"The End Of Snow" -- The New York Times -- Two Years Ago -- January 25, 2016; Reason To Believe

Updates

January 26, 2016: from China, today --

The eastern province’s coldest weather since 1992 is expected to continue until January 26, 2016.

Authorities are struggling to restore electricity and ensure food and warmth as the worst cold front in years sweeps across most of China.

Temperature in Beijing dropped to below minus 10C on Friday and was expected to hit a 30-year low of minus 17C from Saturday through Sunday, the Beijing meteorological station said.

Original Post

 

I would have put these as updates to an earlier post, but the NY Times article, "The End of Snow," required its own stand-alone post. The other two posts were posted earlier on the blog. 

• The New York Times, February 7, 2014, "The End of Snow." Really, LOL. 
• Previously posted, wind turbine photo of the year, a frozen windmill being de-iced by a fossil-fuel using helicopter.
• Previously posted, frozen windmills in Sweden. 

From The New York Times

The planet has warmed 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit since the 1800s, and as a result, snow is melting. In the last 47 years, a million square miles of spring snow cover has disappeared from the Northern Hemisphere. Europe has lost half of its Alpine glacial ice since the 1850s, and if climate change is not reined in, two-thirds of European ski resorts will be likely to close by 2100.

The same could happen in the United States, where in the Northeast, more than half of the 103 ski resorts may no longer be viable in 30 years because of warmer winters. As far for the Western part of the country, it will lose an estimated 25 to 100 percent of its snowpack by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions are not curtailed — reducing the snowpack in Park City, Utah, to zero and relegating skiing to the top quarter of Ajax Mountain in Aspen.

The facts are straightforward: The planet is getting hotter. Snow melts above 32 degrees Fahrenheit. The Alps are warming two to three times faster than the worldwide average, possibly because of global circulation patterns. Since 1970, the rate of winter warming per decade in the United States has been triple the rate of the previous 75 years, with the strongest trends in the Northern regions of the country. Nine of the 10 hottest years on record have occurred since 2000, and this winter is already looking to be one of the driest on record — with California at just 12 percent of its average snowpack in January, and the Pacific Northwest at around 50 percent.

Amazing. Snow melts above 32 degrees Fahrenheit. California''s snowpack may set records in 2016. Sometimes I think I'm beating a dead horse. 

These were taken from a great Rush transcript. A huge "thank you" from a reader.

I doubt The New York Times wants to talk about this any more.

I Don't Want To Talk About It, Rod Stewart and Amy Belle
I wanted to put something up by Amy Winehouse -- she seemed to fit the moment for some reason -- but I couldn't find a song that would fit. Maybe later.

If I listen long enough to you, I will find a way to believe that it's all true;
Knowing that you lied; straight-faced while I cried.
Still I look to find a reason to believe.
Someone like you, makes it hard to live without somebody else;
Someone like you, makes it easy to give, never think about myself
If I gave you time to change my mind; I'd find a way just to leave the past behind,
Knowing that you lied, straight-faced while I cried.
Still I look to find a reason to believe ...

Reason To Believe, Rod Steward   ***************************  Malarkey  

Just to put it out there, all this talk about Hillary Clinton's coughing spells due to a thyroid disease is pure malarkey. Even if there was any connection, hypothyroidism is easily treatable with thyroid supplements. I have no idea what is causing Hillary's coughing spells, but it ain't hypothyroidism. HIV? AIDS? Tuberculosis? Asthma? Bronchospasm? Panic attacks? Cancer? COPD? Post-nasal drip? GERD? Whatever it is, it seems pretty serious; she should sign up for ObamaCare and schedule an appointment with a psychiatrist. This site is as comprehensive as I've found and hypothyroidism is not mentioned. But like global warming, if you say it enough times, it soon becomes true. Or at least a meme.

************************

Speaking Of ObamaCare

In today's Los Angeles Times: enrollment growth in ObamaCare insurance slower than expected.

Expected by whom? LOL.

In any given month this year, about 13 million people on average are now expected to be enrolled in a health plan purchased on a marketplace created by the law, often called Obamacare.

That is down from 21 million people previously estimated by the budget office, whose projections about the impact of legislation are closely watched by both parties in Washington.

"Often called Obamacare." LOL.

If one rearranges the letters that spell Obamacare, one gets trainwreck.