(Climate Change) Earths Increasingly Peculiar Weather - Causes & Effects.

Have you been noticing any strange weather lately?
Well, don't let the naysayers fool you. You're not alone.

The Earths current weather patterns are in a state of disarray right now.
The Jet-streams are frequently becoming locked. Causing storm systems, temperatures, and other extremes to remain stuck in one place for extended periods of time. A rare second jet-stream also remains situated over the Arctic, which is uncommon during the warmer months. Typically, there is only one jet-stream in the Northern-Hemisphere during the summer. Meanders in the flow of these streams are reeking havoc on the climate, melting sea-ice, and contributing to various weather anomalies across the globe.

These shifts in winds not only affect weather patterns throughout the Arctic but are also thought to influence weather in Greenland, the United States, and western Europe. Understanding such links is an ongoing area of research, the scientists said. The effects of Arctic amplification will increase as more summer ice retreats over coming decades. Enhanced warming of the Arctic affects the jet stream by slowing its west-to-east winds and by promoting larger north-south meanders in the flow. Predicting those meanders and where the weather associated with them will be located in any given year, however, remains a challenge.

“What we're seeing is stark evidence that the gradual temperature increase is not the important story related to climate change; it's the rapid regional changes and increased frequency of extreme weather that global warming is causing. As the Arctic warms at twice the global rate, we expect an increased probability of extreme weather events across the temperate latitudes of the northern hemisphere, where billions of people live,” said Jennifer Francis, Ph.D, of Rutgers.

www.noaanews.noaa.gov...


A phenomenon known as Atmospheric Blocking - is just one of the many effects Climate Change will have on the near future, and it has been on the rise over the past decade.

A study done by NASA in 2011, looked at data from the 20th century and concluded that Blocking events were not only on the rise, but they were more likely to happen during periods when ocean temperatures were warmer than usual. Researchers found that between the years (1990-present day), these events occurred up to 30% more often than in other years; Especially after the year 2000.
www.nasa.gov...
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This next article, published (7/11/13) -
discusses the current rate at which deep-sea ocean temperatures are rising:
and as described above, may have an effect on the jet-stream.

Deep oceans warming at an alarming rate

Despite mixed signals from warming ocean surface waters, a new re-analysis of data from the depths suggests dramatic warming of the deep sea is under way -

The scientists report that the deep seas are taking in more heat than expected, which is taking some of the warming off the Earth’s surface, but it will not do so forever.

The bottom line, says Trenberth, is that the heat of global warming is going to different places. “So global warming is continuing even though it’s not always manifested as a strong surface temperature increase. It’s just manifesting itself in different ways.”

www.nbcnews.com...
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But that's not all that links these strange occurrences together.
The Sun is responsible for the majority of weather conditions all over the planet, and it is currently experiencing an 'unexpected' low-point in solar activity. You might already be aware of the lack of solar flares and/or sunspots, during what was suppose to be a solar-maximum this year, 2013:

NASA warns 'something unexpected is happening to the Sun' (Released on March 8th.)

'Something unexpected' is happening on the Sun, NASA has warned.
This year was supposed to be the year of 'solar maximum,' the peak of the 11-year sunspot cycle. But solar activity is relatively low.

www.dailymail.co.uk...


And this article, (7/12/13)
Sun's bizarre behavior: Weakest solar cycle in 100 years

2013 was supposed to be the year of solar maximum -- the peak of an 11-year cycle when the number of sunspots that mar the sun's surface is at its highest. But scientists say our current solar maximum, known as solar maximum 24, is the weakest one in 100 years.

www.latimes.com...
...


Conflicting studies suggests, low solar-activity may also have an effect on the Earths Jet-stream; causing out of the ordinary weather patterns. Especially during the colder months in western Europe. Low solar activity can lead to Atmospheric Blocking and prevent warmer westerly winds from entering the region:


Solar Activity Changes Regional Jetstream Flows

The research finds that low solar activity promotes the formation of giant kinks in the jet stream. These kinks can block warm westerly winds from reaching Europe, while allowing in winds from Arctic Siberia. When this happens in winter, northern Europe freezes, even though other, comparable regions of the globe may be experiencing unusually mild conditions.

www.heatisonline.org...

