John Hinderpooper from Power Tools
detects chilliness, and, as is the case with everything else he detects, this provokes idiocy.
If something doesn't change pretty soon 2009 may go down in history, in
some parts of the U.S. at least, as another year with barely any
summer. Here in Minnesota and across the Midwest, temperatures are
abnormally cold. I don't know whether the phenomenon is
world-wide--data that will answer this question have probably not been
assembled, and may not be honestly reported--but the current low level
of solar activity suggests that the cooling trend could indeed be
universal.
Here in Minneapolis, the temperature never reached 70 degrees
today--rather astonishing for the middle of July, our hottest month.
Most days recently, it hasn't been comfortable to be outdoors in the
evening without a fire and a sweatshirt. It feels more like October
than July. Thankfully, and unlike 1816, it hasn't snowed; the worst
consequence we fear is not getting any ripe tomatoes.
Today, walking down the street in downtown Minneapolis at 5:30, en
route from my office to my parking ramp, I saw something I've never
seen before: a man wearing a winter coat in July. Well, maybe not quite
a winter coat, but definitely a fall/winter semi-parka with an
unzipped, faux-fur lined hood. He was carrying a briefcase and looked
like a businessman who was tired of being cold every time he went
outdoors. In the summer.
I personally don't think that we (all of humankind, let alone we
Americans) can control the weather, but for those who do think we
possess that Godlike power, here's a request: can we turn the
thermostat up a little?
Fascinating. But stupid.
One cool summer, for openers, does not constitute a "trend." And what is the actual trend in Minnesota? The one based upon checking thermometers, as apart from the coat choices of random passerby? Why, the state is
getting hotter.
Over the period from the start of the NWS record in 1891 to the early 1980s, Minnesota's
average annual temperature essentially did not change; its trend was essentially zero.
Since the early 1980s, the temperature has risen slightly over 1°F in the south to a
little over 2°F in much of the north; the trend has been upward.
Much of the warming in the record seems to have occurred in the last 2 or 3 decades.
Moreover, in a northern state like Minnesota, average
winter temperature is more revealing than average summer temperature, in regards to the issue of global climate change:
Minimum or 'overnight low' temperatures have been rising faster than the maximum temperature.
Winter temperatures have been rising about twice as fast as annual average temperatures. Since these differences
are both indicated by 'greenhouse gas' climate model results they add strength to the attribution of
recent changes in temperature to anthropomorphic causes. Because they are so large,
trends in annual temperature will tend to be dominated by trends in winter and minimum temperature.
Also
entertaining:
The Twin Cities has fared better with the average temperature for the
first 14 days of July just a few degrees colder than normal, the 26th
coolest in the past 72 years.
John Hinderaker, ladies and gentlemen: you can't even trust him when he's talking about the fucking
weather.
