Category Archives: Climate

‘Record temperatures’ placed in context with station history | Watts Up With That?

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To be included as a record, the NCDC has a rather loose requirement for including stations. Their website has some problems witht he map plotter at the moment, but if I recall correctly, there a station can be included if it has a 30-year record and each year has coverage of at least 182 days. Therefore, any station that has recorded temperature data for half of each year since 1984 will be considered as setting a new record.

Such as loose definition, however, is likely very misleading to the media, politicians, and the general public. When most people hear that a new “record high temperature” has been set, they usually have a longer period of time in mind. I suspect that most people would react differently to an announcement of a “record high temperature” if they understood that the records began when Ronald Reagan was president. Of course, it is convenient for political reasons to maximize the number of “record high temperatures” because it fits the mandatory narrative about global warming or climate change.

Skeptics have been quick to point out that many of the stations in question have short records lasting only relatively short time scales, so these so-called record temperatures are relatively meaningless in the context of the longer times that most people are thinking about. Skeptics are also quick to point out when even the skewed NCDC records go the wrong way. For instance, the fact that 2013 had more daily record low temperatures than daily high records was fairly well communicated on skeptic blogs. (BTW, this trend has also continued for January and February of 2014, with more record low records than record highs.)

via ‘Record temperatures’ placed in context with station history | Watts Up With That?.

Down with E15

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Don’t come crying to me when you need to drop your tank and replace your fuel pump. And your injectors. And lots of other things. Obama did enough damage to those of us who like older cars with Cash for Clunkers, and now this crap.

It’s a dilemma for drivers: Do they choose a gasoline that’s cheaper and cleaner even if, as opponents say, it could damage older cars and motorcycles?

That’s the peril and promise of a high-ethanol blend of gasoline known as E15. The fuel contains 15 percent ethanol, well above the current 10 percent norm sold at most U.S. gas stations.

The higher ethanol blend is currently sold in fewer than two dozen stations in the Midwest, but could spread to other regions as the Obama administration considers whether to require more ethanol in gasoline.

As a result, there’s a feverish lobbying campaign by both oil and ethanol interests that has spread from Congress to the White House and the Supreme Court.

On Monday, the Supreme Court rejected a challenge by the American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry’s chief lobbying group, to block sales of E15. The justices left in place a federal appeals court ruling that dismissed challenges by the oil industry group and trade associations representing food producers, restaurants and others.

via Too much ethanol in gas? High-blend fuel prompts debate; are older cars, motorcycles at risk?.

Study: New E15 gas can ruin auto engines | WashingtonExaminer.com

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This week’s warm Washington temperatures had some thinking about rolling the Lawn-Boy out of the garage for the first cut of the year. And we all know what that means: Difficult starts due to E10 gas that gels when it sits.

Now, according to a new study, cars and truck may face the same fate thanks to President Obama’s demand for a higher ethanol in the new E15 gas.

The fuel industry’s American Petroleum Institute tested the 15 percent ethanol gas approved in 2010 and found it gums up fuel systems, prompts “check engine” lights to come on, and messes with fuel gauge readings.

“Failure of these components could result in breakdowns that leave consumers stranded on busy roads and highways,” said the industry report. Worse: API said the fuel problems–not found in E5 or E10 blends–aren’t always covered by auto warranties.

The industry prefers pure fuel to an ethanol mix, but the report isn’t likely to slow the administrations green push, according to a Washington auto lobbyist.

via Study: New E15 gas can ruin auto engines | WashingtonExaminer.com.

Watts Up With That?: Oooops! (at least they didn’t name it ‘robust’)

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Well, who would expect a wind turbine to stand up to wind?

The £250,000 tower, which stood as tall as a ten storey building, was hit by gale force gusts of 50mph.

The structure then collapsed at a farm in Bradworth, Devon, leaving a “mangled wreck”.

Margaret Coles, Chairwoman of Bradworthy District Council, said hail storms and strong winds have hit the area and the turbine, installed just three years ago, simply could not withstand the wind.

“The bolts on the base could not withstand the wind and as we are a very windy part of the country they [the energy company] have egg on their face,” she said. “There are concerns about safety.”

The Bradworthy Parish Council, who opposed the turbine, expressed concern that there was “nothing exceptional” in the speed of the winds.

Installed by renewable energy company Dulas it was supposed to have a life expectancy of 25 years.

via Oooops! (at least they didn’t name it ‘robust’) | Watts Up With That?.

Climate Catastrophe: The Myth of the Monster Storm – SPIEGEL ONLINE

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Hurricane Katrina had hardly devastated the southern US city of New Orleans five years ago before a “hurricane war” broke out among US scientists. The alarmists, using the rhetoric of fiery sermons, warned that Katrina was only the beginning, and that we would soon see the advent of superstorms of unprecedented fury. Members of the more levelheaded camp were vehemently opposed to such predictions and insisted that there was no justification for such fears.

The dispute escalated when Kevin Trenberth, a climatologist and a lead author of the IPCC report, announced at a press conference at Harvard University that there was a clear relationship between global warming and the increased intensity of hurricane activity. Chris Landsea, a meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center in Miami, was so furious over this unfounded prediction that he withdrew from his participation in the IPCC.

Now the two rivals have reached a surprising truce, and Landsea has largely prevailed with his reassuring assessment.

Last month Landsea, together with top US hurricane researchers, published a study that finally disproves the supposed link between hurricanes and global warming. The study concludes with the assessment that “tropical cyclone frequency is likely to either decrease or remain essentially the same.” Top wind speeds could increase somewhat, says Landsea, but the changes would “not be truly substantial.”

via Climate Catastrophe: The Myth of the Monster Storm – SPIEGEL ONLINE.

Challenging the Scientific Consensus on Climate Change | Watts Up With That?

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Anyone who knows me knows that consensus is usually the last evidence I consider. In fact, consensus tends to make me suspicious. It gives everyone an excuse to support stupid things, like Harry Potter (forgive me).

Consensus is often cited in support of scientific paradigms, including anthropogenic climate change. Australian physicist Tom Quirk has neatly dissected the consensus argument for the human role in climate change in an article in Quadrant Online entitled “Of climate science and stomach bugs.” This curiously entitled piece begins with the story of how Australians Barry Marshall and Robin Warren revolutionized the treatment of stomach ulcers in 1982 when they discovered that peptic ulcers are mainly caused by a bacterium.

via Challenging the Scientific Consensus on Climate Change | Watts Up With That?.