A huge, lingering ridge of high pressure over the eastern half of the United States brought summer-like temperatures to North America in March 2012. Image courtesy NASA/EO, click for my comments.
A spring heat wave shattered records across the US and Canada this month, leaving many of the nation's temperature stations sporting an
angry red hue:
The unseasonable warmth broke temperature records in more than 1,054 locations between March 13–19, as well daily lows in 627 locations, according to Hamweather. Cities as geographically diverse as Chicago, Des Moines, Traverse City (Michigan), Myrtle Beach, Madison (Wisconsin), Atlantic City, New York City, and Duluth, (Minnesota) all broke records for high temperatures in recent days.
What does that mean? Climatologist
Michael Mann put it like this yesterday, "I'm often getting asked 'the crazy warmth this winter and spring, is it climate change or just weather'? The answer I tell them is that it's both; weather is the random rolls of the dice. But global warming and climate change is loading the dice. And that's part of why we're rolling so many sixes lately."
- Remember the gorgeous image of the hyper-velocity star near the bottom of this post? What happens if a planet wanders too near the dark, violent heart of a large galaxy? It could fly off at an appreciable fraction of the speed of light!
- Why might skeptics and atheists be angry these days? Greta Christina explains in video:
I'm angry with preachers who tell women to submit to their [abusive] husbands. .. I'm angry that the belief in karma and reincarnation gets used as a justification for the caste system. I'm angry that in Islamic theocracies women who get raped can be executed for adultery.
- Let's not tell the knuckle-draggers that hominid evolution may be responsible for runner's high, or rigorous core training may occasionally cause orgasms for some women. Santorum might flip out and angrily denounce gyms forcing Romney to rave about defunding PE in gubmint run schools.
- Romney's science flip-flops piss me off, but this week Rachel Maddow illustrates they are the least of Sketchy's serial whoppers -- skip to the 6:25 mark if you're pressed for time.