Global Freezing -- June 20, 2021

Re-posting, previously posted here:

From the discussion group link at that post:

• In 2021 (To Date), A Total of 222 All-Time Low Temperature Records Have Been
• Broken In The United States, Versus Just The 7 For All-Time High
• Winter Returns To North America - April 14th
• Australia - "Worst Frosts in Decades"
• Cold Ravages Europe With "Agricultural Disaster" Declared In France, As Record Cold Hits UK
• Slovenia Suffers Coldest April Temp In History
• Europe's Polar Cold To Intensify Through April, As North America Braces For A Similar Fate - Grand Solar Minimum
• Switzerland Registers Coldest Spell in 3-Decades
• European Fruit Shortage Expected
• Spring Freeze Shortens Fall Apple Season For Indiana Orchards: "It's the Worst We've Seen In Decades"
• Record Low November Temperatures Sweep Delhi, India
• Spain Records Its Coldest-Ever Temperature
• Record October Lows/Snows Threaten Majority of North America as Arctic Air Prepares to Plunge South
• The UK Records Its Coldest September Temperature in 23 Years
• Colorado's Historic October Cold, Turns Deadly
• According to the MSM, Global Warming Could Still Make It Too COLD to Grow Citrus Fruits In Southeast U.S.
• 5th Cold Spring In A Row
• Bone-Chilling Cold Sweeps Northeast Russia, Records from the 1950s and 60s Fall
• Record Spring Cold Sweeps Brazil + a Continent-Wide Polar Blast On Course to Hit South America
• 100-Year-Old Cold Records Smashed In Reno, Nevada - This Simply Should Not Be Happening In a Warming World
• Record Cold Hits the Russian Arctic Coast
• Extreme Cold Blamed for 17 Deaths in Midwest, Northeast; Frostbite Injuries Quickly Adding Up in Chicago
• North America Has Set 233 New All-Time Monthly Low Temperature Records In May (So Far) vs. Just The 18 Record Highs
• China Plans Record LNG Imports to Battle Unprecedented Cold
• Lake Tahoe Sets Its 3rd Record Low In a Week As Unprecedented November Cold Lingers In The West
• Record Lows Sweep Northeastern United States
• Delhi Just Shivered Through Its Coldest Month of October Since 1962Killing Freeze Hits Kansas As All-Time Cold Records Fall
• New Records - Records Fall Across India
• Why Is North America Immune to Global Warming?
• Arctic April Grips North America Breaking Hundreds of All-Time Cold Records
• Over the Past 7 Days, the United States Broke 3,782 Low Temperature Records Vs Just the 518 Max
• Unseasonable, Record-Breaking Cold Across Country Blamed For at Least 8 Deaths - Record-Breaking Cold Blast Grips Over 200 Million Across The Country
• Parts Of UK And US Suffer Their Lowest May Temperatures On Record
• The United States (Lower-48) Just Set Its Coldest Temperature Ever Recorded This Early In the Season
• Australia: December 1st Threatens Record Cold And Rare Summer Snow
• Hundreds of All-Time Records Fall Across North America: "This Cold Weather Is Not Normal!"
• Lamestream Media Blames The East's Heat On "Climate Change" While Ignoring The West's Dominating Cold
• Calgary Ties Its Longest Streak Below 20C (68F) In Recorded History
• The All-Time Record For 'Coldest High Temperature' Also Fell On Monday
• Extreme Cold Kills 900+ Trees in Montana City - November 4, 2020
• Northwest Territories to Suffer "Colder-Than-Average Winter," Warns Environment And Climate Change Canada
• A Staggering 23 Norwegian Weather Stations Logged Their COLDEST-EVER July Temperature Last Month
• Unprecedented Spring Snow Hits Parts of Australia As Regions Suffer Their Coldest September Temperatures Ever Recorded
• Australia To Suffer Yet Another Continent-Wide Icy Blast ? Low Temperature Records Will Be 'Shattered'
• Prepare for More Extreme Cold Weather in Yucatan, Mexico Warns Meteorologist
• Severe Spring Frosts Destroy Crops Across Europe
• The Month of May Brings Record (Sometimes Historic) Cold To Both Hemispheres
• 20+ Weather Stations Across China Equal/Break Lowest-Ever Temperature Records for Month of December
• Denver Obliterates All-Time Low Temperature Records In Weather Books Dating Back 148 Years
• Century-old "LOWS" Follow Century-old "SNOWS" across Michigan's Upper Peninsula
• France Is Suffering Its Coldest Start to Fall Since 1998, With Additional Arctic Blasts Forecast
• Cold, Snow, And Epic Flooding: "the Weather In Slovakia Is Reminiscent of the Apocalypse"
• Antarctica Just Set Its Coldest March Temperature On Record: A Global Warming Destroying -75.3C (-103.5F)"
• UK Set For Its Coldest October On Record
• Delhi Suffers Coldest Month of November In 71 Years, Since Before The Birth of The Indian Republic
• Katesbridge, Ireland Just Recorded September Temperature of All-Time
• Global Temperatures Suffer Second Largest Two Month Drop In Recorded History
• Arctic Freeze Set to Break 142-Year-Old Low Temperature Record In Cheyenne, WY
• In The Land of The Drought And Heat - Multiple Cold Records Fell In California Monday 

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Best Graphic Of The Day
Follow The Science

Link here.