Low solar activity link to cold UK winters

The UK and continental Europe could be gripped by more frequent cold winters in the future as a result of low solar activity, say researchers.

The researchers used the 351-year CET record because it provided data that went back to the beginning of the last Maunder Minimum, a prolonged period of very low activity on the Sun that lasted about half a century.

The Maunder Minimum occurred in the latter half of the 17th Century - a period when Europe experienced a series of harsh winters, which has been dubbed by some as the Little Ice Age. Following this, there was a gradual increase in solar activity that lasted 300 years.

news.bbc.co.uk...
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If we take all of this information and put it together, a clearer picture begins to emerge...
The effects of Climate Change will continue to alter Earths weather. Regardless if you want to admit it or not; it's already happening. It's happening in many different ways, for many different reasons, and it's happening faster. The signs are becoming more and more prevalent, and even the slightest changes in the Earth are capable of much more than people really understand.


There is a plethora of evidence out there, and if you look hard enough you can piece most of it together. Adjustments should be made to prepare for it; rather than debate whether or not humans are the cause. The full extent and outcome of these changes remain uncertain. But it's better to know; than to not know, I suppose.
...

(well, you be the judge.)

Here in upstate sc, its been raining heavily everyday for the past 2 or 3 weeks. This is unusual. For the first time in 7 years, we are out of a drought.

.Can i be the first to mention the british weather, please? Its bizarrely warm here, and has been for a couple of weeks, and apparantly theres more to come. This just does not happen any more. We brits usually have 5 days of sun in May and accept that thats our summer over and done with.
If anyone is thinking of visiting the UK now, then you will truly see "mad dogs and englishmen go out in the mid day sun".

How are you people judging the weather as "Peculiar" ?

Most of you are barely out of school, how on earth would you know?
The earths been here for millions of years and had varying weather all through those years, so tell me, whats so different now?
The way I see it the only difference is that people are being TOLD that its "Peculiar".

Anyone remember the summer of 76? I do, it was red hot for weeks? How about the winter of 64/3? we were knee deep in snow for days?

Look outside people, its a beautiful day, nothing strange about it at all.

reply to post by VoidHawk


I knew it was only a matter of time before I got one of these comments...

Yes. The Earth has been here a long time. It has seen it all, and been through it all. Different changes in its climate have led it to where it is now, and here we are...

You mention the varying weather conditions Earth has experienced throughout its history, but who's to say that it can't happen again? - That's exactly what is going on, actually.

Earths cycles don't stop, and people are probably going to be around to experience one of these changes. It's 'peculiar' because not all of these things are common occurrences. It may be a beautiful day where you are, but that's not the case for everywhere. The OP explains "'whats so different", I'm not going to bother repeating it.

It rains... It snows... Its hot... its cold...

But what happens when these conditions don't deteriorate?..
stuck in one place, for days/weeks at a time...
again, and again, and again...

Just ask the people who live there...

Originally posted by iunlimited491

But what happens when these conditions don't deteriorate?..
stuck in one place, for days/weeks at a time...
again, and again, and again...

Thats my point, it hasn't happened has it, its all just conjecture.
and if it did happen, I agree it would not be nice for those who MIGHT be stuck in it, but then, why is it peculiar? as you say yourself, its all happened before!

Peculiar
adjective STRANGE
If it happens from time to time its not really strange is it, in fact it would be strange if it never happened again.

reply to post by iunlimited491

Far be-it for me to disagree with your opinions ref the 'Weather', But, here in the UK, the past few years and now are exactly how i recall such during my childhood / teenage years...........I'm now 67, and so I can recall a good few decades. Hope all is and thereby remains ok your side of the pond, have fun

reply to post by VoidHawk

Originally posted by VoidHawk
Thats my point, it hasn't happened has it, its all just conjecture.

Oh, no. But it has...
Take the recent floods in Canada for example...

Alberta floods: ‘Firehose of moisture’ caused floods in Calgary

EDMONTON - A massive high pressure system held in place by a loop in the jet stream is what’s behind both the Calgary floods and balmy temperatures in the Yukon. “It doesn’t let systems through,” said Chris Scott, chief meteorologist at the Weather Network. He watched as what would otherwise be just a simple spring storm got stuck west of Calgary.

