The natural world. Looking pretty for 3.5b years.

Convergence & Storms

Author: Guest Writer/Saturday, February 9, 2013/Categories: Uncategorized

With the eastern USA in the grips of another massive storm, an obvious question is if a pattern may be underway.

Last fall, the confluence of three weather systems---a cold front from the north, tropical moisture from the south, and an energy mass from the west created Hurricane Sandy. A similar situation is now playing out again. A NOAA weather satellite observed the winter storm as it was building. The monster blizzard is now pummeling New York, Boston, and elsewhere:

(credit: NOAA-GEOS)

While weather systems known as Nor'easters have a long history, the real issue should be if the storm's amplitude and recognized weather patterns are changing in intensity. NASA has just published the results of a survey compiling the Scientific Consensus that concludes: "97% of all scientific societies worldwide now agree that humans have contributed to changing temperatures". Climate models predict this should occur with increased CO2 that impacts the dynamics of the atmosphere. A chart of temperature anomalies was developed from measurement gathered from around the world:

Temperature Anomalies, 1880-2012 (credit: NASA, NOAA, UK and Japan)

Initial estimates show that over 600,000 people are now without power and over 3' of snow continues piling up in the storm's path. The costs both public and environmental are still to be calculated.

WHB

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