburg-for-first-time-in-11-years

     Residents of South Africa’s biggest city, Johannesburg, were stunned by the first snowfall in over a decade on Monday, with some children seeing snow for the first time.

     While parts of South Africa regularly receive snow over the southern hemisphere winter months of June to August, Johannesburg last had snow in August 2012…

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114. Despite all the propaganda about global boiling and an unusually hot summer in the USA, we also get this:

     “Ski season finally ends at California’s Mammoth Mountain resort
     It was one of the longest seasons in resort’s 70-year history, helped out by a colossal snowpack from an extreme weather winter”

     https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/09/mammoth-mountain-california-ski-season-ends

     After a historic amount of snowfall, a popular California resort is ending its second-longest ski season. The ski lifts at Mammoth Mountain, in the eastern Sierra Nevadas, have been open since early November and, up until 5 August, remained available well into summer.

     While it is not unusual for people to powder-surf on the Fourth of July at the resort, the sheer amount of snow the mountain saw made this season exceptional and one of the longest in the resort’s 70-year history, according to NPR.

     “This is a completely unique circumstance,” said Tim LeRoy, a spokesperson for Mammoth Mountain. “It’s a record by virtue of the fact that it’s the most [snow] we’ve gotten.”

     The end of the 2022/2023 season marks the last remnants of an unusually wet and cold winter and early spring for the state. An unprecedented 700in of snow fell on the main parts of Mammoth over the past nine months and 900in fell on the summit, according to the resort’s website….

     Of course, that has to be undermined by this:

     …The resort’s extended season came amid a brutal summer for the the US west. Much of the south-west endured a heat dome that brought weeks of extreme heat, including record highs in Phoenix….

     But not, presumably, in California, otherwise despite it having been a very cold and snowy winter one might have expected that snow to have melted much sooner than it did.

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115. “Record-Breaking September Snow Hits Scandinavia; Northern Utah Forecast 8 Inches This Weekend”

     https://electroverse.info/record-snow-scandinavia-utah-forecast-8-inches-uks-net-zero-backpedaling/

     Fresh summertime snow has been hitting Scandinavia’s Lapland region this week–which comprises Sweden, Norway, Finland, and a portion of Russia.

     Finland’s largest ski resort, Levi, posted pictures of accumulations down to resort level on Wednesday, September 20th

     Levi, as well as fellow Finnish resort, Ruka–which are both due to start their 7-month seasons on October 6th–have successfully stored vast volumes of last year’s snow, stockpiled under cover so to survive the summertime thaw. This effort was helped by some record-low temperatures throughout the summer season, including Finland’s coldest-ever June temperature.

     Nature is now providing an added record-breaking hand with some historic September snowfall.

     Monthly snow depth records were toppled across Lapland on Wednesday.

     Kiruna, Sweden, for example, has set a new record of 38 cm (15 inches); Karesuando, also Sweden, posted a benchmark-busting 15 cm (5.9 inches); while Inari Saariselka, Finland set a new record of 21 cm (8.3 inches) — to name just three.

     THE ALPS
     There’s been good news for the European Alps, too.

     Heavy snowfall has been clipping the area’s glaciers this week, prematurely book-ending a short, though at times hot, summer after what proved a very cold and snowy late-spring

     Short term forecasts are calling for more cool and snowy weather.

     Another four Austrian ski areas are now due to open over the next two weekends: Pitztal being the first, this Saturday, which will join the already open Hintertux which itself is reporting a recent healthy dumping of early-season snow.

     Despite mainstream bemoanings of ‘catastrophic heat’ and ‘glacial decline’, Austria’s Hintertux ski area has remained open this summer, as has Switzerland’s Zermatt and Saas-Fee, and also Italy’s Passp Stelvio.

     Back in April and May, a snowy end to the season comfortably recouped any winter deficits. Then throughout the summer, despite the odd influx of anomalous southerly warmth (aka ‘global boiling’), rounds of snow proved routine with very heavy poundings noted in late-July, and down to extraordinarily low levels, too, down to well-below 1,500m (4,900ft) in some parts.

     NORTHERN UTAH FORECAST 8 INCHES THIS WEEKEND
     The Uintas and upper Cottonwood Canyon areas of Utah are expected to cop another wintry blast this weekend.

     While the exact volumes and even timing remain uncertain, NWS Meteorologist, Michael Wessler, has suggested the highest elevations could see as much as eight inches, so long as the cold air arrives on time to meet “the first slug of moisture”.

     The state already received a jolt of winter on Labor Day, when resorts in the Cottonwood Canyons received unseasonable snow.

