Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Sunday Globe Special: California Cold Snap

Maybe the global warming fart mist can warm them up

"Californians deal with a cold snap; Records could fall as frost takes aim at beaches" Associated Press, January 13, 2013

SAN DIEGO — Californians are bundling up with sweaters and gloves and stocking up on firewood as they endure a winter storm that has brought very unseasonable freezing temperatures.

The National Weather Service said records could fall as the cold snap extends into the weekend. ‘‘It’s only going to get colder,’’ specialist Bonnie Bartling of the Weather Service said....

Freeze warnings were issued for Sunday morning across wide swaths of the LA Basin and San Diego County. Residents were being urged to cover outdoor plants and bring pets inside.

Morning frost was expected on San Diego and Los Angeles beaches. Big Sur, on the central coast, prepared for daytime highs almost 20 degrees below Boston’s. Even the snowbird haven of Palm Springs saw temperatures hover around freezing at night. A low of 12 degrees was recorded in the snow-covered Big Bear mountain resort east of Los Angeles.

In addition, San Diego zookeepers turned up the heat for chimpanzees, tourists covered their hands on Hollywood walking tours, and some farmers broke out wind machines and took other steps to protect crops from freezing

Traffic was flowing again on a major Southern California traffic artery that was severed for the second time in three days because of snow....

In Sonoma County, homeless shelters handed out extra warm clothes to protect people from frigid overnight temperatures....  

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"Calif. crops surviving in midst of frigid temperatures" Associated Press, January 14, 2013

LOS ANGELES —Even polar bears at the San Diego Zoo [are] seeking shelter....   

Growers faced at least one more night of work as the forecast called for cold weather into Monday.... 

In the Los Angeles area, famously torrid Woodland Hills, which usually makes news for its triple-digit temperatures, had an overnight low of 30 degrees.

That was warm compared to Lancaster in north Los Angeles County, which hit 15 degrees.

Temperatures reached the low 20s in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In San Diego, zookeepers offered extra heat and shelter for some animals, including polar bears. Although the bears tolerate frigid climes, the zoo animals lack the fat layers that naturally occur in the wild and protect them from the cold. So, zookeepers offer them ‘‘warming apparatuses,’’ zoo spokeswoman Jenny Mehlow said.

‘‘The animals do take this in stride because they’re wearing a nice, warm fur coat,’’ she said.

In Sonoma County, homeless shelters handed out extra warm clothes to protect people from frigid overnight temperatures. 

That would be two nights in a row, right?



That was eight weeks before winter.  

"Heavy rain, snow grip northern area

SAN FRANCISCO — Heavy rain and lots of snow in the mountains were forecast in Northern California, which faced another weekend of wintry weather. A day after a storm system moved across the region, a second system is expected to hit the area on Sunday. The National Weather Service said the San Francisco Bay area will get heavy rain, with waves up to 16 feet along the coast (AP)."

Yeah, global warming.  Pffft!

More Sunday Globe Specials:

"This weekend’s wintry blast.... a foot of snow to some areas."

"Climate talks end with agreement to extend Kyoto pact; Wealthy nations delay resolving financial aid" by John M. Broder  |  New York Times, December 09, 2012

DOHA, Qatar — The annual United Nations climate change negotiations drew to a close here late Saturday after the customary all-night negotiating session and the recriminations over who should bear the costs and burdens of a warming planet.

Is it, and why is a cooling planet(?) minimized in my news pages?

Delegates from more than 190 nations agreed to extend the increasingly ineffective Kyoto Protocol for a few more years and to commit to more ambitious — but unspecified — actions to reduce emissions of climate-altering gases.

Wealthy nations put off for a year resolution of the dispute over providing billions of dollars in aid to countries most heavily affected by climate change. Industrial nations have pledged to secure $100 billion a year by 2020 in public and private financing to help poor countries cope with climate change, but have been vague about what they plan to do before then.  

A s*** diversion when the real problems are the the pollution, chemicals, and drugs (or worse) fouling the environment.

Only a handful of countries, not including the United States, have made concrete financial pledges for adaptation aid over the next few years.

