NOAA Issues report on severe weather & global warming

[Midway ®]

Scientific Assessment Captures Effects of a Changing Climate on Extreme Weather Events in North America

June 19, 2008

The U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research today released a scientific assessment that provides the first comprehensive analysis of observed and projected changes in weather and climate extremes in North America and U.S. territories. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change previously evaluated extreme weather and climate events on a global basis in this same context. However, there has not been a specific assessment across North America prior to this report.

Among the major findings reported in this assessment are that droughts, heavy downpours, excessive heat, and intense hurricanes are likely to become more commonplace as humans continue to increase the atmospheric concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.

The report is based on scientific evidence that a warming world will be accompanied by changes in the intensity, duration, frequency, and geographic extent of weather and climate extremes.

"This report addresses one of the most frequently asked questions about global warming: what will happen to weather and climate extremes? This synthesis and assessment product examines this question across North America and concludes that we are now witnessing and will increasingly experience more extreme weather and climate events," said report co-chair Tom Karl, Ph.D., director of NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.

"We will continue to see some of the biggest impacts of global warming coming from changes in weather and climate extremes,” said report co-chair Gerry Meehl, Ph.D., of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. "This report focuses for the first time on changes of extremes specifically over North America."

The full CCSP 3.3 report, Weather and Climate Extremes in a Changing Climate, and a summary FAQ brochure are available online.

Global warming of the past 50 years is due primarily to human-induced increases in heat-trapping gases, according to the report. Many types of extreme weather and climate event changes have been observed during this time period and continued changes are projected for this century. Specific future projections include:

    * Abnormally hot days and nights, along with heat waves, are very likely to become more common. Cold nights are very likely to become less common.
    * Sea ice extent is expected to continue to decrease and may even disappear in the Arctic Ocean in summer in coming decades.
    * Precipitation, on average, is likely to be less frequent but more intense.
    * Droughts are likely to become more frequent and severe in some regions.
    * Hurricanes will likely have increased precipitation and wind.
    * The strongest cold-season storms in the Atlantic and Pacific are likely to produce stronger winds and higher extreme wave heights.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources.

NOAA plays a key role in the Climate Change Science Program, which is responsible for coordinating and integrating climate research, observations, decision support, and communications of 13 federal departments and agencies.

The National Center for Atmospheric Research investigates climate, weather, and other topics related to the atmosphere. It is sponsored by the National Science Foundation and managed by a nonprofit consortium of universities, the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/20080619_climatereport.html

[Driven1]

well, at least we know.  and knowing is half the battle.

[Downtown Dweller]

A nonvegetarian diet has a devastating impact on our planets well being:

A report from the U.N. in 2006 revealed the fact that “raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks of the world combined.” Tens of billions of animals farmed for food release gases such as methane, nitrous oxide, and carbon dioxide though their massive amounts of manure. Animals such as cows and sheep, being ruminant, emit huge amounts of methane due to flatulence and burping. “The released methane” the report says, “has 23 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide.” The livestock industry along is responsible for 37 percent of human induced methane emissions. To make room for these animals to graze, virgin forests are cleared. The livestock industry also needs vast stretches of land to raise mono crops to feed the animals. The carbon dioxide that the trees and plants store escapes back into the air when they are destroyed. Growing fodder for farmed animals implies heavy use of synthetic fertilizers produced from fossil fuels. While this process emits a huge amount of carbon dioxide, the fertilizers themselves release nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that is 296 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

A single person, by simply not consuming meat, prevents 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide emissions in a year.

Midway didn’t you say you “flip burgers” for a living? You are one of the biggest contributors to global warming in the world then!

[Midway ®]

Your exhalation of Co2 is a larger contributor.  I didn't say I eat them. I just said I flip them.

[downtownparks]

Thats like saying "I dont drive the Hummers, I just build them"

[Downtown Dweller]

Your exhalation of Co2 is a larger contributor.  I didn't say I eat them. I just said I flip them.

WOW, pot meet kettle... you obviosuly did not read the post:

“The released methane” the report says, “has 23 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide.” In case you didn't know....Carbon Dioxide is Co2.

From Wikpedia (everyone's favorite):
Carbon dioxide (chemical formula: CO2)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide

Now you have already gone off the handle about people getting killed everywhere in the world, so since you obviously don't want any people killed we have to cut back somewhere, which I guess would be meat, so if you truly believe in what you are spouting you need to find a new job. Anyone that rants about global warming and works in an industry that is a leading factor in global warming is not very genuine. Or keep kidding yourself, build those Hummers!

[Midway ®]

Well, ok, you got me on that one.

As a result of your well reasoned argument I have resigned from McDonald's and have gone on welfare.