     Utah endured a record-smashing snow season last time around.

     Alta, for example, registered 900+ inches during the 2022-2023 winter season, totals which tore to shreds the resort’s previous all-time record of 748 inches set back in 1981-82.

     This was a familiar story across the Western U.S., where at least 19 resorts broke their all-time snowpack records…

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116. “Weather Tracker: Unseasonal cold air brings widespread snowfall to China
     Clear skies accompanying snow cover is driving down temperatures across north-east of country”

     https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/06/weather-tracker-unseasonal-cold-air-brings-widespread-snowfall-to-china

     …More than 30cm of snow is expected across higher parts of the Chinese provinces of Inner Mongolia, Jilin and Heilongjiang. Clear skies accompanying the widespread snow cover will lead to temperatures dropping significantly below normal on Tuesday.

     For example, Shenyang is expected to experience subzero daytime temperatures, with nighttime temperatures falling to -12C, 10C below normal for the time of year. After a little respite as southerly winds return on Wednesday, high pressure is forecast to build southwards from Siberia across much of eastern China and neighbouring areas during the latter part of the week. This will lead to abnormally cold temperatures across a broad area, with parts of north-eastern China close to 20C below normal at times….

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117. “Snow and ice warnings issued for parts of UK” says the BBC article.

     Tucked away in the article is this: “The cold air is coming from Scandinavia where people there are experiencing near-record cold November weather. “

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118. “Extreme cold and snowstorms disrupt travel and schools in Scandinavia”

     https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/03/extreme-cold-and-snowstorms-disrupt-travel-and-schools-in-scandinavia

     Extreme cold and snowstorms have disrupted transportation and closed schools in Scandinavia while strong winds and heavy rain in western Europe have caused flooding and at least one death.

     Temperatures fell below -40C in the Nordic region for a second day in a row on Wednesday. In Kvikkjokk-Årrenjarka in Swedish Lapland, the mercury dropped to -43.6C, the lowest January temperature recorded in Sweden in 25 years, Sweden’s TT news agency reported.

     Extremely cold temperatures, snow and gale-force winds disrupted transportation throughout the Nordic region, with several bridges closed and some train and ferry services suspended. Several schools in Scandinavia were closed.

     Police across most of Denmark urged motorists to avoid unnecessary trips as wind and snow battered the northern and western parts of the country.

     The wave of cold air from Siberia and the Arctic region has also swept down over western Russia, with temperatures in Moscow and other areas plummeting to -30C, well below the average temperature for early January.

     Officials in Moscow, St Petersburg and other areas have issued orange weather warnings, cautioning residents against possible health risks….

     LikeLiked by 1 person

119. December 2023 anomaly in UAH was 0.83C, slightly down from November. Does this mark the end of the remarkable warming spike we saw in 2023? Surely not. El Nino should bump up global temperatures to their peak in Feb/Mar, then decline after that.

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120. The 5 day weather forecast is getting colder each time I look. If those kinds of temperatures extend across the north sea to our shores, then there is going to be chaos, especially if the winds drop.

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121. Dunkelflaute alert!

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122. Sunday 7th, that high pressure cell which has brought extreme Siberian cold to Scandinavia extends across the UK and the isobars are not nicely packed together, but we’ve got at least two weeks supply of gas here in the UK thanks to our far-sighted politicians, so I’m sure everything will be OK . . . . .

     

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123. Oops.

     We have been saying since the big rains hit again back in December that euro was going back into a deep freeze and unlike the first one, this is not going anywhere. Lets see how the stop oil crowd likes this pic.twitter.com/WGooFYPPww

     — The American Storm (@BigJoeBastardi) January 4, 2024

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124. That’s two comments gone missing on this thread.

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125. Sorry Jaime, I have been otherwise engaged, but have dug them out of spam now.

     LikeLiked by 1 person

126. No need to apologise Mark. It’s just WP messing about again.

     LikeLiked by 1 person

127. Is it just me, or are Twitter posts no longer embedding on WP? I thought they used to.

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128. I think they’re embedding OK, though you have to be patient and wait a moment or two for them to “load”.

     LikeLiked by 1 person

129. “Weather tracker: Western Canada and parts of US brace for cold snap
     Temperatures could be 10-15C below seasonal average in some areas, with Calgary and Edmonton experiencing low of -30C”

     https://www.theguardian.com/weather/2024/jan/08/weather-tracker-western-canada-us-cold-snap

     Arctic air will sweep across western Canada and parts of the US early this week, leading to a cold snap that will probably last through the rest of this week and possibly beyond.