How did all this ice melt just 21,000 years ago with stable CO2 and and no combustion engine? 

Coal Is Dead! Long Live Coal -- Merkel Wins -- June 20, 2021

[What's wrong with the subject heading; answer at end of post.]

Go back to this post.

At that post I posited that the German auto manufacturers know they need coal. 

Knowing that explains the final energy communique of the G-7; and, it also explains how and why Angela Merkel "won" and John Kerry lost. 

So, that was posted June 13, 2021. That was about seven days ago.

Four days ago Bloomberg provided corroboration. 

This is the headline and the link: gas is so scare in Europe, coal is making a comeback. That's behind a paywall. Not only is it easy to get around the paywall, but in the process one finds some "better" sites that posted the story.

This is a discussion group over at alt.politics.usa.republican that has the article plus some great comments. Warning: adult language in heading.

Wattsupwiththat also has the story plus it's own commentary. 

This reinforces that:

• killing nuclear energy in Germany was perhaps the worst mistake Merkel made;
• Germany is now so short of energy it had no choice but to sign with devil (making the country dependent on Russia) -- Nord Stream 2
• the only other choice was to go back to caol
• no one in the current administration wanted to give into Russia-Nord Stream 2- Germany but there was no choice -- it was a Hobson's choice.
• my hunch, John Kerry reluctantly signed off on it before Joe Biden agreed
• coal or natural gas from Russia
• so, now if a year or two from now, there are headlines that Germany's use of coal is falling, one needs to check the amount of natural gas Russia is supplying Germany

From the linked articles above, some data points:

• coal usage in the continent jumped 10% to 15% this year after a colder- and longer-than-usual winter left gas storage sites depleted
• as economies reopen and people go back to the office, countries like Germany, the Netherlands and Poland turned to coal to keep the lights on
• yesterday it was posted that US crude oil exports surged in April, with number one destination being the Netherlands
• energy story in the EU, a huge setback: at the G-7, the world's biggest economies faled to set a firm date to end coal burning

And here it is:

Europe faced freezing temperatures earlier this year, boosting demand for
heating at a time liquefied natural gas cargoes were being sent to Asia
instead. Russia sent less gas to the continent via Ukraine ahead of the start
of the Nord Stream 2 link to Germany, expected later this year.

All of that means that European storage is currently 25% below the five-year
average and benchmark Dutch gas surged more than 50% this year.

"People thought Russia was going to book more capacity via Ukraine and that
just hasn't happened in a meaningful way," ...

Electricity demand, which crashed as the coronavirus locked down cities from
Frankfurt to London, is now back. Usage in countries including Germany, Spain
and the Czech Republic are above the five-year average, while demand is flat in
Italy and France, ...

With gas supplies already tight amid heavy maintenance cutting flows from
Norway, utilities have turned to coal to keep the lights on. While the price of
carbon is trading near a record, many have hedged it years in advance. That
means burning coal could still be profitable.

Generators with "highly efficient" new plants can probably manage to produce
power from coal until 2023, even with high carbon prices, Axpo's Sommer said.

The G-7 recognized that coal is the single biggest cause of greenhouse gas
emissions in its final communique. But the group promised only to "rapidly
scale-up technologies and policies that further accelerate the transition away
from unabated coal capacity."

The heading says "Merkel wins." In fact, Putin/Russia won.  

************************
The Cherry on Top

From the discussion group link:

In 2021 (To Date), A Total of 222 All-Time Low Temperature Records Have Been
Broken In The United States, Versus Just The 7 For All-Time High

Winter Returns To North America - April 14th

Australia - "Worst Frosts in Decades"

Cold Ravages Europe With "Agricultural Disaster" Declared In France, As Record
Cold Hits UK

Slovenia Suffers Coldest April Temp In History

Europe's Polar Cold To Intensify Through April, As North America Braces For A
Similar Fate - Grand Solar Minimum

Switzerland Registers Coldest Spell in 3-Decades

European Fruit Shortage Expected

Spring Freeze Shortens Fall Apple Season For Indiana Orchards: "It's the Worst
We've Seen In Decades"

Record Low November Temperatures Sweep Delhi, India

Spain Records Its Coldest-Ever Temperature

Record October Lows/Snows Threaten Majority of North America as Arctic Air
Prepares to Plunge South

The UK Records Its Coldest September Temperature in 23 Years

Colorado's Historic October Cold, Turns Deadly

According to the MSM, Global Warming Could Still Make It Too COLD to Grow
Citrus Fruits In Southeast U.S.

