OMG! Global Warming bringing SNOW to Texas?!

[JonathanDunbar]

Well its over, 2012 is here and there is nothing you or I can do about it!

https://www.wvared.com/?p=3695

Jonathan

 

[DAllen]

Think about this...

The technology used to [sarcasm]ever so accurately predict the weather in 7 days[/sarcasm] is just as advanced as the technology that is used to determine the effects of global warming.

:bangpan::bangpan::bangpan:

Now...I will bite my tounge *OUCH* before I really start to vent.

-Dave

 

[quickburst]

Well its over, 2012 is here and there is nothing you or I can do about it!

https://www.wvared.com/?p=3695
Jonathan

I live south of Houston about 12 miles from the Gulf Coast. We had snow all day yesterday and most of last night. None of it stuck, it melted as soon as it hit the ground. I heard Houston got more snow than we did, maybe it stuck up there.

 

[New Ocean]

Think about this...

The technology used to [sarcasm]ever so accurately predict the weather in 7 days[/sarcasm] is just as advanced as the technology that is used to determine the effects of global warming.

You mean some of the largest, most powerful supercomputers on Earth and millions of man hours per year? If so, you are right. Modern life is easy to criticize if you never have to live in the 1800s:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0375708278/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[n5wd]

Snow in Texas isn't "The End of Everything As We Know It"... it happens every other year or so. Ice, we get up in North Texas pretty regularly... some down into Central Texas.

The funny thing about this last round of snow, was that the forecasters were saying it would miss us (Dallas-Fort Worth) on Tuesday, and we had a nice white yard that morning... and were saying we'd get it again on Friday, when Houston got it, but we didn't.

They're still guessing!

 

[luke strawwalker]

The folks wanted to go to Shiner yesterday and feed cows... I needed to get my truck inspected since it was over a month out of date and I needed to get gas at Walmart and wanted to eat Chinese since I haven't gotten to eat Chinese in two weeks... so Keira (my four year old) and I went and did all that stuff yesterday. I figured it would probably work out better because the REAL cold weather is supposed to be tomorrow morning (25 was the projected overnight low this morning when I left the house) and it didn't make sense to put the hay out more than 24 hours in advance since they'd have virtually all of it eaten up before the REAL cold weather even got here...

SO, I get up at 6:20-ish and shower to wake up and get ready to go run my schoolbus route. I catch the weather from the Houston stations and they report that it's already snowing in Wharton, 23 miles northwest of us by road, about 10-12 as the crow flies. OOOKKKAAAYYY... was supposed to start snowing at around 2 pm, which would have been only a problem for the evening bus route, but okay... we'll deal with it. Keira and I left for the bus barn with it raining and chilly-- we hit 40 at about 6:30 this morning and it's been dropping all day. We're driving to town and I notice some of the raindrops are getting rather large and have particles of ice in them, leaving 'grit' on the windshield when they splatter... OKAY...

SO we get to the barn, luckily to find the bus already started and idling, and since I leave the heaters set on high every evening when I get off, it's already starting to get warm in there, which beats riding in the freezing cold for ten minutes waiting on the diesel engine to heat up. As we're coming in from the parking lot, a driver friend of mine is dropping off her mid-run high school kids and stops and slides her window open and comments that some drivers are already reporting snow on their windshield and we should just turn around and take the kids home... I laugh and say "yeah, well, that'll never happen in a million years" and after a giggle she takes off... Keira and I do our safety check and hit the road. I don't even get to the highway before the boss is calling on the radio for everyone to sign a sheet with their daytime phone numbers or cell phone numbers on it so they can call us back early if the weather worsens... I call him on the radio and tell him, "no can-do, gotta go feed cows-- SHOULD be back for the regular evening route at 3:30, but if yall early release, NO WAY I'll be back in time." "Oh, ok..." comes the reply. I hit the main road and within 1/2 mile I start seeing genuine flakes... not the dinky little 'sugar crystal' snow we usually get around here, but BIG OLD SLOPPY wet fluffy nickel-size puffball flakes like I used to see in New Jersey...

ANYWAY, I run the route, pick up my last kid at 7:35 and the boss comes back on the radio, reminding everyone to come sign in on the phone sheet, because they WILL be releasing early, between 11 am and 1 pm... I drop off all my kids and come in briefly, and ask the mechanic if the early release is a "Done deal" or a possibility-- he comments it's definite. I say, "well, no way I can make it" and head out to meet the folks and go to Shiner and feed cows.

