Has there ever been a "good year" in the US, weatherwise?

Factual Questions
21

That’s not the same as remembering something that didn’t happen. I definitely remember discussing a possible ice age with my parents. Where they got the idea, I don’t know, but you can’t say the idea wasn’t out to the general public. My parents are both scientists and are not likely to have been reading The National Enquirer. I agree, the snowfall in Chicago was probably well above averge in '76 - '77, but probably not extraordinary.

My point is that I think it is likely that there is more than one single Newsweek article mentioning a coming ice age. That doesn’t mean that reputable scientists considered it a real threat, but the news media has never been cautious when it comes to reporting on science. They print what sells.

22

ND, not NY

23

Totally untrue.

I just ran the most simple search I could using only the NY Times, only 1970-1975 and only articles with the precise words "Ice Age"in either the headline or the opening sentence.

Results:

18 October 1970
Weather experts disturbed by Natl Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency rept…
“Weather experts disturbed by Natl Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency rept that air over N Atlantic Ocean is twice as dirty as it was in early nineteen-hundreds; fear that continued, unchecked pollution will affect climate and perhaps bring on new ice age”

18 July 1970
US and USSR press large-scale investigations to determine whether Arctic…
US and USSR press large-scale investigations to determine whether Arctic climate is becoming more frigid, why parts of Arctic sea ice have recently become thicker and whether extent of ice cover contributes to onset of ice age

27 January 1972
Specialists on climatic change meet, Brown U, to correlate scientific data in…
Specialists on climatic change meet, Brown U, to correlate scientific data in attempt to agree on whether new ice age is on the way, when it is likely to begin and what causes ice ages;

19 December 1974
Scientists at conf on relativistic physics, Dallas, rept attempts to assess…
Scientists at conf on relativistic physics, Dallas, rept attempts to assess whether sun is ‘burning low,’ fact which might signify onset of another ice age.
21 May 1975
Walter Sullivan article on Natl Acad of Sciences Global Atmospheric Research…
“Program Com rept on importance of climatic changes to global food production and population patterns notes many scientists expect major cooling trend.”

18 July 1976
Lowell Ponte book, The Cooling, predicting a new Ice Age, revd by Deborah…

14 August 1975
Articles written by Dr Wallace S Broecker in Aug 8 issue of Science and NZ…
Articles written by Dr Wallace S Broecker in Aug 8 issue of Science and NZ scientists M J Salinger and J M Gunn in July 31 issue of Nature question widely publicized predictions that, in coming decades, world climate will deteriorate, severely affecting food production and initiating new ice age.

25 May 1975
Article revs theories about causes of ice ages and speculation about whether…
Article revs theories about causes of ice ages and speculation about whether new ice age is due.

Far from having “almost no exposure in the popular culture” this topic generated at least one headline story per year in the NY Times alone. In actual fact the number of stories woudl have been far higher. These are only the storys that specifically use the words “ice age” in the headlines or opening sentence.

Far from having almost no popular exposure the new ice age was “widely publicized” according to the NY Times.

Far from having almost no popular exposure it was the subject of at least one NY times reviewed book.

Far from being an outlying theory it was a major focus of several conferences and the world’s authorities on global climate, inlcuding Broeker and the boffins at NOAA, felt the need to voice there opinions on the matter.

I don’t see why global warming proponents see the need to deny the truth of this matter. In the 1970s scientists were widely touting the possibility of new ice age in the popular media. Anyone who was alive then remembers this perfectly well and the most simple journal searches confirm the fact.

Saying that it was fringe theory that had no popular epxosure and that people who remember otherwise are deluded hardly gives any credibility to the people who make such outrageous claims.

One day I may run a full search for the 1970s for all popular press, but I think this search alone lays to rest any claims that the theory had no popular support and was only a fringe theory in the scientific community.

24

They could have got the idea from the NY Times, or “Nature” or “Scientific American” or numerous other artciles that r epeatedly ran stories stsing that scientists were predicting anew ice age. The theory was widely touted in both the popular press and scientific journals in the early 70s, as well as several popular books.