Todd D. Stern, the senior US negotiator, said that the United States would continue to provide substantial climate-related aid to vulnerable countries. But he said he was not in a position, given the fiscal cliff talks in Washington and the congressional budgeting process, to promise new US financing....

It has long been evident that the UN talks were at best a partial solution to the planetary climate change problem, and at worst an expensive sideshow. The most effective actions to date have been taken at the national, state, and local levels....

While the United States has not adopted a comprehensive approach to climate change, the Obama administration has put in place a significant auto emissions reduction program and a plan to regulate carbon dioxide from new power plants. California has adopted a cap-and-trade system for 2013.

Other countries, including South Korea, Australia, and most of Europe, started earlier and have gone much further. It is those kinds of efforts that hold the most promise, at least in the short term, for controlling a problem that scientists say is growing worse faster than any of them predicted even a few years ago....

A few years ago they were freezing their asses off in Copenhagen amidst the Climategate scandal! 

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Related: Banks Will Save the World From Global Warming

After what we have seen the last four years you still believe that, readers? 

UPDATE: At a Climate Fiscal Cliff 

And over you go!

Related: Fed Chief Coined Term Fiscal Cliff

Yeah, I'm reaching for my wallet when I hear that term.

Even those on your side are not for you:

"Climate skeptics target states’ energy laws" by Juliet Eilperin  |  Washington Post, December 02, 2012

WASHINGTON — The Heartland Institute, a libertarian think tank skeptical of climate change science, has joined with the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council to write model legislation aimed at reversing state renewable energy mandates.

Skeptical with good reason.

The Electricity Freedom Act, adopted by the council’s board of directors in October, would repeal state standards requiring utilities to get a portion of their electricity from renewable power, calling it ‘‘essentially a tax on consumers of electricity.’’

Related: NStar Passes Wind On To Customers

Can't you $mell it?

Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have binding renewable standards; in the absence of federal climate legislation, these initiatives have become the subject of intense political battles.

The legislative council, or ALEC, is a conservative-leaning group of state legislators from all 50 states that has sought to roll back climate regulation in the past. It lost some corporate sponsors early this year because of its role promoting ‘‘stand your ground’’ laws that allow the use of force in self-defense without first retreating when faced with a serious threat.

But the involvement of the Heartland Institute, which posted a billboard in May comparing those who believe in global warming to domestic terrorist Theodore Kaczynski, shows the breadth of conservatives’ efforts to undermine environmental initiatives on the state and federal level. In many cases, the groups involved accept money from oil, gas, and coal companies that compete against renewable energy suppliers.

The Heartland Institute received more than $7.3 million from Exxon Mobil between 1998 and 2010, and nearly $14.4 million between 1986 and 2010 from foundations affiliated with Charles and David Koch, whose firm Koch Industries has substantial oil and energy holdings.

James Taylor, the Heartland Institute’s senior fellow for environmental policy, said he was able to persuade most of ALEC’s state legislators and corporate members to push for a repeal of laws requiring more solar and wind power use on the basis of economics.

‘‘Renewable power mandates are very costly to consumers throughout the 50 states, and we feel it is important that consumers have access to affordable electricity,’’ Taylor said.

Taylor dismissed the idea that his group pushed for the measure because it has accepted money from fossil-fuel firms: ‘‘The people who are saying that are trying to take attention away from the real issue — that alternative energy, renewable energy, is more expensive than conventional energy.’

Renewable-energy officials said setting renewable targets is a way to diversify a state’s energy mix and lock in long-term prices, while alternative energy costs continue to decline.

It remains unclear whether the new drive to repeal state renewable standards will succeed: Similar efforts over the past two years have failed in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, Massachusetts, Ohio, Oregon, and Washington.

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UPDATE:

Shock: NYTimes Shuts Environmental Desk – Global Warming Meme Going Extinct?

Lately, with the advent of what we call the Internet Reformation, the predigested sophism of outlets such as the New York Times has become less and less appetizing. As fewer turn to the Times for news and information, the publication has languished, and so have its fiefdoms like the Boston Globe."