Thursday, January 31, 2008

Warming sure doesn’t make Chinese burn


As Andrew Bolt explains:

China is suffering from climate change, but not of the kind you'd expect:


One of the worst snowstorms to hit China since the government began keeping records in 1950 has wreaked havoc throughout the country. At least two dozen people have died in accidents and 827,000 people have been displaced. Heavy snowfall has caused gridlock at train stations and airports, just two weeks before the Chinese New Year begins and hundreds of millions of Chinese return home for the holidays.



The weather is already taking its toll on the Chinese economy. So far the snowstorms have cost $3 billion in damages, according to the Civil Affairs Ministry. The heavy snow, sleet, and freezing rain have created transportation bottlenecks for travelers as well as for shipments of coal, vital to fueling China’s power plants.




But colder or hotter, the same culprit is always to blame:


Chinese meteorologists blame global climate change for the unseasonably high snowfall.



This of course follows an unusually cold and snowy winter in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and New Zealand. Global warming sure is a trickster.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Alright dumbass, here's a clue. What is the relationship between relative humidity and temperature? And when relative humidity is 100% it ____. That is why you get more snow in the alps than the poles.

Anonymous said...

anonymous is trolling for someone dumber than himself. Good luck with the search. It might take a while.

Anonymous said...

Well done Phil, very scientific. The following is for the skeptics who don't automatically believe everything Andrew Bolt tells them:

To make snow you need high relative humidity and low temperature. But humidity is temperature dependent, that is why the tropics are moist and the poles are dry. So where is the maximum temp for snowfall? Around zero. And what is the mean temp in Beijing right now? Below zero. So what would happen if it warmed in Beijing? Come on Phil, this isn't rocket science.

Anonymous said...

anonymous, this is you 3rd or 4th post alluding to the fact you have an argument or position without stating what it is.

I realize this kind of stuff passes for debate in the murkier regions of the internet, but for most of us it's just morons trolling for bigger morons.

Anonymous said...

I just gave you the argument above. Pull your head out of your ass and read the post. It is not my fault if you can't understand it.

Jonathan Lowe said...

so your argument is that when it snows it is below zero, and if global warming occurred, it might not snow. Interesting. And this has to do with what?

Anonymous said...

WTF? Look at this curve:

http://www.bom.gov.au/lam/humiditycalc.shtml

Now imagine a warmer temp in China, say from -5 to -3. Now what happens to RH? Look at the graph. And what does this mean for snowfall? You get precipitation only when RH is high. This is really not that difficult to understand.

Jonathan Lowe said...

yes i understand, of course, but as Phil says, ease state your point to your argument.

Rafe said...

I think Anonymous is arguing that:
- higher relative humidity means more snow in up-to-zero degree C temperatures;
- if global warming has raised Beijing's winter temperature a few degrees closer to the negative side of zero
- then the RH there will be higher, hence the increased snowfall.

Jonathan Lowe said...

See latest report

Anonymous said...

The snow was in southern China a couple of thousand kilometers from Beijing where warm temperatures and high humidity are the norm, but let's not confuse the issue with facts.

Anonymous said...

Well done Ralph, it is reassuring to see that someone here is capable of thinking for themselves.

Anonymous said...

So we're saved. The doom reports about droughts because of global warming, especially in Australia, are bogus.

Demesure

Anonymous said...

Now Demesure this is a wonderful opportunity for you to think for your self also. Now for snow you need moisture and cold air. Would you call Australia a cold place?

Anonymous said...

I thought more moisture (supposedly because of anthropogenic GLOBAL warming) means more snow in cold places and more rain in warm places (like say in Australia).

But hey, I can't be aware of all new nature laws.

Anonymous said...

Hi Demensure. Snow and rain are formed in different ways, because water has a phase boundary at 0 degrees. You are not likely to get much snowfall in Australia. It is simply too warm. Fortunately Jonathon has proved for you that there is no drought in Australia, and all the farmers are topping themselves for other reasons. You should be pleased that he has given you reason to not give a flying fuck about that.

Phil said...

Snow and rain form in exactly the same way. The difference is rain melts on the way down and snow doesn't.

Don't debate morons. Anonymous is a moron. He doesn't have a clue. As I said, he is just trolling for a bigger moron to keep him company.

BTW, the snowiest place in the world is the Tug plateau in upstate New York. I was once in Old Forge and the snow banks were 15 to 20 feet high.

Anonymous said...

Phil is suggesting that all clouds are made from snowflakes. What a lovely, magical world you live in Phil.