Of course there was. Anyone who was alive at the time remembers quite well that the popular press was full of these stories, a fact confirmed by any journal search.

I honestly don’t know why some people feel the need to tell all those people that they are deluded in this when the facts support precisely what they remember: much public discussion, numeorus scientific conferences and partcipation by scientific authorities.

Reputable scientists certainly said very loudly that they considered it a real threat.

And scientists are all too aware of that fact and all too willing to use the popular media to publicise their finding in order to boost funding. One plays off the other, hence the reason why every second week sees a new cure for cancer/AIDS and a new imminent threat due to climate change.

Us scientists aren’t that naive. We know full well that we can use words like “Likely” or “danger of” and rely on the journalist to sensationalise in our behalf.

25

Sounds like we agree Blake. Of course the number and experience of the scientific communitee concerned about the coming ice age in the 70’s was nothing compared to the studies that have been going on for the past 17 years all confirming that global warming is a real threat. The “ice age” of the 70’s was media hype, but global warming has been a documented phenomenon for much longer. Any attempt to compare the two is misleading.

26

You can’t have looked very hard if you missed this.

The famous Buffalo NY - Blizzard of 1977.

That was the year that Buffalo had 199.4 inches of snow. More than 15" per month.

Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse compete for the Golden Snowball Award for the heaviest annual snowfall. Take a look at those yearly numbers and try to convince me that monthly snowfalls for any of the cities stayed under 15" for a winter on a regular basis in any decade. And those numbers don’t properly reflect isolated storms. One in Rochester in early 1966 dumped two feet of snow one weekend and another two feet of snow the next weekend, shutting down the city. The total for the year was a measly 103.2 inches, but those two snowfalls were devastating. Drifts in both Rochester that year and Buffalo in 1977 were over houses, without question.

It is certainly true that the notion of an upcoming ice age was the result of just a few scientists. It may be true that public awareness was sparked by a 1975 *Newsweek * article, but there were lots of precursors. The Wiki page on Global Cooling lays them out in detail.

Much of the work on the subject was lead by Stepehn H. Schneider, whose earlier papers lead to a number of national reports. It was these reports that generated the *Newsweek * article. Schneider’s own book, The Genesis Strategy, came out in 1976. It did spark a number of quickie science books to peddle to the public, from The Weather Conspiracy:The Coming of the New Ice Age by the Impact Team (a bunch of journalists) to Lowell Ponte’s The Cooling to books by John Gribbin, who’s never found a headline he couldn’t turn into a book. Even though Gribbin is a physicist, neither he nor the other authors were climate scientists. They all were doing popular science to cash in on current headlines. After 1980, it all faded away until the anti-global warning forces dug them out and tried to confuse the public with disinformation.

While the notion of an upcoming ice age had real scientific backing, therefore, it never grew to the consensus status of today’s global warming understanding by the vast majority of researchers in the field. There are always maverick scientists writing maverick books. Some are very good, but ultimately wrong. Schneider has since joined the global warming consensus. In fact, he was an early adopter. That’s what real scientists do. If they’re wrong, they say so.

27

Yeah - January of 1977. Sorry, but the claim was April 26th of 1974 - 1976. You’re supporting my view, not refuting it.

28

You did see where BlinkingDuck twice said it was ND, North Dakota, not the NY he typoed in the first post, didn’t you?

29

I think the litmus test should be paleometeorologic trends. What did the Weather seem prior to a major climatic change in the past?..and yes, the precedence is available in physical evidence (i.e. deep ice cores, geological strata.)

30

My posts were confusing…I had the NY blizzard in the same paragraph as my house being covered. This confuses that I lived in ND, not NY…and the fact that I remember blizzards in NY being confused with 74-76 where I was talking about ND…

31

You may have missed my point, but I also made it poorly. Basically, there’s never been a year when all the farmers are happy. Good conditions for corn means awful conditions for some other kind of farmer. And all most reporters are ever asked to talk to are the unhappy ones.

You may now resume the proxy debate on global cooling.