The high pressure system held in place by this loop in the jet stream has affected temperatures in Edmonton and further north as well.

“We have an upside down weather pattern across Western Canada,” Scott said. “It’s been warmer in High Level and Fort Chipewyan than places at lower latitudes.”

www.edmontonjournal.com...

This is just one example.

Record heat, drought, fires, in the Southwest U.S. - Rain & Thunderstorms in the East -
Flooding in Canada, Europe, India - The list goes on... all over the world.
These changes in the Climate affect weather patterns everywhere, and will continue to do so.

New "Extreme" Jet Stream Has Caused 3 Extreme Climate Events in Past Two Months

This new behavior is becoming increasingly common during the summer over the past decade, he notes. As the jet stream, which separates cold polar from warm southern air, starts to trace gigantic undulations, it's pushing record high AND record low temperatures into the US and elsewhere.

www.huffingtonpost.com...

(additional links)
- Jet Stream Brings Two Very Different Junes to the Western & Eastern U.S.
- It’s Dueling Dual Jet Streams That Are Causing All This Weird Weather

Originally posted by VoidHawk
How are you people judging the weather as "Peculiar" ?

Most of you are barely out of school, how on earth would you know?
The earths been here for millions of years and had varying weather all through those years, so tell me, whats so different now?
The way I see it the only difference is that people are being TOLD that its "Peculiar".

Anyone remember the summer of 76? I do, it was red hot for weeks? How about the winter of 64/3? we were knee deep in snow for days?

Look outside people, its a beautiful day, nothing strange about it at all.

Its peculiar for me.

Another strange weather pattern is set to take place over the course of the next several days.

Weather Pattern in Reverse: Drought Relief and Flood Threat

From now into early next week, you could say the atmosphere has shifted into reverse gear. Weather pattern in reverse Low pressure (red L) moves from the eastern states towards the southwestern states Saturday into Tuesday of next week. Typically, weather systems move from west to east in the United States and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere. This will not be the case over the next four to five days as we track an area of low pressure moving in the reverse direction from the eastern states towards the southwestern states.

This is the second odd weather pattern this month. Over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, an area of low pressure in the upper atmosphere got stuck over the South and brought daily bouts of showers and thunderstorms that caused flooding from the Gulf Coast to the Appalachians and Ohio Valley.

www.weather.com...

reply to post by iunlimited491


OP... you are not alone in your assessment either.

I am going to go out on a limb and say this is the reason why the ancients would move their village and go to higher ground. They would move their communities due to weather conditions changing.

Nothing is stagnant, everything changes. This is a fact.

We are witnessing the Earth- Sun relation change and with that comes a change in weather/atmosophere.

If you really want to get to the root - read my signature thread about the Local Interstellar Cloud.

Thanks for this thread, OP! We're fixing to have strange weather for July in Texas. I've been here 11 years, and July is usually hot as a firecracker, miserably so. For the temps to drop into the 70s is unusual indeed.

Here is the NOAA estimate of rainfall, with Texas being in the bull's eye:



Note the exceptionally large circulation with this low:



Now, this may occur from time to time, but honestly, I find this weather to be a bit alarming.

You'll have to define "strange."

As I think back across the over half-century I have existed on this planet, I have tried to find a year I remember as not strange in some way. I have not been able to do it. I can remember snowfalls of several inches here, and I can remember winters where we barely got down to freezing a handful of nights. I can remember summers so hot that crops withered in the searing heat, and summers so cool that we were afraid to plant gardens until June. I can remember floods, droughts, storms, winds, and clear skies. Every single year there was something about the weather that opened conversations.

I just got through reading that NBC article on the deep oceans. It is a very interesting bit of information for study, but is far far from a death knell for civilization. You can read my full response to it here.

The solar maximum is surprising, but the article you linked states:

One theory is that this year's weak solar maximum is part of a 100-year solar cycle.

Graphs going back to the 1700s show that the number of sunspots during solar maximums in the early part of the last three centuries since humanity has been studying the solar cycle is much lower than the number of sunspots during solar maximums in the latter half of those centuries.

When asked what caused the 100-year cycles, the scientists admitted they did not know.

Another cycle that was not previously examined.

