Rain? In Iqaluit? In February?

[Minstrel Boy]

Rain? In Iqaluit? In February?

Feb 28

Residents of Iqaluit and Pangnirtung have been stowing away their parkas and kamiks this week and pulling out raincoats. Warm temperatures and rain showers across southern Baffin Island have broken almost every record on the books.

"The snow is melting off the roof, I can't believe it, it's unreal," says Iqaluit resident Dennis Shappa. "If it freezes over, you know, caribou are going to have a hard time getting to their source of food," says a concerned Moses Kilabuk.

....

"You know what? In the 26 years that I've been looking at the weather in the North, this is one that I'm going to remember for a while," says Yvonne Bilan-Wallace, a meteorologist with Environment Canada's Arctic Weather Centre in Edmonton.

"Can you believe these temperatures? Six-point-eight degrees in Pangnirtung. That's plus. And 4.2 degrees in Iqaluit. That breaks about a 60-year record." The normal high for this time of year is –21 C.

CBC North

[niyad]

1. let's see--they're having to make snow for some sled dog race, there

is some ice skating event on a river that cannot be held because there is no ice, the ice fishing in the northern states isn't happening, BUT THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS GLOBAL WARMING, according to the boyking and his cohorts.

[CHIMO]

2. The normal high for this time of year is –21 C.

The warm weather has come with high winds, which in Pangnirtung reached 125 km/h, destroying a building and breaking windows.

The wonky weather came after Environment Canada had been forecasting snow and blizzards for several days. The off-base forecast has Nunavut's education minister, Ed Picco, calling for better services from Environment Canada.

http://www.cbc.ca/north/story/iqaluit-rain-28022006.html

"It's about having a three-ocean navy, a robust army and a revitalized air force," he said in Ottawa on Thursday. "Increasing the strength of the Canadian Forces to at least 75,000 regular force personnel is a clear priority. We will also intend to increase the reserve force by 10,000."

He said Canada will sign a new North American Aerospace Defence Command agreement with Washington within months.

The new deal would expand Norad's role so that Canada and the U.S. share responsibilities for patrolling the waters off North America.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/02/23/defence060223.html

[megatherium]

13. The Canadians are fortunate to control a vast area of high-latitude

territory. We are all going to need a place to live when the global temperature has risen 11C to 15C. So news that the Canadians are strengthening their defenses is no surprise.

[KittyWampus]

17. wouldn't a rise in temperature lead to a rapid decline in temperatures?

as much more water ends up in the atmosphere?

Global Warming is a really unfortunate choice of words.

Global Volatility is more appropriate, IMO.

[megatherium]

19. No: it's global warming,

including in particular an increase in high-latitude temperatures (already causing significant disruptions to northern ecosystems). Global variability sounds too much like "global climate change," which is a term introduced by the Republicans as a euphemism to deflect attention away from global warming.

As I understand it, if things warm to a certain point, a tipping point will be reached where the warming will accelerate, resulting in a climate permanently much warmer than present. They're talking about temperature increases of 4.5C now, or possibly 11C or even 15C (holy shit). That is, warming will entail not negative feedback loops that correct the temperature, but instead positive feedback that worsens the problem. I think water vapor is one of the possible positive feedback mechanisms (water vapor is a greenhouse gas), although increased cloud cover would moderate things. Perhaps you're thinking of a disruption of the Gulf Stream caused by warming Arctic waters (possibly already beginning); this could remove that moderating influence in Northern Europe and make winters there harsher. (I don't know how this would affect global temperatures, however; my impression is it wouldn't end global warming.)

[NickB79]

35. So a thermohaline cycle collapse wouldn't effect N. America?

I've always wondered what effects that would have on Canada and the US, if our eastern shoreline is moderated in the same way Europe's western shoreline is.

[lumberjack_jeff]

28. There's a lot of scientific data...

indicating that the last ice age was caused by a massive dump of fresh water into the North Atlantic caused by the breach of a huge lake. This fresh water distrupted the gulf stream, plunging the earth into an ice age.

Glaciers are melting, dumping vast quantities of fresh water into the oceans. The Gulf stream has slowed 30% in the last 12 years.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1898493,00.html

[petronius]

36. Not the last ice age, but a period of rapid cooling at the beginning

of the current interglacial called the Younger-Dryas event.

[marmar]

3. Dramatic climate change is happening more rapidly...

than I would have thought. Lord help us!

[mom cat]

6. We may very well be past the tipping point now. Conserve like

crazy. Get back to the basics. Stop buying "stuff". the things you will soon throw away anyway. We have to treat this as if our lives depended on our actions. They do!

[Inland]

4. We are so fucked. nt

[efhmc]

5. The world belongs to the rightwing and they like things warm. So best

get use to it.

[Clara T]

7. Global Warring?

The leading contributor to global greenhouse gasses is the US military. What a contribution.

