Welcome to your Monday open thread. How many of you are enjoying a three day weekend? Today is President’s Day, celebrating George Washington’s and Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays. Is anything else on your mind?
Some new studies are finding strong links between global warming and extreme weather events.
One group of researchers looked at the strongest rain and snow events of each year from 1951 to 1999 in the Northern Hemisphere and found that the more recent storms were 7 percent wetter. That may not sound like much, but it adds up to be a substantial increase, said the report from a team of researchers from Canada and Scotland.
The study didn’t single out specific storms but examined worst-of-each-year events all over the Northern Hemisphere. While the study ended in 1999, the close of the decade when scientists say climate change kicked into a higher gear, the events examined were similar to more recent disasters: deluges that triggered last year’s deadly floods in Pakistan and in Nashville, Tenn., and this winter’s paralyzing blizzards in parts of the United States.
The atmosphere is now holding 4% more moisture, which is expected of a warmer atmosphere. A second study also showed a global warming link to a specific event.
The British study focused on flooding in England and Wales in the fall of 2000. The disaster cost more than $1.7 billion in insured damages and was the wettest autumn for the region in more than 230 years of record-keeping.
The authors found that the flood was more likely when greenhouse gases were included in computer simulations than without.
“In two out of three cases we found around a doubling of risk,” said Allen.
Thismisman issue that we will continue to ignore as a nation, after all there are still public workers out there receiving pensions.
Wisconsin’s new governor Scott Walker was endorsed by a few unions – the firefighters and the state police. They were specifically exempted from the union-busting part of the budget proposal. However, they released the following in a press release (sorry the all caps is from their press release, yes they’re yelling at everyone):
I SPECIFICALLY REGRET THE ENDORSEMENT OF THE WISCONSIN TROOPER’S ASSOCIATION FOR GOVERNOR SCOTT WALKER. I REGRET THE GOVERNOR’S DECISION TO “ENDORSE” THE TROOPERS AND INSPECTORS OF THE WISCONSIN STATE PATROL. I REGRET BEING THE RECIPIENT OF ANY OF THE PERCIEVED BENEFITS PROVIDED BY THE GOVERNOR’S ANNOINTING.
I THINK EVERYONE’S JOB AND CAREER IS JUST AS SIGNIFICANT AS THE OTHERS. EVERYONES FAMILY IS JUST AS VALUABLE AS MINE OR ANY OTHER PERSONS, ESPECIALLY MINE. EVERYONES NEEDS ARE JUST AS VALUABLE. WE ARE ALL GREAT PEOPLE!!
The story gets more interesting – the WLEA has now taken down the unendorsement. Meanwhile the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce has released a statement in support of the protesters.