Thanks for giving me the impetus to improve my life and those around me.

Now that I no longer work at McDonald's, I'm sure hundreds of thousands of people will no longer eat beef.

Again, thanks for the valuable tip, and be sure to keep working and paying your taxes, so that I can continue to collect my welfare checks.

[RiversideGator]

Why do we have to keep pretending that you work at McD's, midway?  As I said, my theory is a government worker of some kind.  Please come clean.   

[downtownparks]

Careful RSG. Press to hard on someone elses identity and you might get outed on general principle. After all, it has been at least a day or two since the last time.

[RiversideGator]

hahaha.  Good point.  I just wanted to know his occupation to learn more about his viewpoint.  As to his real identity, it doesnt matter.

[Downtown Dweller]

Not denying it, just trying to reflect another viewpoint. Everyone goes on and on about the SUV's, but the UN report clearly states the worlds dedication to eating meat, especially beef is WORSE for global warming than all the SUVs combined. How come no one is touting vegetarianism? Why don’t these militant environmentalists attack Ruth Chris instead of someone's truck?

[Ocklawaha]

Every time I hear of these things I have a desire to jump in the Avanti, crank up the AC and stereo and thank God that I'm not driving it in Colombia, where certain villages maintain an art form of passing on the sidewalk! Before the trip, I always shower off and use the spray deodorant. I know it's supposed to kill all life on the planet Earth, but I'm just too busy to worry about it. I mean, if I broke into a sweat, I'd only have to use more, and soon the snowball effect could tilt the scales towards a world cataclysm. Can you imagine the hysteria? The Mayhem? and the unbridled terror? Do you know what it's like to fall in the mud and get kicked, in the head, by an iron boot? Of course you don't--no one does--that never happens.
"Sometime, when the city is up against it, and the breaks are beating the boys, tell them to get out there and give it all they've got. And, win just one for the Zipper. I don't know where I'll be then, but I won't smell too good. That's for sure."

Mount St. Helen's: Arrest That Volcano!

By Michael John McCrae
Relatively Recent Science

In the State of Washington, the biggest threat to clean air is not the environmental policies of the Bush administration; but a natural phenomenon; Mount St. Helen's.

Mount St Helen's has been: “pumping out between 50- 250 tons a day of sulfur dioxide. The EPA should be furious. They have yet to find a way to collect fines from active volcanoes.

Mount St. Helen's joins other natural factories of pollution like Italy’s Mount Etna which: “can produce 100 times more sulfur dioxide than Mount St. Helen's” affecting huge areas of Europe; or the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii which: “churns out 2000 tons a day of sulfur dioxide…creating an acid fog that damages crops.”

If one volcano can beat an entire state of man- made emissions, becoming the top dog of state sources of pollution, what is a state to do? What is the EPA to do? Should Environmental Activists run to the base of the mountain and picket Mother Nature?

Perhaps the ACLU can sue to have the mountain’s name changed because of the religious overtones of the title “Saint”! Aren’t volcanic eruptions considered “Acts of God?” OH! NO! Can’t have that! But, how do you take a volcano to court?

Along with the sulfur dioxide, Mount St. Helen's “produces 500-1000 tons a day of carbon dioxide.” Now, carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas; but, do not fear, because man-made sources of carbon dioxide beat out the mountain by 10 times that amount.

All the earth’s volcanoes combined produce only about one percent of all sourced carbon dioxide. If you remember the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines though, that one eruption is said to have put more pollutants in the air than all the automobiles ever built and driven up to the time of that event. One “Act of God” became a greater source of pollution that all the cars of history! That’s amazing! A rumor I’m starting is that the EPA has put out an arrest warrant for God concerning the Pinatubo disaster.

Science is a wonderful thing. But science can be taken to extremes. We hear about how man is destroying this planet; yet natural sources of contamination and pollution happen every day and nobody blinks an eye.

There are those that decry the fact that America hasn’t been bilked into giving up jobs and adding to the national debt by joining the worthless Kyoto Protocol. China, the world’s heaviest polluter is exempt from the protocol. Since China is just now expanding its industrial development, it is getting a bye from Kyoto. Every day China causes more unchallenged pollution; yet it is America, the cleanest country of the world, with the most expansive environmental laws in existence that is impugned for its stance against another plan to steal money from the American taxpayers while allowing super-polluters to buy exemptions and the expense of American jobs. We don’t need Kyoto. We are clean enough thank you.

So until the EPA and the Environmental Movement can come up with a big enough pair of handcuffs to rein in Mother Nature, Mount St. Helen's’ title as Washington’s super polluter is assured to continue.

NOTE: All quotations from: “The Seattle Times.com” Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2004, “Mount St. Helen's the state’s No. 1 air polluter” by Sandi Doughton.