5th Cold Spring In A Row

Bone-Chilling Cold Sweeps Northeast Russia, Records from the 1950s and 60s Fall

Record Spring Cold Sweeps Brazil + a Continent-Wide Polar Blast On Course to
Hit South America

100-Year-Old Cold Records Smashed In Reno, Nevada - This Simply Should Not Be
Happening In a Warming World

Record Cold Hits the Russian Arctic Coast

Extreme Cold Blamed for 17 Deaths in Midwest, Northeast; Frostbite Injuries
Quickly Adding Up in Chicago

North America Has Set 233 New All-Time Monthly Low Temperature Records In May
(So Far) vs. Just The 18 Record Highs

China Plans Record LNG Imports to Battle Unprecedented Cold

Lake Tahoe Sets Its 3rd Record Low In a Week As Unprecedented November Cold
Lingers In The West

Record Lows Sweep Northeastern United States

Delhi Just Shivered Through Its Coldest Month of October Since 1962

Killing Freeze Hits Kansas As All-Time Cold Records Fall

New Records - Records Fall Across India

Why Is North America Immune to Global Warming?

Arctic April Grips North America Breaking Hundreds of All-Time Cold Records

Over the Past 7 Days, the United States Broke 3,782 Low Temperature Records Vs
Just the 518 Max

Unseasonable, Record-Breaking Cold Across Country Blamed For at Least 8 Deaths
- Record-Breaking Cold Blast Grips Over 200 Million Across The Country

Parts Of UK And US Suffer Their Lowest May Temperatures On Record

The United States (Lower-48) Just Set Its Coldest Temperature Ever Recorded
This Early In the Season

Australia: December 1st Threatens Record Cold And Rare Summer Snow

Hundreds of All-Time Records Fall Across North America: "This Cold Weather Is
Not Normal!"

Lamestream Media Blames The East's Heat On "Climate Change" While Ignoring The
West's Dominating Cold

Calgary Ties Its Longest Streak Below 20C (68F) In Recorded History

The All-Time Record For 'Coldest High Temperature' Also Fell On Monday

Extreme Cold Kills 900+ Trees in Montana City - November 4, 2020

Northwest Territories to Suffer "Colder-Than-Average Winter," Warns Environment
And Climate Change Canada

A Staggering 23 Norwegian Weather Stations Logged Their COLDEST-EVER July
Temperature Last Month

Unprecedented Spring Snow Hits Parts of Australia As Regions Suffer Their
Coldest September Temperatures Ever Recorded

Australia To Suffer Yet Another Continent-Wide Icy Blast ? Low Temperature
Records Will Be 'Shattered'

Prepare for More Extreme Cold Weather in Yucatan, Mexico Warns Meteorologist

Severe Spring Frosts Destroy Crops Across Europe

The Month of May Brings Record (Sometimes Historic) Cold To Both Hemispheres

20+ Weather Stations Across China Equal/Break Lowest-Ever Temperature Records
for Month of December

Denver Obliterates All-Time Low Temperature Records In Weather Books Dating
Back 148 Years

Century-old "LOWS" Follow Century-old "SNOWS" across Michigan's Upper Peninsula

France Is Suffering Its Coldest Start to Fall Since 1998, With Additional
Arctic Blasts Forecast

Cold, Snow, And Epic Flooding: "the Weather In Slovakia Is Reminiscent of the
Apocalypse"

Antarctica Just Set Its Coldest March Temperature On Record: A Global Warming
Destroying -75.3C (-103.5F)"

UK Set For Its Coldest October On Record

Delhi Suffers Coldest Month of November In 71 Years, Since Before The Birth of
The Indian Republic

Katesbridge, Ireland Just Recorded September Temperature of All-Time

Global Temperatures Suffer Second Largest Two Month Drop In Recorded History

Arctic Freeze Set to Break 142-Year-Old Low Temperature Record In Cheyenne, WY

In The Land of The Drought And Heat - Multiple Cold Records Fell In California
Monday

Texas Gains Two US House Seats -- Monday, April 26, 2021

Census results are in. Link here.

Congressional seat changes:

• gains 2: Texas (+2)
• gains 1: Oregon, Montana, Colorado, Florida, and NC (+5)
• loses 1: California; New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois (- 7)
• yup, the math works.

Corn, from social media:

• after a staggering year-to-date rally, corn is now knocking at the $7-per-bushel door.
• record imports by China and concerns about the weather are boosting prices
• spill-over effect into the oil and refinery market via ethanol
• note: a reader wrote me saying it cost him upwards of $6 - $8 to plant/fertilize/de-weed/harvest a bushel of corn
  

********************************
Wow, Doesn't This Look Like Something
Warren Would Dream Up?

All things being equal, this looks superb. I would love this. A one-year holding period to be considered capital gains as it is now, I've always thought somewhat ridiculous.