In short, the fear and paranoia over the weather is just that: paranoia. The weather changes; that's just what it does. Next year it will be new stories, maybe about the massive hurricane to hit the Eastern seaboard or maybe about why there are no storms like normal. Maybe it will be about the high wind pattern that stopped over the plains, or the torrential rains in Nevada. Maybe it will be about the heat wave to grip Chicago for a week or maybe the unseasonably cold air that is settling across Mississippi.

We'll just have to wait and see. That's half the fun of being alive.

TheRedneck

reply to post by iunlimited491


I've been noticing our winters have been much milder than before, which I'm not complaining. I've also noticed a big dip in the jet stream, where it usually was a consistent stream across the United States. Our summer this year hasn't been that warm, but we've surely have had a lot of rain almost every day for a couple of weeks straight. Our May felt like fall this year.

I'm in my mid 50's and I recall winters where we didn't see the grass until around April. I remember making tunnels and igloos in the snow when I was a kid, that's how much snow we used to get. Our winters are much milder now compared to the 60's and 70"s.

reply to post by iunlimited491


Rain/Storms: In TN/USA it has rained every day for a solid week (last week) and again today, they are calling for more rain all this coming week. I videoed one of the storms because the thunder sounded weird, it sounded more like it was moving overhead, like a airplane except much louder. It would go back and forth and did not sound natural. Assuming it was thunder. heh

Temps: Yesterday and today it felt more like early fall than July. I can't remember ever having the windows open and the air conditioner off in the house or in the car for that matter during July...

reply to post by TheRedneck


I did mention that studies on solar activity and the jet stream are conflicted, but it does provide another example of a possible connection linking current weather events and patterns together.

I personally, am not paranoid because of the weather - and I doubt scientists are either. These changes can be observed, even though you will continue to have your skeptics. It's a very complicated issue - weather does happen every year, and sometimes certain evidence can seem to contradict itself. But if obscure weather patterns were to become the new norm... significant extreme weather events will also become much more common.

(I had another similar reply typed out earlier, but for whatever reason I refreshed the page and it got erased)

I'm not going to draw this out... and yes, we'll just have to wait and see.

Time will tell.

Originally posted by VoidHawk
How are you people judging the weather as "Peculiar" ?

Most of you are barely out of school, how on earth would you know?
The earths been here for millions of years and had varying weather all through those years, so tell me, whats so different now?
The way I see it the only difference is that people are being TOLD that its "Peculiar".

Anyone remember the summer of 76? I do, it was red hot for weeks? How about the winter of 64/3? we were knee deep in snow for days?

Look outside people, its a beautiful day, nothing strange about it at all.

Not quite true. My father's family has been here in Southern Maine for generations. My father, stepmother, and grandparents never use the internet. Hell, my grandparents don't even -have- internet. While we're not strangers to rain here, this has been, according to all of them, one of the rainiest summers in decades. We've had overcast skies, rain, and thunder storms regularly for over a month. It goes for about 4-8 days, breaks with a nice day, then rains again in less than a day to two days later. It's like our spring got pushed into June/July. Spring storms 3-4 times per week aren't uncommon, but once June rolls around it's bright, sunny, and rains maybe once per week here. This year has been extremely rainy for the last two months or so, and it is pretty strange.

It doesn't mean it's going to last, or repeat itself next year. It just means that this summer has been strange. However, there ARE scientists studying old weather records and stats, comparing them to now, and the OP of this thread has shown evidence saying the solar cycle is strange. Elsewhere you can find studies showing temperature increases throughout the solar system. Something IS happening. I won't say what, or for how long. Not my job. Just don't go making baseless assumptions, please.

