Here is a good way to measure words versus deeds. Following each candidates' statement about global warming is the amount they spent on private jet travel in just the third quarter of 2019.
"Vice President Joe Biden, who dropped about $924,000 on private air travel …"
"Mayor Pete Buttigieg spent nearly $479,000 on private flights over the past three months"
"Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) used about $253,000 in campaign cash to charter flights"
I'm always amused by people whose carbon footprints are the size of Montana telling the rest of us how urgent it is that we cut ours. As Dr. Glenn Reynolds says, I'll believe global warming is a crisis when the people telling me its a crisis start acting like its a crisis.
Sometimes, I think the ego and private jet travel, rather than public service, are the main reasons people run for President.
The above indicates the path of the cent of Nestor (the white area) and the tropical storm watch (blue). Nestor is, and will be, a lopsided storm with gusts to 70 mph along the white path and as far southeast as the red line. In addition, tornadoes are possible in these areas.
Because of the storm's fast movement, the rains will not cause serious flooding.
It was 30 years ago this evening when meteorologist Rick Dittman and I were standing in the WeatherData, Incorporated forecast center expecting to watch the World Series as we went about our work for the evening. Boy, were we surprised.
I have the video cued up at about the 4:20 mark on the original video. About ten seconds into the excerpt, you hear the crowd start to stir as the stadium begins shaking. A few second later as the feed begins to break up, you hear the voice of Al Michaels saying, I'll tell you what, we're having an earth..." and the feed is lost. Michaels comes back on at about 5:02. I think you'll find his commentary to be quite interesting.
It was one of the worst earthquakes in the United States in the last 50 years.
Mike and I had a great time in Manhattan last week during his talk to the Kansas Property and Casualty Insurance Industry. Thank you for having us and we look forward to working with you again soon.
-- Shelley Seidl
It is spring in Australia with summer coming up. There is increasing concern their electrical grid will not be able to handle the summer heat. Details here. Why is this the case? Australia has implemented more solar and, especially, wind. I strongly recommend the United States does not repeat Australia's mistake.
As part of the 150th anniversary of the driving of the Golden Spike to create the U.S.'s first Transcontinental Railroad, Union Pacific's "Big Boy" #4014 is touring the western half of the nation the rest of the year. You can find its schedule here. The Big Boy is the largest locomotive (of any kind) ever produced and it is a truly thrilling sight.
That said, I want to provide this caution: Stay at least 25 feet from the track. In 2018, a woman was killed standing next to the track in Brighton, Colorado, while photographing Big Boy's sister #814.
Since witnesses said she was looking through the camera's viewfinder at the time, one could surmise she was using a wide-angle lens that made the train look farther way than it actually was. And, unfortunately, this was not an isolated incident. The headline below is also from 2018.
And, always assume every track is active. Big Boy is loud and you don't want to be struck by a train coming from the opposite direction. The picture below was taken Saturday evening.
So, please go out and enjoy #4014. It is an amazing sight. But, stay well away from the tracks.
I would recommend that all weather geeks, meteorologists, forecasters, emergency management personnel, storm spotters and chasers read Mike Smith's uplifting tome on weather warnings. All info presented was thoughtful and pragmatic and historically accurate -- A great read. Mr. Smith is also a great writer.
And, the review immediately before:
I expected this book to be interesting. But, I didn't expect it to be such a page-turner. I couldn't put it down. The writing is excellent. It has a good pace and kept me coming back for more. I love reading about weather, but I can't say too many meteorology books have had me up min the middle of the night saying, "just one more chapter!" This one did. The specific storm stories weave together the topics perfectly. I want to deliver a free copy to anyone who snakes about the weatherman never getting it right. They just don't understand. This book shines a light on the everyday heroics of storm forecasters that go unnoticed and unappreciated. And, it's a fun read!
And, yesterday, an unsolicited comment from Twitter about both books.
Tomorrow, Catholic Cardinal John Henry Newman will be declared a saint of the Catholic Church. There will be a canonization Mass in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City.
Newman is the only university in the United States named after the soon-to-be saint. They have been celebrating all week and they will be watching at 3am CDT tomorrow when the celebration begins.
This constantly hyping of nearly impossible global warming scenarios isn't helping anyone except for the many scientists and their hangers-on who rely on government funding.
To the U.S. Congress: Do you really want to keep funding this nonsense? After all, "The Science Is Settled."
Captain Shults is the pilot for Southwest Airlines that calmly landed her craft in Philadelphia after an explosive decompression on a flight from NYC to Dallas.
Unfortunately, she has had to withstand a considerable amount of sexual discrimination. There is one issue with the linked article: the description of "smoke" accompanying the explosive decompression is incorrect. It was actually cloud or, if you prefer, fog. At the bottom of the article is the audio of the flight. It is stunning: Captain Shults really does have "The Right Stuff."
They have cut power all day because of the risk of wildfires.
Below, the maroon colors indicate areas of high fire danger.
It is a shame the state has allowed its electric grid to deteriorate to the extent that high winds = power failures = severe wildfires = deaths. The economic loss of a day without power, not to mention the inconvenience, is huge.
Another climate practitioner jets off the a glamorous city (Brussels) to deliver a paper that could have been presented over Skype.
Via Twitter
Dr. Hayhoe lives in Lubbock, Texas, and works at Texas Tech University. It takes a fair amount of carbon to fly from west Texas to Europe.
Normally, I would not comment on a single, undoubtedly sincere, person flying to Europe. But, look at the topic of her presentation: Barriers to Public Acceptance of Climate Science, Impacts and Solutions.
As Glenn Reynolds says, "I'll believe global warming is a crisis when the people telling me it is a crisis start acting like it is a crisis."
I don't understand why the people telling us to cut our carbon footprints don't understand that, at best, scurrying off to Copenhagen, Cancun, Bali (all locations of recent climate science meetings) seriously undercuts their austerity message. At worst, they are hypocrites.
Yesterday, we received one of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) periodic global warming advocacy reminders of how hot they believe U.S. temperatures to be.
Except the superior temperature data does not show September to be particularly hot. For years, NOAA lobbied for the establishment of a gold standard climate sensing network that would not require the 'adjustments' they do on other data. The gold standard data is below.
You'll note there is nothing remarkable about September's temperatures. In fact, there is no net warming in the United States at all since the USCRN network was installed.
NOAA can't have it both ways: Spending many millions of our tax dollars for this "gold standard" (their words) climate network that it ignores when the gold standard data is, shall we say, "inconvenient."
This is going to be a vicious winter storm and you endanger your life by traveling into this area Wednesday night into Saturday. Please check your local forecast for additional information.