 ********************************
Global Warming: Hey, Not So Fast

A top Obama scientist is not rebutting much of the dominant political narrative. WSJ. 

Must be one of them there Neanderthals. 

Water Shortage -- Western US -- US Prepares For Possible First Water Shortage -- April 18, 2021

Link here. 

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released 24-month projections this week forecasting that less Colorado River water will cascade down from the Rocky Mountains through Lake Powell and Lake Mead and into the arid deserts of the U.S. Southwest and the Gulf of California.

Water levels in the two lakes are expected to plummet low enough for the agency to declare an official shortage for the first time, threatening the supply of Colorado River water that growing cities and farms rely on.

Link here. 

Meanwhile, in Texas, dancing in the rain:


Wearing her "Blue-Light" glasses for computer work.

French Toast: Global Warming Smacks France and Vintners -- April 11, 2021

It's always "historic" and "unprecedented" and "unexpected" when there's a cold wave somewhere -- do you remember that "historic, unprecedented, unexpected" Texas deep freeze just a couple of months ago? Now, France.

"Historic" bout of frost decimates French winemakers' harvest. Link here. One would think that they could have forecast this "historic" cold spell and prepared for it. After all, "they" can predict global temperature one hundred years from now.

By the way, one word: eiswein. My favorite dessert drink. Gator Bite is a close second. And then, I have some wonderful memories of Drambuie with a beautiful woman well before I was married. But that's another story for another day. Or never. What happens in South Pasadena stays in South Pasadena.

The "tag" will change to "GlobalWarming_2021_2022" on June 1, 2021.

French toast, a 10-minute prep breakfast:

This can be done on a Weber but it's quicker on the kitchen stove. 

*************************************
A Musical Interlude
This did more than define rock and roll. It defined California for the next forty years.

The Teenage Awards Music International Show

House band those two nights:

• Guitars: Glen Campbell, Tommy Tedesco
• Piano: Leon Russel
• Drums: Hal Blaine

Tommy Tedesco:

• Wrecking Crew
• playing credits include the themes from:
• Bonanza, The Twilight Zone, Green Acres, M*A*S*H,
• Elvis Presley's '68 Comeback Special

Record Snowfall In Colorado, Wyoming, Minnesota, Wyoming, And Texas -- March 17, 2021

"Our grandchildren will never see snow." -- Patrick Kennedy some years ago. 

Now this: Record snowfall in Wyoming, Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Texas; link here.

File: GlobalWarming_2020_2021.

****************************
Federal Tax Deadline Delayed

Maybe that's why futures for the three major indices are "up" tonight. 

Later: dropping a bit; NASDAQ futures negative. Oh, well. 

Good luck to all. See  you in the a.m.

**************************************
Wall Street Journal Headlines

March 17, 2021:

• Supply chain woes slam global manufacturing
• Texas deep freeze: triggers plastics shortage (so you think peak oil demand is so yesterday?)
• backlogs at California ports
• Covid's origins in China: looks like Trump was correct again
• Fed hold steady on interest rates and bond purchases
• gasoline demand has peaked -- IEA; for the archives
• FTC unlikely to take Qualcomm case to US Supreme Court (Qualcomm wins)
• giant jeans are making a comeback 

********************************
Most Interesting Energy Story Right Now

Enbridge Line 5.

Link here.

ENB hit a 52-week high today.

For The Archives: Colorado Braces For Worst Winter Storm in 135 Years -- March 12, 2021

First group:

• 10-Year Treasury: link here. Up almost 11 basis points; now at 1.633%.
  
• DXY: link here. Up slightly, at 91.75.
  
• Silver: link  here. Down a bit, at $25.635.
  
• CBOE volatility index: link here. Up a bit, at 22.24.
  

Second group:

• 30-Year Treasury: link here. Up over 11 basis points, may trend toward 12 basis points; now at 2.397%.

Dow in record territory again.

NASDAQ off around 200 points. 

*****************************
Texas Freeze: Big Energy Wins

Link here. 

As oil and gas majors surprisingly stand to profit in the long-term from the Texas storm last month, several regulators emerge largely unscathed. In the wake of the severe winter storm that hit Texas in February, causing blackouts and water shortages across the state, reforms to avoid the deadly cost of extreme weather conditions could mean regional oil majors bounce back big in the future. 

As smaller companies are hit hard following grid failures in the storm, people look to bigger firms, such as Vistra, NRG, Exelon and Calpine to provide a more stable source of energy. 

This is likely to lead to bigger energy companies across the state acquiring smaller, local companies that people no longer trust to supply their power. 

The four major Texan companies, together, own around half of the total capacity of the grid, with the remaining share relatively fragmented. 

One company, Brazos Electric Power Cooperative Inc., has already filed for bankruptcy and several look to follow soon due to defaulted power payments. According to CNBC, Texas energy companies have failed to pay the $345 million required in damages from last month’s storm. 

