Thursday, March 29, 2012

Should we be wary of this early spring?



If you're like me, you're reveling in this too-early spring.  The sun feels soooooo good!  The birds are already staking out their nesting territories, the grass is painfully green...life is good!   Whoopeeee! It's only March!   We've got the world by the tail on a downhill pull.  Right?  Well.......take a moment to consider:

The U.S. has experienced a heat wave in March that’s seen 7,271 daily temperature records broken or tied from coast to coast, according to the National Climatic Data Center. That includes a March 22 record for New York’s Central Park of 78 degrees Fahrenheit (26 Celsius). The average monthly temperature in the park was 51.2 degrees through yesterday, 9.4 degrees above normal and 0.1 degree above the record from 1945.




My advice (if someone were to ask) would be to temper your jubilation....or hold those thoughts....

PBS is currently running a series on global climate change.  I've seen a clip from it on the Internet.  If you'd like to follow it go here: 

http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2012/03/27/451545/connecting-dots-climate-extreme-weather-pbs-story-texas-drought/?mobile=nc
 
Be sure to track all the links listed in the article, too.
 
Of course, it's only Texas, right?  And they've always been pretty cavalier about conservation of anything.  The Lone Star state has always "had it all."  Long ago, I heard it said that of ALL the states in the union, Texas could survive as a country.  That said, can we connect the dots in reverse, here?  If Texas is hurting....how long will it be until the rest of us start feeling the global warming effects close to home?  Or is it only in Mumbai and Ethiopia?  The photos of Texas seem counter to that misconception.
 
In PBS's program the head of NOAA tried to describe the situation in Joplin, MO, site of last year's devastating tornado.  One comment she made was simply beyond my ability to picture it:  the tornado reduced a high-end, thoroughly equipped hospital to toothpicks, just 12 inches high; there remains in Joplin 1,800 acres of debris from homes, businesses, parks, utilities....how does a single homeowner, for example, cope?  Get ready for the future...Instead of shopping for a McMansion, it might be more advisable to check out a commodious underground shelter...and not just in Kansas.
 
Google's Science section this morning was loaded with global warming articles.  Here's one: 

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-03-28/u-dot-s-dot-heat-waves-set-to-intensify-from-new-york-to-l-dot-a-dot

So... if any of us is celebrating this early spring, perhaps we should temper our enthusiasm with the knowledge that we are sitting in a leaky boat.  I don't know about your location, but mine has been slightly scary of late.  That half hour of 50 mph winds three weeks back--the storm that brought down numerous trees, and frightened me enough that I took shelter under the stairway--and the hailstones last year the size of quarters, and the 80-degree afternoon yesterday....need I say more? 

What's going on?  And shouldn't we --in spite of those pompous blowhards we call Senators and Congress people--who claim divine knowledge that global warming is a hoax--start pushing back?  May I suggest we at the very least, put them last in line to receive a cool drink of water....


3 comments:

  1. Elora:

    I just hate it when people say to me "don't you just love this weather?" Uh, no. It's not normal. It's weird. This is (still) March. They look at me as if I am from Mars.

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  2. Hey, Carolyn! Lovely to hear from you, girl! How's life in the forest? Yes. (loving this too-warm weather) Buy now, pay later! At least we can't say things are dull, though! I keep wondering what's coming next from Mother Nature's play book. March Madness?

    Thanks so much for your comment! I'm going back and enjoying 100+ posts of other blogs(among them, yours) from the last several weeks. It's fun catching up with everyone!

    Take care,
    Elora

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  3. Elora,

    All is fine here on Roundtop, thanks. I missed your blog while you were taking a break! Spring is crazy here, and I'm trying to keep ahead of the multiflora rose invasion in the back of my cabin. i'm not sure if I'm winning yet or not. Take care!

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