     By Wednesday, temperatures in western Canada could be as much as 10-15C below the seasonal average. Minimum temperatures in Calgary and Edmonton could plummet as low as -30C by Friday, with some rural areas experiencing even lower temperatures. In contrast, temperatures on the east coast will be significantly above average, with Ottawa reaching highs of about 5C, almost 10C above the seasonal average. The cold spell will spread into northern and western parts of the US by Friday, with temperatures widely reaching 5-15C below average.

     Three storm systems have hit the US in the past few days and continuing into this week. The first affected the north-east, with about 40 million people in parts of the New England and northern mid-Atlantic regions placed under winter storm alerts between Saturday afternoon and Sunday. According to the National Weather Service, parts of the north-east and central Appalachians expected to receive 4-8ins (10-20cm) of snow on Sunday. Between 6-12ins of snow had also been reported across parts of the upper Hudson River valley by Sunday.

     The second storm system affected the Rockies late this weekend, and will bring further heavy snow and strong winds over the plains and the midwest through the early part of this week. The highest accumulations are expected to be across parts of the midwest, where locally up to 12ins is likely, although at least 6ins is expected between northern New Mexico and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Heavy snowfall, alongside gusty winds in excess of 50mph, will cause extremely dangerous travel conditions and near-zero visibility at times.

     The third storm system arrived into the Pacific north-west late on Sunday, bringing heavy coastal rain, mountain snow and strong winds until the middle part of this week. This winter storm will probably bring several feet of snow across the Washington and Oregon Cascades, peaking on Tuesday and Wednesday.

     That’s extreme cold and/or massive amounts of snow in China, Scandinavia and USA/Canada so far this winter.

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130. Mark – https://savebritain.org/14-days-of-snow-as-snow-beast-hits-uk-in-worst-arctic-onslaught-in-10-years/

     not sure how accurate this will be –
     “Anticipating what might be the greatest Arctic disaster in over ten years, Britain will be trapped in the jaws of a Scandinavian snow beast until February.

     This weekend, freezing winds from the Nordic north will bring snow, according to official forecasters. With extremely cold weather predicted for the remainder of January, temperatures in some areas of the nation might drop as low as -15C.”

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131. ps – just noticed comments by Jaime above, seems related.

     LikeLiked by 1 person

132. “‘Brutal’ Arctic blast expected to bring frigid temperatures to North America
     Extreme cold warning issued in Canada as US forecasters warn of wind chills in Texas and major snow in midwest and east coast”

     https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/11/arctic-blast-us-weather-freezing

     A “bitter” blast of cold Arctic air is set to bring dangerously frigid temperatures to swaths of North America, forecasters have warned.

     In Canada, frigid Arctic air is being pushed from the Northwest Territories down into the province of Alberta, where Environment Canada has issued an extreme cold warning. Alberta’s largest city, Calgary, could see temperatures plummet to -34.6F (-37C) on Friday, reaching a daytime high of -23.8F (-31C). This would mark the coldest January day in two decades for the city. Over the weekend, strong winds could make temperatures feel closer to -58F (-50C). In these conditions, experts say exposed skin can succumb to frostbite in less than a minute.

     The cold front is set to also set to push from the Rockies towards northern US plains on Thursday night before advancing south, the National Weather Service said, likely causing daily cold records to tumble in several places. In Texas and the south east, “dangerously cold wind chills” are expected that will push temperatures below freezing.

     “Temperatures will be brutal compared to the relatively mild conditions that have been experienced for much of the winter season up to this point in time,” an alert from the weather service said.

     Most of the United States is expected to be hit by the cold weather, with Chicago expected to go below -10F (-23C) for the first time since 2019, and Oklahoma City below 0F (-17.7) for the first time since February 2021. Wind chills could make push temperatures in parts of the Rockies to -30F (-34.4C), posing the risk of hypothermia to anyone caught in this weather.

     Meanwhile, major snowstorms, sleet and rain are expected to affect the midwest and east coast, with the weather service warning of “major disruption” from 12in of snow set to fall upon parts of Michigan, with high winds set to cause blizzard conditions in the Great Lakes region….

     …Climate researchers have theorized that sudden extreme blasts of cold weather in the US could, in some cases, be fueled by global heating….

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133. It would seem to me (and a lot of others) the BBC and MET can’t get the weather forecast anything like correct. Our forecast is for sunshine and a gentle breeze, zero precipitation with temps 2c feels like –3c. All morning we have had flat grey sky, no sun, a moderate breeze prob >10 mph and frost still on the ground with the odd flake of snow. They got the feels like – 3c correct , tomorrow to be similar, sunshine and breeze, we shall see !

