Winds weaker in U.S.? Study creates a storm

Winds weaker in U.S.? Study creates a storm
'Very large effect' claimed but also questioned; warming cited as factor

updated 12:46 p.m. ET, Wed., June 10, 2009

WASHINGTON - The wind, a favorite power source of the green energy movement, might be dying down across the United States. And global warming — the very problem wind power seeks to address — could be behind that.

The idea that winds may be slowing is still a speculative one, and scientists disagree whether that is happening. But a first-of-its-kind study suggests that average and peak wind speeds have been noticeably slowing since 1973, especially in the Midwest and the East.

www.msnbc.msn.com...



Global warming or not global warming, that is the question.

reply to post by Pauligirl


I say natrual climate cycles. I don't buy into global warming too much, it may exist, but not to the extent it's made out to. It'll be interesting to see what the study comes up with though!

That's news to me. It seems just as windy as its always been here in Michigan.

Gee, I dunno about all this. I mean, we have global warming, yet some areas are cooler. I know. I know. It's not really global warming. It's global climate change. Yep, it happens and we are watching it happen in our lifetimes, just like countless past species. Is it man-made? I dunno.

But a waning of the winds? Oh, don't try to tell me that is happening. Not after all those shingles got blown off my roof the other night! The metal trellis we installed for our wisteria vines was destroyed! Twisted and bent and no good to us now. The wind blew so hard some of my corn stalks were uprooted. Maybe the winds are dying in some places, but not here where I live. The winds seem to be picking up. Maybe I better build some windmills to harness this energy.

That's funny...somewhere on ATS there is a thread about how strong and persistent the wind has been for a year or so.

Maybe the story/"study" is an info-bomb lobbed at the sustainable/green movement. You know, if you repeat a lie enough then it becomes fact sort of thing.

Here you go:

Why is it so windy?


[edit on 10/6/2009 by kosmicjack]

As far as where I live in Colorado and Wyoming (sometimes) that's a load of BS. This year was horrible for wind especially in Colorado. Although it's usually pretty windy in these parts...
but I must say I don't think it would be global warming... how about a solar cycle or a pole shift hm? That would make more sense.

Who knows? maybe our warming the earth will prevent or reduce the size of the next ice age so we can survive it... Even if we are warming the earth, there is no way to know if doing so will help or destroy us.

I was in Texas last summer and let me tell you, the winds there were strong.

Yup, natural cycles.

I am on the East Coast of Canada, and this year has been especially windy, more so than other years.

I think we are simply getting ready for a big change, perhaps a pole shift, perhaps not. But something is definetly brewing with mother nature. It's not the time to argue specifics, we should be doing something to address the problem.

~Keeper

So, so far everybody thinks there's more wind than usual.

I'm on the coast. It's rare not to have an ocean breeze.

I think it would be more logical to assume all these new windmills are slowing the winds down, which is also preposterous. Anybody look into who's money is funding this study? I know whenever an anti-manmade global warming study comes up people look into the funding.

The oil companies figured out how to make the weather control device up in northern Alaska control the winds. They plan to slow them down so that the wind power movement can't produce what they claim.

This coupled with the sun blocking emissions from the cars etc will crush the green movement in one fell swoop.

Don't be afraid they still can't figure out how to destroy the geothermal movement.

But seriously idk about the wind thing.

i can see it now, they said: 'let's smack two birds with one rock and pull two excuses rolled into one out of our ****'

wind power is apparently falling behind earlier predictions (sorry: projections) and then there's the naggin issue that GW was supposed to bring on storms, lots of them, especially cyclones and hurricanes.

yet, magically, no wind


let's make the fact stick! quick! until it becomes an established fact we can debate endlessly while they get to hatch their next best plot.