As for me and my house, we will take the streetcar. Streetcars don't pollute, and in fact, they earn carbon credits that can then be sold at a handsome profit to big dirty places like Automobile factories. As soon as I get those first checks the So-Co is on me boyz and Girlz.


Ocklawaha

[Downtown Dweller]

I think OCK has a point; a lot of the people pushing these theories are a little, off the wall... Prince Charles? Al Gore? Crazy people spray painting (I thought aerosol was bad too?!) painting unsuspecting SUVs, others climbing to the top of massive trees to stop them from being cut down (did you see the guy on the news? He had like 1 tooth and hadn't showered in three weeks). If a normal average joe stepped up then maybe more people would listen, as it is people can shrug the message off due to the messenger....

Besides, I think the raising of meat crops and the food crops to support them is a bigger issue then what car someone drives. After all we aren’t just talking about what the actual animal naturally contributes; we are also talking about all the chemicals released in the dirt and water, chemicals used to fertilize the crops grown to feed the beef. There is also the considerable energy consumed to process this meat. It would seem to make more since to attack meat eaters than SUVs, but maybe that is not politically correct?

[Charleston native]

Scientific Assessment Captures Effects of a Changing Climate on Extreme Weather Events in North America

...Among the major findings reported in this assessment are that droughts, heavy downpours, excessive heat, and intense hurricanes are likely to become more commonplace as humans continue to increase the atmospheric concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.

The report is based on scientific evidence that a warming world will be accompanied by changes in the intensity, duration, frequency, and geographic extent of weather and climate extremes.

"This report addresses one of the most frequently asked questions about global warming: what will happen to weather and climate extremes? This synthesis and assessment product examines this question across North America and concludes that we are now witnessing and will increasingly experience more extreme weather and climate events," said report co-chair Tom Karl, Ph.D., director of NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.

"We will continue to see some of the biggest impacts of global warming coming from changes in weather and climate extremes,” said report co-chair Gerry Meehl, Ph.D., of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. "This report focuses for the first time on changes of extremes specifically over North America."

Global warming of the past 50 years is due primarily to human-induced increases in heat-trapping gases, according to the report. Many types of extreme weather and climate event changes have been observed during this time period and continued changes are projected for this century. Specific future projections include:

    * Abnormally hot days and nights, along with heat waves, are very likely to become more common. Cold nights are very likely to become less common.
    * Sea ice extent is expected to continue to decrease and may even disappear in the Arctic Ocean in summer in coming decades.
    * Precipitation, on average, is likely to be less frequent but more intense.
    * Droughts are likely to become more frequent and severe in some regions.
    * Hurricanes will likely have increased precipitation and wind.
    * The strongest cold-season storms in the Atlantic and Pacific are likely to produce stronger winds and higher extreme wave heights...

...I forecast more man-made global climate change hysteria with the onslaught of any hurricanes that are spawned this season.

Damn. I'm better than I thought! 

Notice the locations of the two quoted co-chairs for this report. Boulder, CO and Asheville, NC. Talk about peas in a pod. Should we expect anything different from these people who have chosen to live in those cities? Could these co-chairs be agenda-driven? Ooohhh, of course not.

[Midway ®]

Here would be a nice place to move to and live when Charleston starts flooding and the food riots become intolerable..

ATLAS E MISSILE SITE HOME CONVERSION

FOR SALE

ArielJPG of Kimball Missile Silo in Nebraska

This Atlas E Missile Site is located about two miles southwest of Kimball Nebraska 69145. Kimball is remotely located in the western panhandle of Nebraska about 60 miles east of Cheyenne Wyoming near Interstate 80.

February 23, 2005 Article from Computer World on this former missile silo home.

Atlas Missile Site Coordinates-As things were during early construction of various sites.



GEOGRAPHICAL

There are several distinct and desirable characteristics about this particular property and its location. This property is centrally located in the USA. This area is sparsely populated. It is far from any high population and military target areas. Denver CO is about a three hour drive southwest and Lincoln NE is about 380 miles east. It is not earthquake prone and tornadoes are not a threat for the underground structure. It is a dry climate and is not located in a flood area. The elevation is about 4,930 feet.



MISSILE CONCENTRATION

Kimball is known as the Missile Capital of the USA. It is believed that if a threat response caused a launching of USA minuteman and/or peacekeeper missiles, our missiles in the three-state area would be launched and gone before the enemy's missiles could reach here. Therefore, it is believed that this area would not be a target since the US missiles would already be out of the ground. Kimball and the surrounding area is sparsely populated and is not believed to have a tactical or strategic military target significance to the enemy. It is not a Command and Control Center like NORAD. There are about 200 Minuteman and Peacekeeper missiles in the adjacent three-state area (Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado).