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134. I suspect that this will be much more problematic than any summer heat experienced in the UK:

     “Arctic blast to sweep over England bringing freezing conditions
     ‘Bitterly cold’ temperature of -4C expected in capital, with snow and ice warnings in place for rest of UK”

     https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/15/arctic-blast-to-sweep-over-england-bringing-freezing-conditions

     An Arctic blast is expected to travel from the north to the south of England this week, with temperatures plummeting below the average for this time of year.

     London will be “bitterly cold”, experts said, with temperatures dropping to as low as -4C, but significant snow is not expected in the capital.

     The Met Office has also issued yellow weather warnings for snow and ice in the rest of the UK.

     The UK weather forecaster also warned of “potentially disruptive” snow and ice in parts of East Anglia, including Norwich.

     A band of rain, sleet and snow is expected in southern counties including Kent and Sussex between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

     The RAC, which said it was dealing with a record number of breakdowns, expects Monday to be the busiest day so far this winter for call-outs.

     National Highways, the organisation responsible for motorways and roads in England, has warned that some rural communities in the north-west could be cut off for a short time by severe weather.

     Amy Fellows, the agency’s national network manager, said: “Freezing conditions bring so many hazards such as snow and ice, so take every possible step to understand your journey in advance and allow lots of extra time when travelling to prepare for the unexpected.”

     A cold-health alert has been issued by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), which could have an adverse impact for the health and social care sectors.

     Dr Agostinho Sousa, the UKHSA head of extreme events and health protection, said: “The temperatures we will see can rapidly have a serious impact on the health of those over the age of 65 and those with pre-existing health conditions as it increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes and chest infections.

     “It is therefore vital to check in on friends, family and neighbours to ensure they are well prepared for the cold weather this week.”…

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135. And adverse winter weather continues in North America:

     “Arctic blast continues to sweep entire US setting record-low temperatures
     Sub-zero wind chills grip swathe of country as Arctic storms leave at least four dead and knock out electricity in parts of north-west”

     https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/15/us-weather-arctic-blast-extreme-cold

     Dangerous freezing air from the Arctic continued sweeping across the US on Monday, prolonging a bitter cold blast that has set record-low temperatures and disrupted daily life across a broad swathe of America, including an NFL playoff game and the presidential nominating contest in Iowa.

     From Oregon on the west coast to New York state on the east coast and all the way down to Florida, the US grappled with the effects of a weather system that hit tens of millions of people.

     The National Weather Service said wind chills are expected to push temperatures to -30F (-34C) from the Northern Rockies to northern Kansas and into Iowa, testing the hardiness of caucus-goers willing to brave the deep chill on Monday and prompting dire warnings of the risk of frost bite for those venturing outside.

     Arctic storms left at least four dead and knocked out electricity to tens of thousands in the north-west, brought snow to the south and walloped the north-east with blizzard conditions forcing the postponement of the Pittsburgh Steelers v Buffalo Bills NFL playoff game hosted in bone-chilling conditions in Buffalo, New York.

     Sub-zero wind chills will grip much of the country, plunging to -50F (-45C) in Montana and the Dakotas.

     “It takes a matter of minutes for frostbite to set in,” the South Dakota department of public safety said in a statement on Sunday urging people to stay indoors.

     Other parts of the country could see temperatures drop 25 to 40 degrees F below normal, from the Rockies to the Ohio Valley.

     As temperatures in Texas plunged, the state’s power grid operator appealed to residents to voluntarily conserve electricity on Monday morning due to the cold weather causing “record-breaking demand” for energy….

     LikeLiked by 1 person

136. They’re getting hit quite badly in the US by Arctic weather, but here in the UK it’s just a bit nippy. The newspaper headlines are ridiculous. It’s going to warm up again this week and then . . . . . guess what? More RAIN!

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137. “Arctic Sea Ice Soars to Highest Level for 21 Years”

     https://dailysceptic.org/2024/01/16/arctic-sea-ice-extent-soars-to-highest-level-for-21-years/

     The dramatic, if largely unpublicised, recovery in Arctic sea ice is continuing into the New Year. Despite the contestable claims of the ‘hottest year ever’ (and even hotter in 2024), Arctic sea ice on January 8th stood at its highest level in 21 years. Last December, the U.S.-based National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) revealed that sea ice recorded its third highest monthly gain in the modern 45-year record. According to the science blog No Tricks Zone, the reading up to January 8th has now far exceeded the average for the years 2011-2020. It also exceeds the average for the years 2001-2010, and points directly upwards with regard to the average for the years 1991-2000….