In total, electricity providers are thought to have dodged $2.46 billion in power and service charges according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). ERCOT has threatened to name the firms in question if they do not meet payments in the future.

*************************************
US Shale Could Disrupt OPEC+ Plans
Link here.

US shale could disrupt OPEC+ plans.Current oil prices are high enough to warrant increased U.S. shale activity in the second half of the year if prices hold around these levels, according to JP Morgan.

“At current prices, most U.S. onshore operators are economic, leaving a vast group of operators, from large public companies to private players, in good position to ramp up activity in 2H21 and build solid momentum for higher volumes in 2022,” analysts at JP Morgan said in a weekly note as carried by Reuters.

Early on Friday, the spot U.S. benchmark WTI crude was trading at $65.76.

Following the largest ever annual collapse in U.S. crude oil production in 2020, the U.S. shale patch is not rushing to ramp up production in 2021, even though oil prices have rallied by 30 percent this year. U.S. producers, especially large listed companies, are expected to stick to capital discipline and reward shareholders rather than ramp up production.

However, smaller privately held oil firms are benefiting from higher oil prices as their primary way of generating cash is increased production.

This could spoil the oil management policy of the OPEC+ group again. [It's hard to believe that "smaller privately held oil firms could have that kind of effect on OPEC+.]

*************************************
Global Warming Hits Colorado

Link here.  

 

 From the files, earlier this year:

**************************
Charged 

SD: Attorney General

Can One Imagine How Bad This Would Have Been Without Global Warming And Rising Atmospheric CO2 Levels -- March 8, 2021

I assume John Kerry is winging his way to Beijing to put the correct spin on this story.

Link here. This links to my "favorite" writer at that website.

The linked article begins:

Natural gas imports to China jumped by 17.4 percent on the year in the first two months of the year to 28.68 billion cubic meters thanks to the coldest winter in decades, according to Platts data.

The harsh winter in Asia drove a huge spike in demand for natural gas in the region, which led to a surge in spot market LNG prices. Now, this demand is retreating, and prices are down to more normal levels.

China is among the world’s top natural gas importers, along with Japan and South Korea, and therefore a prime target for gas exporters. 

PetroChina, for example, doubled the amount of Russian gas it receives via the Power of Siberia pipeline to 28.8 million cu m daily over the first two months of the year. Sinopec, for its part, ordered 30 cargos of liquefied natural gas for the period to make sure there was an adequate supply of the fuel.  

China is dependent on imports for a solid portion of its gas consumption, so the country is making an effort to also boost domestic production to reduce this dependence. Last year, despite the pandemic, it made progress in that respect, with natural gas production jumping 15 percent on the year. Domestic production was likely to continue growing thanks to robust demand and efforts to decarbonize the Chinese economy.

Yet self-sufficiency in gas is still a dream—and it may remain a dream. China has massive shale gas reserves but exploiting them is challenging because of the complex geology of the deposits and difficulties in attracting foreign investors who could help fund such an endeavor.

It's too bad POTUS is working to kill the US fossil fuel industry just when the world needs us most. To help decarbonize the Chinese economy.

It's Coming -- Ice Age Now -- February 13, 2021

 

 Now, imagine "everyone" charging their EV in their garage overnight.

 

So, we know it will be 2°C warmer ninety-four years from now, but no one predicted this "unprecedented" winter storm one month ago? Say what?

Plastic Use Surging -- February 8, 2021

Unedited, re-printed in its entirety, sent to me by a reader. I have no association with this website nor its company. This was a press release looking like a news story sent to "everyone" but even so it fits the narrative of the blog. 

A new report shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the environment due to increased plastic usage around the world – led by the United States with a 78% increase.  India’s plastic use is up 55% and China’s 50%.

While air travel, electricity usage and miles driven declined in 2020, increases in food delivery, online shopping, household trash and single-use personal protective equipment, has made the crisis of plastic in the ocean worse and it will nearly triple by 2040 to 29 million metric tons. [This is probably accurate; if hyperbole, the writer would have said, "30 million metric tons."]

ReUseThisBag.com today released a report, the Pandemic Plastic Waste Disaster, using the most recent data from the U.S. Transportation Department, Cirium data via FlightGlobal and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago.

The report found five factors during the pandemic devastating our environment:

1. Food Delivery: An increase in high plastic usage food takeaway (plastic bags utensils and packaging) and e-commerce orders (plastic packaging).
2. PPE: Massive spike in demand for single use personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves.
3. Reusable Bag Ban: Many areas that banned single use plastic bags, temporarily reversed course, and did not allow people to bring their own reusable bags to stores.
4. Recycling Centers Down: During lockdown, limited staff meant that recycling centers around the world were not operational, so trash ended up in landfills and the ocean.
5. Cheaper Plastic Due to Lower Oil Prices: Decreased oil prices meant that producing plastic became even cheaper, hences driving up demand.

