Tag Weather Phenomena

Never Ask a Ground Hog or Al Gore to Predict the Weather

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

“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.

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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?
As long as the earth exists, planting and harvesting, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never stop.” Gen 8:22 (GW)
And that is this week’s tail feather.

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 40:31Open Link in New Window (BBE)


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“Therefore, be alert, because you don’t know on what day your Lord will return. Matthew 24:42

Television
Image by videocrab via Flickr

Television stations across the U.S. began broadcasting Friday June 12 exclusively in digital, and millions of unprepared Americans scrambled for a signal.

Despite a year-long effort by the government, broadcasters and cable operators to warn people of the digital-TV switch, about 2.8 million households remained completely unprepared, according to Nielsen Co. Older Americans were more prepared than the national average, Nielsen found, but younger people and African-American and Hispanic households continued to lag behind.

Most Americans weren’t affected by the digital switch because they subscribe to cable or satellite TV services, which weren’t affected. An estimated 20 million U.S. households relied exclusively on free, over-the-air TV a year ago and had to either buy a new digital TV or get converter boxes for older TVs.

Procrastinators flooded call centers with requests for the government coupons. Nearly 31 million coupons had already been redeemed, but requests for coupons continued to pour in. On Thursday, the day before the change-over date, the government received 319,990 requests.

The switch was originally scheduled for February but was postponed to June 12 after Congress and the Obama administration worried millions of Americans weren’t ready.  For those who were not ready their televisions went black. They could no longer receive a signal, there was no longer any communication between their television set and the broadcast towers. They had run out of time.

When it comes to television not meeting a deadline is not the end of the world but there is a coming change-over that is exactly that… the end of the world! Will you be ready? Will you be prepared? Will you heed the warnings? Or will you, like so many analog television users, be left behind?

Take some time to contemplate that question because this is not the first time warnings were sounded and people refused to heed them. Even when it meant a possible loss of life. I recall Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath of that disaster. Although warned well in advance of landfall, many New Orleans residents did not prepare to evacuate the city and suffered enormous hardships once the storm reached land. Perhaps they too thought the storm would be delayed, or someone from the government would come along and carry them to safety. That did not happen and they had to weather the storm on their own. Some even refused rescue when rescue finally arrived.

Human nature being what it is, we all have a tendency to put off until tomorrow what should be done today. I am guilty of waiting until the last minute to get certain things done. I surely can find other things to do when it comes time to do the things I dislike doing. Of course some of my procrastination is planned and purposeful, like waiting till the last minute to pay taxes. J Anyway there are some warnings that should never be ignored, and the one warning that is a matter of life and death is the soon coming return of our Lord and Savior Jesus.

His first trip to this “third rock from the sun” was to bring the message of salvation to everyone who would heed his call, His next trip is not going to be so pleasant. He is not coming to die again on a cross but to bring judgment to those who have yet to react to the salvation message sent over 2000 years ago. Just like in the days of Noah, when all the wickedness the people were engaged in finally reached the point where God said enough was enough, He sent judgment from heaven to deal with the problem.


For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. Matthew 24:38-42

It just seemed like another day, things had remained much like they had for many years and even though Noah was building a huge boat, and warning of a soon coming flood, most people apparently did not take Noah seriously. They thought he was out of his mind. They paid no attention until it started to rain, and than I am not sure they gave it much thought until the water started to rise and not stop.

Continue reading “Left Behind” →