     …Of course this is only about half a winter’s worth of data, and we must be careful not to follow alarmists down their chosen political path of cherry picking and warning of climate collapse on the basis of individual events. But as we have seen in recent Daily Sceptic articles, the current recovery in Arctic sea ice is a climate trend that can be taken back to around 2007. In a recent paper, the Danish scientist Allan Astrup Jensen provided data showing a fall in the sea ice between 1997 and 2007 but minimal losses in the 45-year record both before and after this period. The investigative journalist Tony Heller draws a four-year moving average to show a small recovery in the lowest ice extent in September from around 2012. He also notes that 1979 was a recent high point, with lower ice levels in the 1970s going back to the 1950s….

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138. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/gallery/2024/jan/15/iowa-severe-cold-weather-in-pictures

     Also:

     “About 1,000 tourists trapped in China’s Xinjiang after avalanches”

     https://www.reuters.com/world/china/about-1000-tourists-trapped-chinas-xinjiang-after-avalanches-2024-01-16/

     Around 1,000 tourists remain stranded in a remote holiday village after avalanches hit China’s northwestern Xinjiang region with metres-high snow and fickle weather impeding evacuation, state TV reported on Tuesday.

     Road access to Hemu village, a scenic destination near the borders of Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia where the tourists were trapped, has been cut off by avalanches for several days now. The village is situated in Xinjiang’s Altay Prefecture where continuous snowfall in some areas has lasted 10 days, it said.

     The heavy snowfall triggered dozens of avalanches along large sections of highways in the Altay mountains leading to the Kanas scenic area, and some tourists were lifted by helicopter to safety, Chinese state media outlets reported over the weekend.

     Snow brought by the avalanches reach as high as seven metres in some parts and in many, was higher than snow clearing equipment, CCTV said.

     Work to clear the 50-km (31-mile) stretch of buried road started a week ago…

     …”This avalanche situation is relatively special, we have seen such heavy snowfall before, but we have not seen such high frequency of avalanches,” the head of the highway management bureau, Zhao Jinsheng, told CCTV….

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139. You have to hand it to the Guardian – in the midst of freezing temperatures, it manages to turn the story into a bit of pro-global warming/climate change propaganda:

     “Why is it so cold in the UK right now – and how long will Arctic chill last?
     With temperatures as low as -15C forecast, many want to know when milder weather will arrive”

     https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/17/why-is-it-so-cold-in-the-uk-right-now-and-how-long-will-arctic-chill-last

     …“I find it quite interesting that we’re all freaking out about it being so cold at the moment,” he said. “These temperatures would have been a much more common occurrence 20 to 30 years ago.”

     We’ve acclimatised to the new normal, said Patterson; the overall trend towards warming. “We call it the ‘shifting baseline syndrome’,” he said. “Climate change means we’re not as used as we once were to very cold days. We’ve forgotten what it used to be like before the warming trend.”

     The truth is that, despite this cold snap, warm days are getting warmer and cold days are getting warmer as well. In other words, we’re not getting many of these very cold days, which are just the natural, normal variability of weather….

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140. “2023 Was Not the “Hottest Year on Record” for Over 70% of the World’s Population, Data Show”

     https://dailysceptic.org/2024/01/19/2023-was-not-the-hottest-year-on-record-for-over-70-of-the-worlds-population-data-show/

     Worth a read, IMO, because as usual Chris Morrison goes into some detail, and he also raises the possibility of Hunga Tonga having an influence. References to urban heat island effects and also to the U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN) database are interesting too.

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141. “‘My whole house is buried’: Nova Scotia gets extreme snow”

     https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-68223354

     Pam Leader, a resident of Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, Canada, was snowed in her home for three days. Grocery shops are open for a few hours a day as a state of emergency has been declared.

     “China: Snowstorms spoil Lunar New Year travel for millions”

     https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-68224539

     …China’s meteorological service has warned of the worst winter weather since 2008. The country’s central region – including provinces like Hebei, Hubei, and Anhui – has borne the brunt of the freezing conditions.

     On social media, Chinese people said the bitter cold spoiled their plans to reunite with family. They posted pictures of themselves stranded in trains and railway stations as power lines were cut….