By the time I drive the 6 miles back to the farm, it's about as close to 'white out' as we ever get around here-- BIG flakes coming down, and LOTS of 'em! I mean, this is pretty darn heavy snow, about as good as I've seen driving to Indiana every winter to see the MIL and wife's family... so this is DEFINITELY not you're typical day in SE TX... and it just keeps coming down heavier! SO I get to the old folks, and it's starting to stick, and it's coming down in buckets... They're already getting in the van, and have a few odd jobs to do (drip the faucets, turn on a heater in the 'hot tub' room, etc.) WE hit the road and it's coming down harder still...

We head through the country to Boling, next little town west 8 miles, and it's coming down harder still... this is a FULL FLEDGED SNOWSTORM! By the time we turn in downtown Boling and start heading north, the old folks are getting panicky, because not only is the grass already totally covered by snow, but there is also substantial slush on the highway, and we're only heading north and west, likely into worse... and it does get worse, all the way to Wharton 15 miles north... We get a taquito at Whataburger, gas up at Walmart, and hit the road north toward Eagle Lake... it sorta levels off, and by the time we turn to head west to Garwood, it's no longer sticking, and only lightly snowing big flakes. By the time we get to Garwood, it's only a few flakes interspersed with 'sugar grain snow'... nothing sticking. We head west another hour and get to Hallettsville; it's snowing lightly, mostly 'sugar snow' but NOTHING is sticking... it's 48 degrees!!! It was 33 in Boling when we went through there, and now we're 80 miles west northwest! WEIRD! We get to Shiner in similar conditions, and after driving around the farm abit checking things over, I go to start the tractor, which has been parked for four weeks... No joy-- the battery is DRAGGING badly. It's an old battery, so I figure it's time to replace it, since it's been acting up some for awhile... work fine when we were digging out the ponds two or three months ago in 110 degree + heat, but sometimes draggy on even slightly cool mornings early last spring... So we go to Walmart for a battery. I get the biggest one they've got and we head back, install it, and STILL no joy-- I try some ether (starting fluid) and still no joy. I try boosting the battery with the van-- giving it ten minutes to freshen the battery up-- no joy. I point out two alternatives-- we can get a couple hundred-foot extension cords and a cheap hair dryer and use that to warm up the engine, or we can get a bigger dedicated (read more expensive) tractor battery at the dealership in town. We do both-- return the WM battery, get a couple extension cords and a nine dollar hair dryer, go to Shiner to the farm dealer and buy the $140 tractor battery, and go back to the farm and install it. STILL no joy-- she's kicking back, probably from the ether... I run the cord from the house and plug in the hair dryer and lay it on top of the engine, blowing hot air on the head, injectors, intake manifold, and battery box, and close the hood to keep the heat circulating around the engine, and we go to lunch in town. We get back, and try again-- she's warmed up slightly, but still no joy-- I boost it again, and stick the hair dryer in the air cleaner to blow hot air into the intake manifold... She FINALLY pops off and starts after a couple ether induced kicks... note to self-- no more ether in the late model high-compression engines... save it for the older lower compression diesels...

OF course USUALLY the hair dryer works fine... I've plugged one in before on 25 degree mornings and left it run while I'm gone an hour and a half driving the bus, and come back and bump the key and she'll fire right up... I guess the ether was screwing up the works this time... preignition is a nasty thing...

ANyway, I set the plow off and hook up to the hay forks, get a bale out of storage and haul it out to the field and unroll it, and have happy cows kicking up their heels... I drive around a bit to check the ponds and stuff, just to charge the battery and warm up the oil more than anything, and then put her back in the barn and button everything up to go home...

Most work I've EVER had to do to feed ONE round bale of hay...

We get back to Needville around dark-- the whole farm is covered by about 3 inches of snow, but it's VERY wet and mushy underneath-- then I get the waterworks from Keira who's been denied permission to go flop down in the muddy wet snow and cow crap behind the house where the cows have been trying to get out of the wind all day and mucked everything up... and the more I try to explain why "snow angels" are ok to do in Indiana when it's -2 instead of in sloppy mud covered with snow in TX at 32 degrees, the more she cries...

SO after dripping all the faucets outside, I'm just trying to warm up... cows are fed and it is pretty darn cold...

Later and hope yall had a better day... OL JR

First pic is my house way out in the field, second is my brother's house up the road... This is the farm where Challenger 498 launches...

 

[cjl]

Think about this...

The technology used to [sarcasm]ever so accurately predict the weather in 7 days[/sarcasm] is just as advanced as the technology that is used to determine the effects of global warming.

:bangpan::bangpan::bangpan:

Now...I will bite my tounge *OUCH* before I really start to vent.

-Dave

Long term climate trends are much more predictable than short term local effects. I don't want to get into a huge debate, but you really can't compare long term climate forecasting with short term weather forecasts.

 

[Mikus]

First pic is my house way out in the field, second is my brother's house up the road... This is the farm where Challenger 498 launches...

Ack that is soooo wrong... in south Texas. Looks more like Dallas.