Several Key Findings:

·         Plastic Waste Surging: Countries with the highest increase in plastic usage during the pandemic: U.S.: 78% increase, Singapore: 65%, South Korea: 65%, Vietnam: 57%, India: 55%, China: 50%.

·         Electricity Usage Down in U.S.: On Nov. 29, 2020, electricity usage in the United States was down 3% from the previous year.  However, it was up 5.1% in the United Kingdom. [Need to explore this further.]

·         Air Travel: The number of passengers declined significantly at the top eight airports in the U.S. led by LAX down 67.3%.

Notes From All Over -- Sunday Night Edition -- February 7, 2021

Global warming, study can be found at The Global Warming Policy Foundation, launched by Lord Lawson and Dr Benny Peiser on November 23, 2009, in the House of Lords (London, UK) -- in the run-up to the Copenhagen Climate Summit.

[In the most recent study], Goklany provides a table, setting out all the scaremongering claims made by environmental groups — and then comparing them with observed reality. Only one of the claims stands up, according to the study — weather has been getting slightly warmer:

More hot days and fewer cold days — Yes

Cyclones/hurricanes more intense or frequent — No

Tornadoes increase and become more intense — No

Floods more frequent and more intense — No

Droughts more frequent and intense — No

Area burned by wildfire increasing — No (area peaked in mid-19th century)

Cereal yields decreasing — No (they have tripled since 1961) - discussed on the blog ears ago

Food supplies per capita decreasing — No (increased 31 per cent since 1961)

Land area and beaches shrinking, coral islands submerged — No. (Marginal expansion) -- we talked about this on the blog years ago, also

None of the doom-mongering claims made about a decline in human welfare stands up, either, according to the study.

**************************
Powerful Playthings
A Keeper: A Two-Hour On-Line Video

The WSJ. 

I was so lucky / fortunate some years ago to visit the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles before it was closed for re-modeling and then closed again because of the pandemic. We took a midday break at the collocated fast food hamburger restaurant inside the huge building.

Maybe I'll get back there some day. 

For now The WSJ article: 

The centerpieces of “Supercars,” the Petersen Automotive Museum’s new online video tour of an exhibit that can’t be viewed in person because of Covid-19, are the 1988 Lamborghini Countach 5000QV as well as a stable of Ferraris that defined the category from the 1950s to today. That’s as it should be. Those were the cars whose images adorned the bedroom walls of teenage boys starting in the 1960s and ’70s, usually with a bikini-clad supermodel splayed across the hood. But as this overview makes clear, covering some 30 automobiles spread across the entire 14,000 square feet of the museum’s third floor, there is much more to the history and development of so-called supercars.

Michael Bodell, the museum’s deputy director, is our guide (the show was curated by Exhibitions Director Bryan Stevens ), and he reminds us that these playthings of the uberwealthy and well-connected have a long history. We see the 1913 Mercer Type 35-J Raceabout, which competed in the first Indianapolis 500, and the 1923 Mercedes 28/95 Targa-Florio, its high hood-line hiding what was, at the time, Mercedes’s most powerful automotive engine, adapted from aircraft technology—a 7.2-liter, inline six-cylinder that produced about 95 horsepower. While these cars may not make us think of the Lamborghinis or Ferraris to come, most of America at that time was driving Henry Ford’s boxy Model T, early models of which had 2.9-liter, inline four-cylinder engines that produced only 20 horsepower.

The Art Deco period’s marriage of design and function is clearly evident in the next two vehicles in the virtual tour, the 1933 Duesenberg Model SJ, an ultra-luxurious long-nosed convertible coupe popular with Hollywood celebrities of the day that put out more than 300 horsepower and had a top speed of over 130 miles per hour. While someone may have driven this car that fast, that wasn’t the purpose of buying one. Rather, it was to be seen in it—leaving onlookers agog at the silver-wrapped exhaust manifolds, spoke wheels and the distinctive flying-goddess hood ornament.

Art Deco’s influence is even more evident in the 1938 Delahaye 145 with a custom body by French coachbuilder Henri Chapron. One of four Delahaye Grand Prix cars, it’s really a race car whose bodywork makes it road-worthy and head-turning, with rounded, sculpted fenders, streamlined hood and sloping tail, all in an elegant blue and purple two-tone finish.

Where we really get into modern-day supercars is the 1952 Ferrari 212/225 Inter Spyder Barchetta, originally owned by Henry Ford II ; he took it to his designers, who were inspired to create the 1950s Thunderbirds. One of the few all-original cars in the museum’s collection, it has a staid black finish with white interior and whitewall tires. Its sleek, rounded edges and open cockpit are so far removed from the top-selling American car of 1952, the Buick Roadmaster, that the two shouldn’t be discussed in the same sentence.

Much, much more at the link.