     “Orcas gasp for air whilst trapped in drift ice off the coast of Japan”

     https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-68222247

     Yes, I know, it’s weather, not climate, and it’s in parts of the northern hemisphere only, but while this is going on the Guardian is all breathless about the hottest January ever or something:

     https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/06/world-not-prepared-for-climate-disasters-after-warmest-ever-january

     LikeLiked by 1 person

142. January global lower tropospheric mean temperature anomaly slightly up on December. The planet is still simmering nicely after coming to the boil in 2023 and there are major changes in atmospheric circulation patterns which are responsible for observed extreme weather patterns. The north Atlantic is also very warm. I wonder what could be causing all this? NOT the slow accumulation of allegedly man-made GHGs that’s for sure.

     

     LikeLiked by 1 person

143. “

     Weather tracker: Powerful blizzard strikes California

     Faye Hulton for MetDesk

     Strong winds and snow pose threat to life in Sierra Nevada mountains, while snowfall cuts power in northern India”

     https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/04/weather-tracker-blizzard-california-winds-lightning-snow-sierra-nevada-mountains

     “California was hit by a powerful blizzard at the weekend that affected the Sierra Nevada mountain range. A blizzard is a combination of dry, powdery snow alongside strong winds; it can also contain lightning. Under its most intense bursts, the blizzard that struck California produced up to 152mm (6in) of snow an hour and 190mph (306km/h) gusts.

     By 6am local time on Saturday, the Mammoth Mountain ski area received 0.6 metres (almost 2ft) of snow and was forced to close. The National Weather Service described this event as life threatening. The snow continued to fall overnight, with up to 3.7 metres sweeping the highest parts of the mountain range by Sunday morning.

     Warnings for extreme avalanches were put in place across the greater Tahoe region until that afternoon and people were advised to remain indoors. Although conditions look more settled at the start of this week, there is a risk of further snowfall on Wednesday.

     Meanwhile, northern India also experienced significant snowfall and rainfall in recent days. Over high ground, in Himachal Pradesh, more than 500mm of snow was recorded early last week, leading to 350 road closures including four national highways. The snowfall cut power to many, and people have been urged to not leave their homes unless necessary amid avalanche concerns….

     …Later in the week, temperatures are likely to drop across the Persian Gulf to 10C (50F) below the seasonal average across Oman, the UAE, southern Iran and Saudi Arabia.”

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144. if you look at this analysis, 2020 was probably worse

     https://marriott-stats.com/nigels-blog/uk-weather-trends-winter-2024/

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145. Terrible weather news from Pakistan:

     “Pakistan: At least 35 die due to surprise snowfall and heavy rains”

     https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-68476139

     At least 35 people died while dozens more were injured as freezing rain and unexpected snowfall hit remote areas of Pakistan over the weekend.

     Twenty-two children were among the fatalities, many of whom were crushed in landslides that buried their homes, disaster management authorities said.

     The extreme weather hit Pakistan’s northern and western regions, clogging roads and damaging hundreds of houses.

     Experts were surprised by the snow as Pakistan is typically humid in March….

     Experts keep getting surprises, but it doesn’t stop them telling us what the reason is:

     Mushtaq Ali Shah, a former director of the country’s meteorological department, attributed the unusual conditions to climate change….

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146. Mark,

     It’s because this is now part of the authorised scientific narrative:

     https://theconversation.com/global-warming-may-be-behind-an-increase-in-the-frequency-and-intensity-of-cold-spells-223153

     According to the new framing, even cold-related deaths in winter can be chalked up to climate change.

     LikeLiked by 2 people

147. If it’s not the Green grifter/global warming nutters telling us it’s because of man-made GHG induced ‘climate breakdown’, it’s the geoengineering loons telling us it’s the nefarious global weather modification conspiracy that’s responsible. The anti-science fanatics are seeing sky-dragons everywhere now. Nothing which happens either in the atmosphere or on the ground as a result is natural, it’s all man-made and it’s either your fault or their fault. The Unenlightenment is certainly gathering pace.

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148. Jaime,

     Variability is a godsend to theorisers as long as they can see significance in every extreme. They just need a theory for which every extreme is accommodated. And when one comes along that isn’t, they can just say ‘it is worse than we thought’ and adjust their models. Randomness implies gaps in knowledge. Being able to say that this is not so random puts the theoriser back on the front foot, which is where they need to be to gain approval.

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149. Whatever it is, it’s unprecedented

     LikeLiked by 1 person

150. what a precidented thing to write Beth.

