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17 March 2023
Note to AP and Fox News: A Storm Hit California, Not an Atmospheric River
An atmospheric river is a plume of moisture that often shows up well on Satellite images over large oceans. If I see one associated with a storm, I know that it will likely be a very wet one with increased rainfall. There are a few famous ones as well, like the Pineapple Connection which will sometimes bring tropical air from the Equatorial Pacific into a storm approaching the U.S west …
14 February 2023
Going Viral Is A Pain
Last week I saw the news about this balloon from China passing over Montana, and when the Defense Department said it was from China, I thought, let’s see if it was! Turns out NOAA has a numerical weather model called the NOAA-HYSPLIT which will backward forecast (based on what the winds aloft were) to show you where the air over you now was a few days ago. I tend to …
3 September 2021
Two Connected Images
The New Jersey State Climatologist posted a map of the rainfall from Ida Wednesday night. Look at these rainfall totals! Now, Look at this graph from Dr. Brian Brettschneider. He posted this on Twitter today. It might surprise you to know that August was the 543rd month with global ocean temps. above the average for the 20th century. The planet is about one degree C. warmer than it was one …
13 February 2021
Why Crazy Snow Forecast Go Viral on Social Media
There have been some rather outrageous snow forecasts floating around online this winter, and in the last few days, many have been from Oklahoma and Texas. Make no mistake about it there is a major snow event coming there, but TV forecasters in Oklahoma City posting snow totals 5 days out is certainly beyond the science (and perhaps a good definition for the word irresponsible). You tend to get strong …
9 February 2021
Science Illiteracy and Poor Critical Thinking Skills Really Can be Deadly
I’ve written many times over the years about science illiteracy and the need to teach critical thinking skills to students. Is there any doubt that the last 14 months has emphasised it like nothing else could? Thousands have died because they thought the world’s medical experts were wrong about social distancing/face masks. The politicians who agreed with them and refused to urge their constituents to follow the basic rules during …
11 August 2020
Disease Experts Are Now Getting The Climate Science Treatment
I have to feel sorry for Dr. Anthony Fauci. He has received several death threats and had to hire security for his family. So have other disease experts and the simple reason is that their science conflicts with the political worldview of some politicians and their supporters. The science does not care about your political party, it cares about what you can test and what you can show. If …
1 May 2020
Have You Given Up Teaching Your Kids at Home? I Can Help!
Watch the video! Note: the image in the headline on the AGU Blogosphere page is of my friend Joe Witte. He’s right too, Science Works!
5 April 2020
Questions about Covid19 and Virology? The Doctor is In!
The last straw this week was today’s BBC story of conspiracy theorists setting fire to mobile phone towers. It seems they think the Covid19 virus is being caused by the upgrade to 5g mobile phone service. While I don’t there is any hope for these folks, if you’re convinced the Moon landing was real and that pro wrestling is a hoax, I think I can help with some reliable info …
24 November 2019
How You Can Destroy Civilization and Virtually No One Would Notice- At Least For a Few Days!
Chris Colose is a NASA Climate expert working on a new global climate model (GCM). It’s called ROCKE-3D, and is designed to be used not only on earth but on extraterrestrial planets! I can show you could destroy civilization because Chris did it in the new GCM by taking out the CO2 and Methane in one of his model runs, but there’s something you should know first. Were you …
4 October 2019
Ed Hawkins “Climate Stripes” May be the Most Important Science Image so Far in This Century
Dr. Ed Hawkins at the University of Reading produced an image last year that made my jaw drop. It now has a name. Climate Stripes. Hawkins assigned colours to the Earth’s temperature since 1850, and it powerfully shows how the planet is warming. It’s rapidly becoming as well known as what may be the most important science image of the last century, Dr. Michael Mann’s famous hockey stick. The hockey …