Notes From All Over -- Apple Car Could Partner With GM -- Source -- February 2, 2021

Local: will trend toward 80°F this week; what's not to like. No snow forecast for north Texas.

Oh!-lena:

• crushes New Jersey; snowfall measured in feet, not inches
• could bury NYC in two feet of snow; updates here;
  
• snowfall will go on all day; through nightfall; 
• in Pennsylvania, three bodies were found in an apparent murder-suicide linked to a dispute over snow shoveling on Monday, as Storm Orlena ...
• next storm on its way -- yet unnamed; will arrive midwest later this week 
• Cincinnati: previous record low, 11°F; this storm will dip into single-digit
• global warming smacks the east -- not "cold" but arctic;
  

Apple:

• Apple Car to use Hyundai's E-GMP battery electric platform; link here;
• Apple: GM partnership also possible
• Apple TV+: record weekend viewers with Palmer launch; finally; link here;
• Apple Card: will go joint; allow for multiple people to use same Apple Card account
• Apple ports: still the biggest Apple computer story in past few day -- adding more ports to the new MacBook Pro -- eliminate need for all those dongles

Tesla:

• recalls roughly 135,000 vehicles over screen failures; link here;
• system simply runs out of memory space
• unable to fix it "over the air"
• so, now, every six years, not only do the batteries need to be replaced but the operating system needs to be replaced
• might as well replace the model every six years whether one wants to or not
• TSLA shares: up $34; up 4% on this news of a massive recall;
  

Wow, What A Great Way To Start The Day -- Two Graphics From Carpe Diem / AEI -- January 28, 2021

A huge "thank you" to a reader for sending me this graphic. 

It's been my feeling that the tornado story has been changing over the years. I remember my mother talking about tornadoes in Iowa when she was growing up back in the '40s, and how anxious she was about them in North Dakota in the 50s, and yet now, even with all the sensationalism in weather reporting, tornadoes just don't seem to be a "thing" any more. Certainly not as interesting as GME.

And then this:

There's only one way this chart could have been made better: add a y-axis to the right and a line showing the change in US population (or better yet, US GDP) over same period of time.

• in 1983, US population: 231 million.
• in 2020, US population: 331 million

Can you imagine how this graphic would have been much different had much more US manufacturing now accomplished in Chinese, India, Vietnam, and Mexico been brought back to the US? LOL. One really has to thank companies like Apple moving their manufacturing operations overseas to minimize CO2 emissions here in the US. 

China, to keep up with the energy demand required for all that manufacturing is building coal power plants as fast as they can. Meanwhile, the US is shutting natural gas because we have too much.

Graphic Of The Week -- January 17, 2021

I would have missed this. Huge "thank you" to the reader who sent this to me.

Australia Is Awash In Lobster -- January 13, 2021

Remember the lobster page, July 1, 2018 -- I remember decades ago "we" were told that lobster were dying out, and soon to disappear altogether, due to global warming. 

Not only did that not happen -- see the linked story -- but now The WSJ is reporting that Australia is "awash in lobster." One assumes the price of lobster is plummeting in your local neighborhood seafood store. LOL. Yeah, right.

From the linked WSJ story:

SYDNEY—Over the holidays, Australian chef Sam Young prepared a platter of lobster rolls for his family gathering. The next day, he grilled another lobster to eat with his girlfriend’s hollandaise sauce.

“It’s never been a cheaper time to eat lobsters in Australia,” said Mr. Young, 31 years old, who recently worked at an upscale pop-up restaurant that cooked as many as 40 lobsters a day. “I tell every table to order lobsters.”

Ever since China blocked imports of Australian lobsters late last year amid a trade spat between the two countries, Australia has been awash in local crustaceans.

There are so many lobsters that authorities raised the limit for how many lobstermen could sell directly to the public at the wharf. Australians far from the coast are getting freshly caught, live lobster for the first time. Chefs are experimenting with new lobster dishes that previously would have been too expensive. And the low prices are convincing amateur cooks to make lobster at home.

It's Only Getting Worse -- "Never See Snow Again" -- January 20, 2021

From Bloomberg: cold, calm Arctic weather set to rattle Europe energy markets ... and it's on its way to the American midwest. 

Europe is girding for an extended blast of freezing conditions with temperatures set to drop below zero in many parts by the end of this week.

A sub-zero blast that has already blanketed Madrid in a rare snowfall is set to worsen with a weather phenomenon known as a sudden stratospheric warming. The event can disrupt the polar vortex, the winds that usually keep cold air contained in the far north, and allow freezing weather to head south.

It threatens a re-run of “the beast from the east” of two years ago, when a deadly Siberian cold blast lashed Europe, forcing evacuations, stranding trains and snarling traffic. It couldn’t come at a worse time for the region’s heating and power systems, with calm conditions expected to stifle Europe’s wind generation and nuclear plant outages adding to the strain from the cold.