 

[luke strawwalker]

Ack that is soooo wrong... in south Texas. Looks more like Dallas.

Yeah, I've been meaning to post that pic to the Challenger yahoo group photo albums-- remember in July when we were launching in 102 degree heat??? :y:

Course now with it all melting and the ~3 inches of rain we've gotten over the last few days on top of the last 2-3 inches, everything is turning to ankle-deep SOUP out here...

Oh well, south texas has four seasons-- spring, summer, fall, and mud... OL JR

 

[MarkII]

Geez, you folks make such a big deal over pieces of crystalline water ice falling from the sky.

Snow isn't news around here. No snow in October and just a trace in November - now that's something to talk about!

Doubting the global warming is real? Go visit a glacier sometime. That is, if you can still find one. Better hurry up though, or you'll miss your chance.

MarkII

 

[DAllen]

Sea levels during several previous interglacials were about 3 to as much as 20 meters higher than current sea level.

https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs2-00/

We are currently in a interglacial period. Maybe the glaciers typically melt significantly more than where they are now between glaciations so the retreating glaciers we see today is normal. Anyone consider that?

-Dave

 

[JDcluster]

Global Warming is a farce!
Nothing more than a marketing gimmick.
It was conjured up to get people to spend money on cheaply made items to replace those that would have lasted allot longer.
"Green" to me means: over priced junk made cheaply & not worth consideration.
Just look at the " Smart car"; barely enough room for 2 people & no room to transport anything anywhere... Force everyone into buying "Green" making you buy florescent light bulbs(which aren't echo friendly).


JD

 

[luke strawwalker]

Global Warming is a farce!
.
Just look at the " Smart car"; barely enough room for 2 people & no room to transport anything anywhere... Force everyone into buying "Green" making you buy florescent light bulbs(which aren't echo friendly).


JD

The CFL bulbs bounce sound back at you after a perceptible delay?? :y::eyepop: I didn't know they could do that!!! :dark:

Actually I DO like the CFL bulbs... they last a LOT longer than the stupid incandescents, and I like saving power, mostly because I'm saving $$$. If that helps the environment, well, that's a nice side benefit...

Now you want to see FUNNY... You should have seen my folks when they were contemplating getting a Smart car back when gas was nearly $5 a gallon... A 450 pound man and a 350 pound woman side by side in the thing (they didn't test drive it, they test FITTED it...) and the only way Dad could sit it it was with the window down and his arm on the door windowsill, and his shoulder was pressed up against Mom and it looked like the suspension was about to give way... They like to drive around the US on vacation and wanted to save gas... but of course, there is absolutely NO ROOM to carry ANYTHING in a smart car... I had to help pull them out of it when they were ready to go. The salesman looked like he was about to faint...

They decided to go with the Chrysler minivan instead... smart move. Dad and Mom can haul their scooters and baggage and not arrive like 'cripples in a can' at the motel at the end of the day...

What worries me is the 'false economy' suggested by a lot of these 'greenie types' that are passionate about their cause but less than informed in their facts and grasp of reality... Back when Clinton was talking about raising the fuel efficiency standards on vehicles, and the Republicans, automakers, and auto unions went into panic mode and started a scare campaign about how the largest pickup truck you'd be able to buy would be a Ford Ranger, Dodge Dakota, or Chevy S-10, or equivalent Rice Rocket... Well, it wouldn't be the end of the world, because there are WAY too many 16 year olds driving Daddy's one-ton diesel dually out there-- more than half the diesel dually's you see at the store, if you look in the bed or at the hitch, you can tell they've NEVER PULLED OR HAULED A DARN THING WITH IT... like a Hummer, it's just conspicuous consumption. Anyway, I run two farms 100 miles apart, and I use half-ton F-150 pickups to do everything with. Once in awhile I WISH I had a bigger truck, but it would go underutilized and wasting fuel (more money up in smoke) 99% of the time, or more. SO I make do with half-ton trucks, a 96 with 250,000 miles on it getting 14 mpg, and a 02 with 200,000 miles on it getting 20 mpg. Now, in winter I haul hay to the other farm for the cows-- it's a drier climate and impractical to bale hay there, let alone buy it... I can grow WAY more hay here, and haul FAR FAR cheaper than buying it there... So, I load 3 1500 pound round bales on a trailer and hit the road for the 100 mile trip up there every week. With the trailer weight, that's about 6,000 pounds, and the half ton has about all it can handle with that load at highway speeds (I've pulled 26,000 pound loads of grain with a half-ton pickup on our flat land here, but don't exceed 20 mph-- you just don't have enough brakes or truck weight to handle any more speed than that). Now, IF I HAD TO, I COULD get by with a 1/4 ton pickup like a Ranger or S-10... BUT I'd have to make TWO trips to do the same work... I'd have to swap my 16 foot trailer for a ten foot, load two bales on it and go (overloaded) to the other farm, unload, and come back for the third bale which I could run full speed a bit underloaded with. SO, I'd be replacing a job I could do in half the time with a 1/2 ton pickup and trailer, getting 14 miles a gallon loaded or unloaded, with a 1/4 ton pickup that would take twice as long to do the job, getting maybe 20-22 miles a gallon, but GOING TWICE AS MANY MILES, and in effect getting only 10-11 miles a gallon, INCREASING MY FUEL COSTS (and hence emissions). That's false economy if ever there was any!