See http://www.angelfire.com/tx/missileaway/



SURVIVABILITY AND DEFENDABILITY

There is a large pipe fence with large dual swinging gates at the outer entrance of the 18 acres of property. A 9' tall military chain link compound fence with three strands of barbed wire at the top make the property defendable. Sensors provide early notification to an inside computer of breaches/intruders at the compound fence gate and driveway.



The building entrance blast doors are made of heavy gauge steel, which make it nearly impossible to gain unauthorized entrance. The Atlas E missile site construction required 1,062,000 cubic yards of earth moving, 139,000 cubic yards of reinforced concrete and 27,840 tons of structural steel. (Source: "The Military Engineer", No. 362, November -December). The underground structure was designed to withstand a 1-Megaton blast up to 1.6 miles away. The walls and ceilings are 18" to 24" thick constructed of hardened reinforced concrete. This is a hardened underground structure of about 19604 square feet; adding the above ground structures makes a total of approximately 29,352 square feet. The complex sets on top of a hill and provides views in all directions.



Internal self-reliant equipment includes two redundant 12 kWh diesel generators, two 4KW inverters, two independent sets of battery banks, and a wind generator. Pellet stoves and solar collectors provide heat and solar assisted hot water.



The property and surrounding property are defendable and viewable with a high end outside color security camera that can pan, tilt and zoom with inside controls. There are no trees on the property and the ground cover is grassland. The property sets in a cow pasture with the nearest neighbor about a half-mile away. Kimball is about three miles away.



PEACETIME

The underground structure provides a relatively constant temperature and humidity. Without any heat the ground temperature is about 52 F in the winter and 55 F in the summer. The humidity stays near 60%, which is healthy for the human body. Fresh air is circulated in and out of the living area constantly. The 15' high ceilings and the large rooms make it spacious and appeals to the psychic.



The flame pit has been converted into a large greenhouse with an automatic watering system to multiple shelf levels mounted on a 45 -degree slope that creates varying temperature environments for plants and trees. This provides for a self-reliant garden capability. This hardened structure provides an ideal property for protection from natural and man made disasters like tornadoes and civil violence.



This property is remote. Cheyenne Wyoming is 60 miles west; Scottsbluff NE is 40 miles north; Sidney NE is 40 miles east; Sterling CO is 66 miles southeast. Kimball intersects I 80 and Highway 71, which are major truck routes. These main roads are about 2 miles from the Missile Site. There is an FAA airport about two miles from the Missile Site. Kimball has most services and products one needs to live in peacetime. Kimball has about 2500 people and the county has about 4000 people that primarily raise cattle, farm and have oil interests. http://www.ci.kimball.ne.us/



In peacetime a business could be set up using the existing structures. The two mobile homes could provide office space or rental property. The two Quonsets (8,000 sq. ft total) would make a good manufacturing or storage facility. The underground buildings would protect and store finished goods. Semi-trucks can enter the two Quonsets and underground structures.



CONVERSION

The conversion of this Missile Site is extensive and has taken about 5 years to complete. It has been converted to provide for self-sufficiency and self-reliance for peacetime and survival situations. The food flow starts at the greenhouse and continues to the canning kitchen, food cellar, kitchen pantry and finally the kitchen. There is a 16,000-gallon underground water tank in-line with the well that can be pumped if the well fails. The property has the standard utilities plus solar heat and auxiliary emergency wind power. Two sets of UPS Batteries, inverters and two backup generators ensure power availability when rural power fails. The Site is under computer control and is voice commanded. The two 40' X 100' outside concrete pads have Steel Master Quonsets on them. The Atlas E structure is more desirable than the Atlas D or F for converting into a home. The Atlas D complex is above ground and is exposed. The Atlas F complex has a small two story Control Center structure (2363 Sq. Ft of living area) and a 52' wide by 174' deep vertical silo which is very difficult to convert into a functional home. The Atlas E has the most practical underground square feet for conversion.



PRICE

An Atlas E Missile Site cost the government about $3.5M in 1960 dollars and cost about $25M to construct, equip and operate according to The Kansas City Star, Tuesday, December 26, 1995 article "Turning swords into plowshares". This site is a custom conversion home and has many unique custom furnishings. There were only 29 Atlas E Missile Sites built and there will not be any more built. A comparable structure built today would cost in the tens of millions of dollars.

Tell them you saw this listing at Earth House

The price is $25,000,000 USD.

If you are serious about purchasing a converted Atlas E Missile Site home then we recommend you plan a trip to see the whole package. It will take about a day to cover everything you need to see and learn.

http://www.earth-house.com/Listings/Homes_4_Sale/Atlas_E_Silo/atlas_e_silo.html