[CabalPowered]

8. Check out the size of the heat bloom

?click

:wow:

[Delphinus]

12. Crap!

What do you think caused that?!

[anotherdrew]

26. seriously, what could cause that?!? n/t

[htuttle]

15. Greenland looks toasty warm in that map!

Wonder what the temperature has been there lately? Looks like almost as warm as Baffin Island -- definitely seems to be above freezing.

"Drip, drop, drip, drop..."

[Canuckistanian]

9. I heard this on CBC radio today

And not only is this a record, these "postive" temperatures have only been recorded just three times in historical records.

[xchrom]

10. global climate warming.

[bdot]

11. And to translate into us non-C degree people.

That's a normal high temp of -5.8F
And a current temp of 44.24 F and 39.56F

[raccoon]

14. Thank you. nt

[hatrack]

16. This is seriously screwed-up

Can't wait to see what sea ice cover looks like by Labor Day.

[formercia]

18. Wally World profits to rise

by reducing the transportation costs of cheap consumer goods from Asia via the Northwest Passage to the East Coast and Europe.

[lovuian]

20. The World is changing before our eyes Global warming and

pole shift might be an explanation

[phusion]

22. is there proof that pole shift is happening?

Those are pretty sudden events (that is, 20-40 years) if I remember right...

[jpak]

21. I've been up that way

and you really don't see temps like that until July - "normally"

Truly bizarre - I wonder if that storm sucked a tongue of warm air up with it...

[CHIMO]

27. 'Arctic vortex' will delay spring for most of country

'Arctic vortex' will delay spring for most of country
Last Updated Wed, 01 Mar 2006 13:55:57 EST
CBC News

Dale Marciski at Environment Canada said "a late arctic vortex" that moved in on northern parts of Hudson Bay last month is to blame for the cold temperatures in southern Ontario and Western Canada.

"It's doing some very strange things," he said.

"It's pulling the cool air down across the Prairies and into Ontario, but on the other side it's pulling very warm air off the Atlantic.

"And actually, places like Iqaluit and Baffin Island are setting record warm temperatures lately."

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/03/01/weather-forecast060301.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/forcesofnature/weather.html

[Odin2005]

23. Jesus Christ

This is fucking rediculous.

[phusion]

24. K&R

:(

[Toots]

25. Wonder how Florida and Gulf Coast will fair in 2006

I think last year is only a small sample of what is in store for the good ol USA. You would thin mankind would want to error on the side of caution but not the GOP. It's "make hay while the sun shines for them" "Take while the taking is good." Funny thing about it is that the states likely to be hurt the worst are Red States and brought it on themselves.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

29. Last time I looked, most of the people in the "Red States" that.....

...are being hurt are the ones that are either too poor to be able to evacuate areas along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, or don't have the transportation to get out of harm's way. Before you posted your rather interesting comments, did you stop to think that the vast majority of people being hurt the most are members of the Democratic Party?

Additionally, I guess you've never heard of election fraud. Down here in the so-called "Red States", we know for a fact that we had a record turnout of voters in 2004 that were determined NOT to have another 2000. Guess what? Democrats don't control the voting machines (which are primarily optical scanning machines), don't control the voting machine software, and don't have custody of the ballots once they're "counted".

Every time I see an ignorant post like yours, I get really pissed off. Do you feel good about that, too?

[Toots]

30. Well stay and enjoy the weather this summer.

:shrug: You think Republicans didn't have houses that were destroyed? Get a grip...I'm saying you live in a danger zone if you live there. Republicans are not going to make anything better for the area. If you wish to stay there all I can say is enjoy it..

[raccoon]

31. Wrong, wrong, NOT ALL OF US in red states voted for the GOP.

"Funny thing about it is that the states likely to be hurt the worst are Red States and brought it on themselves."

[Lorien]

32. Er, I live in Florida and witnessed voter fraud firsthand

in 2000. I was even interviewed by the media about what took place at the polling station where I was volunteering-but ONLY Greg Palast of the BBC actually PRINTED any of that information. We aren't a "Red state" we're a state with voting machines and cops who are controlled by the GOP, as is America's media.

Global warming may indeed blow away my home this year. But you can bet your ass it'll cause you a great deal of pain too before you die.Looking for bad times to make political hay out of shouldn't be the issue; slowing climate change SHOULD.

[yurbud]

33. they could open up a Club Med and sell umbrella drinks to the tourist

sunning on the beach...

[bloom]

34. "ABC News - Earth Now "Melting At Both Ends"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=115&topic_id=44647&mesg_id=44647

http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/Technology/story?id=1678602&page=1&gma=true

"James Hansen, director of NASA's Earth Science Research, said that disaster could probably be avoided, but that it would require dramatically cutting emission outputs. If the proper actions aren't taken, Hansen said, the sea level could rise as much as 80 feet by the time today's children reach middle age."