SO, I don't make TOO big a fuss about the diesel dually's-- some folks (maybe one out of every dozen sold) actually DO need that much hauling/towing capacity, because having to do the job twice piecemeal in a 1/2 ton truck would be just as wasteful to them. I mainly reserve my griping for when some ding-y 16 year old girl runs me off the road because the stinking dual wheel is over the line in MY lane because she doesn't know how to drive the stupid thing, but Daddy gave her the keys anyway...

Later! OL JR

 

[Mikus]

https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs2-00/

We are currently in a interglacial period. Maybe the glaciers typically melt significantly more than where they are now between glaciations so the retreating glaciers we see today is normal. Anyone consider that?

From your source: "Population figures for 1996 (U.S. Bureau of the Census, unpublished data, 1998) indicate that a 10-meter rise in sea level would flood approximately 25 percent of the Nation's population"

All current estimates of the US population are > 300 million. So ASSUMING the quoted estimate is DOUBLE that which will actually be affected....

Tell it to the 37.5 Million people that are going to have to move. :jaw:

We are so busy arguing over the cause that we are totally neglecting to prepare for the effect. That seems kinda dumb to me. :2:

 

[Bazookadale]

We head through the country to Boling, next little town west 8 miles, and it's coming down harder still... this is a FULL FLEDGED SNOWSTORM! By the time we turn in downtown Boling and start heading north, the old folks are getting panicky, because not only is the grass already totally covered by snow, but there is also substantial slush on the highway,




First pic is my house way out in the field, second is my brother's house up the road... This is the farm where Challenger 498 launches...

I'm sure this is a little unusual for Texans but your pictures are of FLURRIES, not a snowstorm - you could sweep your driveway with a broom.Grass being covered by snow is natures way of hiding the leaves I didn't bother to rake. When you have banks of snow 4' or higher from shoveling out you have had a snow storm

 

[luke strawwalker]

I'm sure this is a little unusual for Texans but your pictures are of FLURRIES, not a snowstorm - you could sweep your driveway with a broom.Grass being covered by snow is natures way of hiding the leaves I didn't bother to rake. When you have banks of snow 4' or higher from shoveling out you have had a snow storm

In PA that's true, but take it from me as a born and bred SE Texan... for us, THIS WAS a snowstorm...

Not as big or strong as the snowstorm of 1950 (Dad's got pictures of that one on his tricycle-- he was four at the time, and that was a GENUINE snowstorm that lasted several days) but still, for here, this is as much as I've seen since I was a LITTLE kid...

Ya know, it just doesn't get as cold here as it did when I was a kid... I was supposed to go trick or treating on Halloween in 73 or 74 and didn't get to go-- we had a blue norther blow in and it was 20 degrees and 30 mph north winds Halloween night... and my folks never offered to take me again after that. When I was a kid I used to LOATHE getting ready for school and catching the bus, because many a winter morning on the trip down the drive, the puddles would be frozen over, some thick enough to walk on (1/2 inch or so of ice that would crack under you) and some days just about 1/4 inch like sheet glass... sometimes the puddles would freeze over and then the water would disappear from under the ice, and I especially liked busting those because they shattered just like glass... and the WIND... It got so cold at the bus stop one day I hunkered down beside the road in some dry standing dead johnsongrass just to help break the wind off me, and the bus driver didn't see me and blew on by... the Folks were PO'd having to get up to drive me to school... Now I drive a bus and a couple years ago we had a genuine strong cold blast like a small blue norther and the kids were acting like they were about to freeze to death. It was about 25 that morning when I was picking them up, and the puddles were BARELY frozen over-- when the ice first starts to form and looks like a checkerboard... I kinda laughed at the kids because it was NOTHING compared to the cold we had when I was a kid... 20-25 was a regular occurence back then... and yeah we had to stand in it by the road waiting for the bus... moms didn't drive the kids to the end of the driveway sitting in the suburban with the heater going back then... if they did they'd have just driven you to school and called it good...

We used to get some pretty good ice storms through here too, and it's been 20 years since we've had a REAL ice storm here as well.

Climate change, who knows... manmade or otherwise... probably just natural variation... OL JR