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151. “Some Chiefs fans needed amputations after frigid playoff game, hospital confirms

     • Hospital says fans suffered frostbite at Chiefs playoff game
     • Kickoff temperature at Arrowhead was minus-4F (minus-20C)”

     https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/mar/09/kc-chiefs-fans-amputations-playoff-game

     “Some of the people who attended the near-record cold Kansas City Chiefs playoff game in January had to undergo amputations after suffering frostbite, a Missouri hospital said Friday.

     Research Medical Center didn’t provide exact numbers but said in a statement that it treated dozens of people who had experienced frostbite during an 11-day cold snap in January. Twelve of those people – including some who were at the 13 January game – had to undergo amputations involving mostly fingers and toes. And the hospital said more surgeries are expected over the next two to four weeks as “injuries evolve”.

     The University of Kansas hospital said it also treated frostbite victims after the game but didn’t report any amputations.

     The temperature for the Dolphins-Chiefs wildcard playoff game was minus-4F (minus-20C), and wind gusts made for a windchill of minus-27F (minus-33C). That shattered the record for the coldest game in Arrowhead Stadium history, which had been 1F (minus-17C), set in a 1983 game against Denver and matched in 2016 against Tennessee.

     The wildcard game was played the same day the Buffalo Bills were supposed to host the Pittsburgh Steelers, but that game was pushed back a day because a blizzard dumped up to two feet (0.61m) of snow in New York and made traveling to the game too dangerous…”

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152. “Seoul blanketed by heaviest November snow on record”

     https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpqdgw7lzw0o

     Seoul has recorded its heaviest November snowfall since records began over a century ago in 1907.

     The South Korean capital was covered with at least 16 cm of snow on Wednesday – beating the city’s previous record of 12.4cm from November 1972.

     It caused significant disruption across the country, with local media reporting that flights had been grounded, roads closed, and that there were delays to transport services.

     Of course, it’s just weather, nothing more. However, it was a pleasant surprise to find that it wasn’t labelled by the BBC as part of the climate crisis (sic). But then that might be a bit difficult, given that the prevailing narrative is how we’re all going to die from the heat.

     LikeLiked by 1 person

153. Ah ha! I should have known it would be climate change:

     “Four killed and flights cancelled as heavy snowfall blankets Seoul

     South Korea’s capital has been hit by some of the heaviest snowfall in a century, with dangerous conditions wreaking havoc on transport”

     https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/28/south-korea-weather-seoul-snow-death-toll-flights-cancelled

     …The unusually heavy November snow has been attributed to the warmer-than-usual temperature of seawaters west of the Korean peninsula which then encountered currents of cold air….

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154. Mark – the BBC article says –

     “Thursday’s snowfall was the third-heaviest in capital Seoul since records began in 1907, the Yonhap news agency said, citing city data. The previous day broke all snowfall records for November.“

     So It was a record for November, but has been worse in other months “since records began in 1907”. Wonder what 2 years & months they were?

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155. dfhunter, this should answer your question:

     From the Korea Herald:

     The heaviest snowfall ever recorded in Seoul was 31 cm on March 24, 1922, followed by 30 cm on Jan. 31, 1969. Until today, the third highest was 28.6 cm on Feb. 1, 1969. As recent weather data takes precedence, Thursday’s accumulation became the third highest snowfall.

     LikeLiked by 1 person

156. “‘Arctic’ blast in US after Thanksgiving travellers fill airports”

     https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgd70zxvg8o

     Parts of the US face a “significant Arctic outbreak” for the Thanksgiving holiday, which includes some of the country’s busiest travel days of the year.

     “Dangerously cold wind chills” are anticipated over the northern Plains on Thursday by the National Weather Service (NWS) with wind chills as low as -40C (-40F) in North Dakota into Saturday.

     Meanwhile, parts of the north-east including New England could see heavy snow into Friday morning, and the East Coast is expected to be hit by thunderstorms....

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157. It’s weather, not climate – but are temperatures starting to slide?

     “Severe winter storm puts much of US on high alert”

     https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0kvlkvzdgzo

     Tens of millions of Americans are bracing for a huge winter storm that could bring the heaviest snowfall and coldest temperatures in over a decade.

     The storm, which started in the middle of the US, will move east in the next couple of days, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.

     A state of emergency has been declared in the states of Kentucky and Virginia, andparts of the US unaccustomed to severe cold, including Mississippi and Florida, have been warned to expect treacherous conditions.

     Forecasters say the extreme weather is being caused by the polar vortex, an area of cold air that circulates around the Arctic.

     “For some, this could be the heaviest snowfall in over a decade,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

     AccuWeather forecaster Dan DePodwin said: “This could lead to the coldest January for the US since 2011.”

