Specifically Temperatures in the midwest. I live in Missouri, and for December it seems awfully warm. My question is actually about resources though.
I recently had discussions with my alarmist co-workers about weather patterns. Of course I was about as ignorant as they are, so I am looking to arm myself for the next round.
They say we are having record temperatures, ever in all of time. :rolleyes: I am looking for records in recorded history of an average temperature in december. Is there a site out there that has this information? I did a google search for “average december temperatures in december” and “Missouri average temperatures” but have not found anything.
As a side question: My co-workers think that every time we send one of “them dar rock-ettes into spayce” we punch holes in the atmosphere and mess up the jet stream. LOL, I know this is not true, but what could be the reason for abnormally warm temperatures this late in December? El Nino messing up the Jet stream again? (like in 1999)
However, the last few weekends have been nice, last saturday I think it was in the 60’s!! Of course this might have to do with the fact that my company had mandatory overtime on saturday. :sigh:
Yahoo’s weather goes back farther than that.I don’t know what weather service they use,but you can find normal and record temps.for every day of the year.
Looking at the December daily temps.confirmed what I thought was an unsually cold spell in 1990.There were abt. 1/2 doz.days that month that set records.
NWS link for records in St Louis back to 1870’s I believe. (If you live in an area outside St Louis, such as Northwest are of the state or extreme southern area, I can find links for the NWS offices in those locations too)
The trend analysis of weather is a hot debate topic with environmentalists. The problem is several-fold:
Historical records don’t go back far, so “setting a record” is bound to happen frequently.
A record low temperature for Falling Pole, Iowa at 3:00 PM on December 1? Ok, so what? What about the temperatures for the rest of the day? Or for the next town over? Does a record low temperature have any meaning for the overall weather?
We know that the Earth has huge swings in temperature, that Ice Ages of various severity come and go. It’s difficult to tell whether a temperature change is due to a normal changes, or due to things that people have done.
Actually Epimetheus, your coworkers are not completely off track. If you’ve ever been out on a day when jet contrails criss-cross the sky, it doesn’t seem unreasonable that some small percent of the sun is scattered and blocked. The effect of a Shuttle on the local atmosphere (or especially a Saturn 5) is measureable, and NASA has done studies to assure themselves that it isn’t too drastic.
The big question, however isn’t whether El Nino is responsible for weather extremes, but why events like El Nino seem to be happening more frequently and with more severity. (Source: PBS.) I believe even the avid-anti-environmentalist scientists generally now agree that the atmosphere is heating up and that CO2 is accumulating. The oceans seem to be rising. . . .
I did read something about how contrails cause more sun to get reflected back, thus suposedly cooling the earth more. Interesting stuff.
Perhaps I am leary of accepting truth comming from these peoples mouths because of some of the gems I have heard from them. Such as:
*Russia is only pretending to be a broken country, it is a big conspiracy to spread their disgusting communist ways.
*If the ice caps melt, it will be like waterworld. The discovery channel told them that they ice caps are melting, and we are all doomed.
*Experts say California is due for the “big one” and will fall off into the ocean at any time. Buy Nevada property because it will be beachfront property soon. (because as we all know, California will break off perfectly along it’s border)
*The gubbament is one big entity, working against the common man
*If you are rich, you can get off any crime you commit. OJ is their model person
*Exercise is pointless, Jim Fixx, and thousands of other exercisers die of heart attacks at early ages.
*Robots will replace the common man, and the economy will fall. (I have tried to expain to them how the economy works)
*Robots will then go on to making themselves, creating art, writing books,and replace humans in every single arena.
*Science is a big entity, and is always wrong, we should abandon it
*Doctors exploit people for money, all of them, they don’t care about your health.
*Rockets blasting into space, cause pieces of the atmosphere to go with them, and punch holes so it can escape. We will soon be out of air. The discovery channel told them this.
And more…
They are alarmists, if it isn’t going to destroy them, it isn’t true, and it is boring.