30 years ago a freind of mine was doing marine biology, he took a core sample out of a 2,000 year old boulder coral, the particular coral has growth rings, but not for the reasons you may expect, the rings are from sediment layed down, what he discovered was that there was a definite 7 year cycle with the growth rings and he also noticed a pattern with 70 year rings, of course it was much harder to examine a 700 year cycle.

now for years I had been listening to local residents talking about how we dont see a wet season as we once did, there was a reason for that, that it took 7 years on average for the rain to cycle to complete. so if the first year was the wettest, it would rain less over the next three years and then start to increase in rain again until reaching the seventh year again, and repeat, he also noticed that the same cycle occured on a 70 year cycle which probably gave rise to the term used now, once in a lifetime storm, a life span being around 70 years.

just to add weight to this post I will give a headline from an article about a peculiar event
Massive icebergs floating towards coast of New Zealand

New Zealand is preparing for some rare spring visitors. More than 100 icebergs that were first spotted off the coast of Macquarie Island, an Australian territory around 900 miles south east of Tasmania, are now thought to be only 200 miles away from New Zealand's south coast. This is only the second time in 78 years that large Antarctic icebergs have been sighted so far north.

how many times before has this event taken place?
is it a common event that we have only been able to witness twice in 78 years?

reply to post by iunlimited491


your not wrong. Here in the UK we've had a couple of weeks of warm solid sunshine. Now thats peculiar!!

reply to post by Heehaw

Originally posted by Heehaw
Elsewhere you can find studies showing temperature increases throughout the solar system. Something IS happening.

Very interesting. I too, stumbled across information about the 'warming solar system' while gathering info pertaining to the causes behind some of these recent oddities.

Dating back to 2007 -
these two articles describe what may also be happening elsewhere, and not just here on Earth:

Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says

Simultaneous warming on Earth and Mars suggests that our planet's recent climate changes have a natural—and not a human-induced—cause, according to one scientist's controversial theory.

Habibullo Abdussamatov, head of space research at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory in Russia, says the Mars data is evidence that the current global warming on Earth is being caused by changes in the sun.

"The long-term increase in solar irradiance is heating both Earth and Mars," he said.

This next snippet from the same story, is also very fascinating...
especially if this 'minimum' is coming sooner than expected:

"The solar irradiance began to drop in the 1990s, and a minimum will be reached by approximately 2040," Abdussamatov said. "It will cause a steep cooling of the climate on Earth in 15 to 20 years."

news.nationalgeographic.com...


Warming On Jupiter, Mars, Pluto, Neptune's Moon & Earth Linked to Increased Solar Activity, Scientists Say

Mars's ice caps are melting, and Jupiter is developing a second giant red spot, an enormous hurricane-like storm. The existing Great Red Spot is 300 years old and twice the size of Earth. The new storm -- Red Spot Jr. -- is thought to be the result of a sudden warming on our solar system's largest planet. Dr. Imke de Pater of Berkeley University says some parts of Jupiter are now as much as six degrees Celsius warmer than just a few years ago.

Solar scientists from Iowa to Siberia have overlaid the last several warm periods on our planet with known variations in our sun's activity and found, according to Mr. Solanki, "a near-perfect match."

Mr. Soon showed as long ago as the mid-1990s that the depth of the Little Ice Age -- the coldest period in the northern hemisphere in the past 1,500 years -- corresponded perfectly with a solar event known as the Maunder Minimum. For nearly seven decades there was virtually no sunspot activity.

Here's a prediction: The sun's current active phase is expected to wane in 20 to 40 years, at which time the planet will begin cooling. Since that is when most of the greenhouse emission reductions proposed by the UN and others are slated to come into full effect, the "greens" will see that cooling and claim, "See, we warned you and made you take action, and look, we saved the planet."

www.epw.senate.gov...


It is believed that Global Warming, will eventually lead to Global Cooling; "an Ice Age" - and if all of this is has any direct correlation to solar activity, we may be in for a bumpy ride, sooner rather than later.

This next article is from this year, 2013:

To The Horror Of Global Warming Alarmists, Global Cooling Is Here

The Little Ice Age, following the historically warm temperatures of the Medieval Warm Period, which lasted from about AD 950 to 1250, has been attributed to natural cycles in solar activity, particularly sunspots. A period of sharply lower sunspot activity began in 1280 and persisted for 70 years until 1350. That was followed by a period of even lower sunspot activity that lasted 90 years from 1460 to 1550 known as the Sporer Minimum. During the period 1645 to 1715, the low point of the Little Ice Age, the number of sunspots declined to zero for the entire time. This is known as the Maunder Minimum.

The number of sunspots declined substantially in the last 11 year cycle, after flattening out over the previous 20 years. But in the current cycle, sunspot activity has collapsed. NASA’s Science News report for January 8, 2013 states.

www.forbes.com...