National Weather Service | A View from the Nest

Northern hemisphere glaciation during the last ice ages. The accumulation of 3 to 4 km thick ice sheets caused a sea level lowering of about 120 m. Also, the Alps and the Himalayas were covered by glaciers. Winter sea ice coverage was much more limited in the south. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Genesis 8:22 (GW)
²²As long as the earth exists, planting and harvesting, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never stop.”

The meteorological term “polar vortex” entered the common parlance across the nation last week as temperatures plunged deeply below zero on Tuesday in a large part of the nation and all the lower 48 states experienced readings below freezing, creating inconvenience for many and hardship for others. Authorities blamed the cold for at least 21 deaths, several of them from traffic accidents. Meteorologists say a polar vortex — or, more specifically, a distorted polar vortex — is the reason for the Arctic blast.

According to CNN International senior meteorologist Brandon Miller, a polar vortex “is circulation of strong, upper-level winds that normally surround the northern pole in a counterclockwise direction — a polar low-pressure system.

These winds tend to keep the bitter cold air locked in the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere.” But, says Miller, “on occasion, this vortex can become distorted and dip farther south than you would normally find it, allowing cold air to spill southward … in any part of the Northern Hemisphere.”

The National Weather Service characterized last week’s cold outbreak as “historic and life-threatening.”

In the entirety of earth’s existence has there ever been times when it was colder than last week? That answer is a resounding yes. (Ice Age and the great thaw)

Therefore since it has been colder in the past, and I might add warmer as well, such temperature extremes are not unusual or historic unless of course our history only extends to our birth and not before. I am afraid that for many experience trumps real historic data, and since they have no memory of a time when it was so cold they form a conclusion that it has to be historic.

In our time however we are being told that these “drastic weather conditions” are a result of human activity. And if human activity is causing this to happen then we need to do something to stop it from happening.

Job 38:34-35 (GW)
³⁴Can you call to the clouds and have a flood of water cover you?
³⁵Can you send lightning flashes so that they may go and say to you, ‘Here we are’?

Now that is a good question isn’t it? if civilization has so much control over the climate and weather extremes then we should be able to harness the clouds and cause it to rain anytime we needed it to, or control lightning strikes, or even steer tornados away from populated areas to limit human casualties.

Our President was so bold to declare that his election was the moment “ when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal”. Not only has Obama presided over the receding ocean rise he has also overseen the receding employment rate and the receding income levels. Yes indeed his administration has seen a decline in many areas since he took office.

There are many factors that go into what affects our climate and I would suggest that human activity is very low on the real cause and effect list. Nature itself seems to play a bigger role in climate changes. Take for instance solar activity, or lack thereof. Water vapor and the ocean’s currents.

Since God made the heavens and the earth capable of sustaining human life, it makes perfect sense then that He and only He can change the climate and make it unfit for human life. Since we are the created and not the creator our powers are limited. And that is the way I see it. What say you?

This is a view from the nest.

But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness. _{Isaiah 40:31 (BBE)}

Along for the journey

This has been A View from the Nest. The statements, comments, or opinions expressed are solely that of the author and do not represent the views or opinions of the host of this site or any affiliates thereof. Any questions or comments should be directed to myself and not to the host or hosts of this site.

“In the evening you say that the weather will be fine because the sky is red. And in the morning you say that there will be a storm today because the sky is red and overcast. You can forecast the weather by judging the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. Matt 16:2-3 (GW)

Punxsutawney Phil Weather Prognosticator

Yesterday the world’s most famous four-legged weather forecaster, Punxsutawney Phil, predicted an early spring. Phil’s handlers told Groundhog Day revelers at Gobbler’s Knob, a tiny hill in Punxsutawney, Pa., that the groundhog had not seen his shadow, meaning winter will end within six weeks, according to tradition.

Meanwhile the nation was digging out from record snowfalls and fighting record low temperatures, caused by a recent winter storm.

Paul Kocin, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Washington, D.C., said the storm compares to some of the greatest ever largely because of its timing. He estimated 50 million people were affected.

The fearsome storm spread a smothering shroud of white over nearly half the nation, snarling transportation from Oklahoma to New England, burying parts of the Midwest under 2 feet of snow and laying down dangerously heavy ice in the Northeast.

The storm that resulted from two clashing air masses was extraordinarily rare for its size and ferocious strength. The storm derived its power from the collision of cold air sweeping down from Canada and warm, moist air coming up from the south.

Louis Uccellini, director of the government’s National Centers for Environmental Prediction, said the storm also drew strength from the La Nina (la NEEN’-ya) condition affecting the tropical Pacific Ocean.

La Nina is a periodic cooling of the surface temperatures of the tropical Pacific Ocean, the opposite of the better-known El Nino (el NEEN’-yoh) warming. Both can have significant impacts on weather around the world by changing the movement of winds and high and low pressure systems.

“A storm that produces a swath of 20-inch snow is really something we’d see once every 50 years maybe,” National Weather Service meteorologist Thomas Spriggs said.

It’s Global Warming Don’t You Know

Record-setting snow and cold afflicting much of the nation in recent weeks didn’t deter Al Gore from making dire warnings about global warming however.

The former Vice President on Monday January 31st responded to Fox News Channel host Bill OReilly’s on-air question last week: “Why has southern New York turned into the tundra?”

“I appreciate the question,” Gore wrote on his website.

“As it turns out, the scientific community has been addressing this particular question for some time now and they say that increased heavy snowfalls are completely consistent with what they have been predicting as a consequence of man-made global warming.”

Gore then quoted an article by Clarence Page in the Chicago Tribune in early 2010: “In fact, scientists have been warning for at least two decades that global warming could make snowstorms more severe. Snow has two simple ingredients: cold and moisture. Warmer air collects moisture like a sponge until it hits a patch of cold air. When temperatures dip below freezing, a lot of moisture creates a lot of snow.

“A rise in global temperature can create all sorts of havoc, ranging from hotter dry spells to colder winters, along with increasingly violent storms, flooding, forest fires and loss of endangered species.”

In other words, if there is record snow falls it is global warming, lack of snow during the winter is also a result of global warming, record droughts or record rainfall all are results of global warming. So whether you freeze or burn it is all a result of global warming. No matter what the weather forecast is for tomorrow you know it will be a result of global warming.

Cover via Amazon

In the movie “Groundhog Day,” Bill Murray plays weatherman Phil Connors doomed to relive Groundhog day, over and over, until he achieves some sort of spiritual discovery.

Whether Phil sees his shadow or not the forecast is always the same six weeks until spring.

“You want a prediction about the weather? You’re asking the wrong Phil,” Bill Murray’s character says in the movie “Groundhog Day.” He continues, “I’ll give you a winter prediction: It’s gonna be cold, it’s gonna be gray, and it’s gonna last you for the rest of your life.” Al Gore would say it is hot and getting hotter and it will last you the rest of your life.

Al Gore, Punxy Phil, the global warming crowd all continue to give the same forecast day after day. Now all they need to do is come up with a theme song to play every morning at 6 AM.

Perhaps we would do better by asking the creator of the weather what tomorrow’s forecast will be?