It´s the sun stupid

[BlasterBates]

spot the sunspot



I think it´s going to continue with the cold.

Now I´m waiting for the "see it´s global warming no sunspots and it´s only 10 degrees below average in Europe" comment.

[OwlHoot]

There's one!! Lower left, you can't miss it.

Oops, sorry, it's nothing. I sneezed on my monitor yesterday.

[EternalOptimist]

To most right thinking people, what Viner said meant that there will be so little snow that kids will wonder what it is when they see it, and once every 20 years we will get caught out.
That is an absolute joke right now, and Viner would not have used those words if he could, indeed, predict.

Other phrases that these fools have used, that they may try hard to wriggle out of

there is a concensus
the science is settled
they are using voodoo science
say what you think, not what you can prove
akin to holocaust deniers
no ice at the N Pole in 7 years
agw killed all the frogs
agw will kill all the polar bears
your view does not carry equal weight , because you are a denier
blow past your barriers

[DimPrawn]

Remember folks, this cold weather is just confined to northern europe. Just us, the rest of the World is burning up, especially in summertime.

Bitter summer freeze bites eastern states as summer gives way to snow and cold | News.com.au

Oh Dear!

[TimberWolf]

The BBC (I think) showed a nice image of what's going on this year. It's the jet stream. This usually brings in warm air for us. IIRC instead of it usually blowing horizontallyish across Scotland or something, it has done a little upward loop towards Greenland this year, which is unseasonally warm they say, and has then looped back down lower than the UK by our longitude, which has sucked in colder air from the Arctic and Russia. Sort of an upside down U in the Atlantic. I can't find the image but it was quite believable.

Though in the interests of balance I might also point out that they often pull the jet stream out of the hat when predictions don't go as expected or when we get cold summers, etc. Maybe global warming makes the jet stream go crazy?

[BlasterBates]

Erm, 2010 + 20 years is 2020, not this year. And it was not me who put quote marks round a quote that wasn't a quote.

Most people understand how these pieces are written, the journalist rings round a few experts, asks some leading questions and weaves the responses into a narrative, adding on qualifiers like 'in a few years ...'

Since the piece was written we have had 2 IPCC Assessment reports. Did any of them predict snow free UK winters by 2010? No.

Has the Met Office predicted the disappearance of snow by 2010? No.

Has any climatalogical or meteorological body predicted the disappearance of snow by 2010? No.

Did David Viner predict snow free winters by now? No, using his actual words he was talking about still having snow a decade from now.

So given that nobody has predicted a snow-free winter 2010, pointing out that it is snowy seems a bizarre, if entertaining, use of one's time....

ever heard of a Straw Man?

....he meant hardly any snow....not that we would be deluged by snow, and when it did appear, because it would be so rare, it would cause chaos.

I´m looking forward to the change of tack when global temperatures cool seriously over the next few years.

Will the Satellite temperatures diverge from GISS as they fiddle the figures even more?

I´ll look forward to that.

[EternalOptimist]

The BBC (I think) showed a nice image of what's going on this year. It's the jet stream. This usually brings in warm air for us. IIRC instead of it usually blowing horizontallyish across Scotland or something, it has done a little upward loop towards Greenland this year, which is unseasonally warm they say, and has then looped back down lower than the UK by our longitude, which has sucked in colder air from the Arctic and Russia. Sort of an upside down U in the Atlantic. I can't find the image but it was quite believable.

Though in the interests of balance I might also point out that they often pull the jet stream out of the hat when predictions don't go as expected or when we get cold summers, etc. Maybe global warming makes the jet stream go crazy?

It was a nice illustration TW. The problem is this, they are reduced to explaining what just happened, and are not much use at predicting what is about to happen, which is what we pay them for

[TimberWolf]

It was a nice illustration TW. The problem is this, they are reduced to explaining what just happened, and are not much use at predicting what is about to happen, which is what we pay them for

I must admit I had to laugh when they got a climate expert on yesterday to ask him whether the last few years were freak conditions or whether places like Heathrow should take this to be a new norm. Unpredictable he said, random, can't say. Yeah, any testable prediction isn't possible. As if climate isn't unpredictable on any scale.

He concluded by saying in as many words the other classic, 'we must have more funding'.

[VectraMan]

Erm, 2010 + 20 years is 2020, not this year.

Erm....

[DimPrawn]

I must admit I had to laugh when they got a climate expert on yesterday to ask him whether the last few years were freak conditions or whether places like Heathrow should take this to be a new norm. Unpredictable he said, random, can't say. Yeah, any testable prediction isn't possible. As if climate isn't unpredictable on any scale.

He concluded by saying in as many words the other classic, 'we must have more funding'.

And the governments of the world nodded and agreed and double everyones utility bills to pay for it, and Al Gore rubs his hands with glee as an AGW billionaire.

Nice work by all.