The floods battered New England, then Nashville, then Arkansas, then Oklahoma — and were followed by a deluge in Pakistan that has upended the lives of 20 million people.

Seemingly disconnected, these far-flung disasters are reviving the question of whether global warming is causing more weather extremes.

Theory suggests that a world warming up because of those gases will feature heavier rainstorms in summer, bigger snowstorms in winter, more intense droughts in at least some places and more record-breaking heat waves. Scientists and government reports say the statistical evidence shows that much of this is starting to happen.

“Global warming, ironically, can actually increase the amount of snow you get,” said Kevin Trenberth, head of climate analysis at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. “But it also means the snow season is shorter.”

“A comprehensive review of key climate indicators confirms the world is warming and the past decade was the warmest on record,” the annual State of the Climate report declares.

Compiled by more than 300 scientists from 48 countries, the report said its analysis of 10 indicators that are “clearly and directly related to surface temperatures, all tell the same story: Global warming is undeniable.”

Deke Arndt, chief of the Climate Monitoring Branch at the National Climatic Data Center, noted that the 1980s was the warmest decade up to that point, but each year in the 1990s was warmer than the ’80s average.

That makes the ’90s the warmest decade, he said.

But each year in the 2000s has been warmer than the ’90s average, so the first 10 years of the 2000s is now the warmest decade on record.

“What this data is doing is, it is screaming that the world is warming,” Thorne concluded.

Humorous look at who gains from global warming

Sea levels will rise 200 feet inundating cities like New York and Washington DC and flooding serious portions of Los Angeles and San Francisco. Florida will be under water as will New Orleans and Houston. Massive droughts will plague the US cutting our food production. Phoenix will see temperatures in excess of 120 degrees all summer.

The Arctic Ocean will be free of ice opening up the Northwest Passage for shipping and oil exploration.

Those who own land 201 feet above sea level will someday be able to sell beach front property.

 This summer’s heat waves on the East Coast may have serious ramifications in the November elections.

Could it be GOP political wizards have figured out the heat-related rise in GOP voters? Opposing climate change legislation might be necessary to protect their political future since they’ve alienated all the Hispanics in the country.

Coloring Roofs Really Can Help Fight Global Warming
posted 22nd July 2010 in Environment, Science by The Green Man

Climatologists, on the other hand, didn’t waste their time with idle speculation. They dedicated themselves to empirical study of the premises of Steven Chu’s suggestion. This week, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory released the results of its research of the concept. Their work found evidence that Chu was on the right track after all – that light colored roofs could result in a cooling effect on a global scale. The impact could be enough to negate two years of current carbon dioxide emissions.