Chilly conditions in Europe January 17-22, 2021, will push the number of heating degree days for that period 11% above the 10-year average.

The measure of when temperatures are below a level needed to warm buildings is expected to climb to 92 days next week, compared to a 10-year seasonal average of 82.7.

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South Dakota Attorney General

No new news in the past four weeks. Link here.

Why I Love To Blog, Reason #7 -- I Blogged About This Years Ago -- The NY TImes Picks It Up Now -- January 10, 2021

Another story that will compete for biggest story of the decade.

Wow, I'm in a good mood. I talked about this years ago. If I can find it on the blog, I will post the link.

I said early on that global warming would expand agriculture worldwide. I first saw it in North Dakota and Montana as corn production increased in North Dakota and wheat production increased in Montana. 

Now this from The New York Times: how Russia wins the climate crisis. Whoo-hoo!

Climate change and its enormous human migrations will transform agriculture and remake the world order — and no country stands to gain more than Russia.

A great transformation is underway in the eastern half of Russia.

For centuries the vast majority of the land has been impossible to farm; only the southernmost stretches along the Chinese and Mongolian borders have been temperate enough to offer workable soil.

But as the climate has begun to warm, the land — and the prospect for cultivating it — has begun to improve. Across Eastern Russia, wild forests, swamps, and grasslands are slowly being transformed into orderly grids of soybeans, corn and wheat. It’s a process that is likely to accelerate: Russia hopes to seize on the warming temperatures and longer growing seasons brought by climate change to refashion itself as one of the planet’s largest producers of food. 

Around the world, climate change is becoming an epochal crisis, a nightmare of drought, desertification, flooding and unbearable heat, threatening to make vast regions less habitable and drive the greatest migration of refugees in history.

But for a few nations, climate change will present an unparalleled opportunity, as the planet’s coldest regions become more temperate. There is plenty of reason to think that those places will also receive an extraordinary influx of people displaced from the hottest parts of the world as the climate warms. Human migration, historically, has been driven by the pursuit of prosperity even more so than it has by environmental strife.

With climate change, prosperity and habitability — haven and economic opportunity — will soon become one and the same. And no country may be better positioned to capitalize on climate change than Russia.

The full story over at The NY Times is behind a paywall, but that much of it, from climatekc.org tells me all I need to know.

Wow. 

Is the narrative beginning to change? No, not at all, but this is another great example of Dr Strangelove. 

I'm lovin' it.

Wow, wow, wow -- if one looks long enough, one can find the NYTimes article (actually a New York Magazine article, apparently) in its entirety, not going through a paywall. LOL.

Link here. 

And archived here.

Snowstorm Shuts Down Spain -- January 9, 2021

Updates

Later, 8:26 p.m. CT: news continues --

Original Post 

Link here.

Storm Filomena has blanketed parts of Spain in heavy snow, with half of the country on red alert for more on Saturday. Madrid, one of the worst affected areas, is set to see up to 20cm (eight inches) of snow in the next 24 hours. 

The city's airport has closed along with a number of roads. 

According to local media, the snowfall in Madrid is the heaviest in at least 40 years. 

The country's AEMET weather agency said the snowfall was "exceptional and most likely historic".

See also this story: snow in Spain; freezing in Asia. 

Never see snow again? Video here.

Mileage Down, Emissions Up -- And This Was Before "Work-From-Home" Became A Thing -- Americans Buying More Trucks, More SUVs -- January 6, 2021

Link here. 

And, here.

Fossil Fuel Production Scenarios -- CO2 Emissions -- December 6, 2020

Link here.

This is a weird chart. I've looked at it a number of times and went to the original report which can be downloaded as a pdf. 

In fact, I'm not even going to try to explain it. I'll just get in deeper. Go to the source -- it will download as a pdf -- if  you want to try to figure this graph out. The source is at this link. At the link, scroll to the very bottom to download the full report and the executive report.

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Bayou Manchac

I know nothing about the "real topology" of Louisiana. If I had all the money in the world, I would hire a guide and spend a few weeks in the bayous. 

I first came across "Bayou Manchac" while reading about the Mississippi Kite. My note, still in progress, can be found here. 

From wiki:

Bayou Manchac is an 18-mile-long bayou in southeast Louisiana, USA. First called the Iberville River ("rivière d'Iberville") by its French discoverers, the bayou was once a very important waterway linking the Mississippi River (west end) to the Amite River (east end).

East Baton Rouge Parish lies on its northern side, while its southern side is divided between Ascension Parish (to the east) and Iberville Parish (to the west). The large unincorporated community of Prairieville and the city of St. Gabriel both lie on its southern side.

Now that I'm writing about this, it seems I have done this before. Bayou Manchac was a short cut from the Mississippi River back to the Gulf of Mexico where New Orleans is now, Lake Pontchartrain. The bayou (or river) was a shortcut or "back door" from the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico at New Orleans.

This is a great interactive map of the bayou.