     He added that “temperatures that are well below historical average” could linger for a week.

     Those low temperatures will be on the east coast as well, where the storm is expected to reach by Sunday evening.…

     …Private meteorologist Ryan Maue said: “It’s going to be a mess, a potential disaster. This is something we haven’t seen in quite a while.”…

     LikeLiked by 1 person

158. Never mind, global warming is so old school, It’s exactly what we expect from a warming planet & climate change said a top US climate scientist, adding, I have a model run that predicted this very event, but it’s top secret.

     The same top climate scientist said the snow in the UK this time of year is unusual, but said “make the most of it Brits, might be the last you ever see”, adding he/she had another secret model.

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159. Counting the cost of winter storms

     https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c1mr4pn811xt

     06:00

     As the US reels from Storm Blair, hundreds of flights have been cancelled and thousands more delayed. There are also road closures and downed power lines in several states.

     These winter storms can hurt the economy. Extreme weather can damage physical infrastructure such as roads, buildings, and vehicles. Beyond that, winter storms also interrupt normal business activity.

     Power outages, road closures and travel disruptions mean businesses have to close, suspend services or operate with skeletal staffing.

     All of this can lead to huge losses as seen with recent storms. A severe cold wave in many parts of the US in January 2024 cost the economy $3.6bn (£1.37bn), according to official estimates.

     The year before that, a winter storm hit several states in the north-east in February, resulting in losses worth $1.8bn in the world’s largest economy.

     A powerful Arctic front in December 2022 had proved even costlier, with widespread disruption across the US leading to damages worth an estimated $9bn.

     The costliest winter storm on record was in February 2021 – $27bn.

     Interesting to see this, and credit to the BBC for talking about it. The usual suspects (charities, climate lobby groups, NGOs etc) spend a lot of money having reports prepared telling us about the economic cost of “extreme weather” (by which they mean storms caused by global warming/climate change) but they’re not so keen to talk about this sort of thing. Sadly too, I expect this cold weather to kill many more people than summer heat in the US.

     LikeLiked by 1 person

160. Oops. Who ate the climate cultists’ global warming? I’m sure this has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the knock on after effects of sudden warming from the volcano that shall not be named.

     Starting to wonder what’s going on. During next 2-weeks, extreme cold over Northern Hemisphere continents may be enough to return global temperatures to the 1991-2020 climatological mean temporarily erasing the last 5-years of global warming.

     

     https://x.com/RyanMaue/status/1879602851175129229

     LikeLiked by 2 people

161. “Donald Trump’s inauguration moved indoors due to ‘dangerous’ cold”

     https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ceq9917rl18o

     President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural address on 20 January will take place indoors due to dangerously cold weather being forecast next week in Washington, he has confirmed...

     …The last president to be sworn-in indoors was Ronald Reagan in 1985, when cold weather also plagued the US Capitol...

     …Extreme cold has been forecast in Washington DC on inauguration day, with temperatures expected to hit a low of -11C (12F) and a high of -5C (23F). With wind chill factored in, the temperature will feel significantly colder.

     The weather forms part of a larger polar vortex that will send temperatures plummeting across the US....

     LikeLiked by 1 person

162. “Parts of Japan blanketed by thick snow during strongest cold front for years

     Hokkaido and the Japan Sea coast have been hardest hit, forcing domestic airlines to cancel flights between cities in the region and Tokyo”

     https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/06/japan-snow-hokkaido-sea-coast-impact-flights-cancelled-tokyo

     Large parts of Japan have been blanketed with snow, as the lowest temperatures this winter disrupted rail and air travel, amid warnings that more heavy snowfall was expected through the weekend.

     Residents struggled to dig out cars that had been buried by snow in just a few hours, with the meteorological agency describing the cold front as the “strongest in several years”.

     Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost main island and the Japan Sea coast have been hardest hit, forcing domestic airlines to cancel flights between cities in the region and Tokyo. Train services in parts of central Japan were also cancelled, according to the Kyodo news agency. The snow closed several roads, prompting officials to urge motorists to fit snow tyres.

     The town of Shirakawa in Gifu prefecture saw 129 cm of snowfall in just 48 hours – a record high, the meteorological agency said, while snowfall reached almost a metre in depth in Joetsu, Niigata prefecture, and Honbestu in Hokkaido....

     ...Unusually warm weather throughout January had, ironically, caused anxiety among organisers of this year’s snow festival in Sapporo, where about 200 ice and snow sculptures went on display this week....

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