It is almost impossible to overstate how ridiculous these climate forecasts are. This one was published more than three years ago but we -- and the planet -- are still around.  These stories are usually coordinated between Big Climate and the news media. The timing usually is when some bill is before Congress or a policy is being considered by a presidential administration or a presidential department like the Environmental Protection Administration. No one believes these except gullible climate groupies (if you wonder to whom I'm referring, just read the comments section to any Washington Post  article about climate).  Once published, [non-scientists] at the White House, in Congress, and others will write worrisome pieces on social media and for the MSM which lobbyists will use to influence congresspeople (almost none are scientists) and on and on.  The money starts flowing (if it involves alternative energy, a surprising amount of graft often seems to be involved)...

Now, Big Climate wants to “geoengineer” our climate. This is an incredibly dangerous activity but, evidently, the Biden/Harris Administration is all for it. The risk of “unintended consequences” is high.  The story is here .  What do I mean by "unintended consequences"?   Here’s a recent example. In the 2010’s, it was decided that the sulfur used in the fuel for oceanic shipping fuels had to be eliminated. Via treaty, in 2020, the new fuels were adopted worldwide. And, guess what?  The new, cleaner, fuels are contributing to global warming and making our world hotter.   This was the opposite of the intended effect. See headlines below: So now, even though we have vast gaps in our understanding of the earth-atmosphere-ocean system, we are dumping toxic chemicals into the ocean to "fix the climate." Here's the very basic question: how do we determine the climate has been "fixed"?  By what metric? Temperatures? Number of storms? What? Climate scientists r...

Now that it is summer, many head to the ocean for vacations. It is important to be able to identify them; so far in 2024 -- before summer vacations have begun -- all seven beach drownings in the U.S.A. are due to rips. You will find the video below to be helpful. Stay safe and have a great vacation!!

..........run into a  floating wind turbine.   The post was inspired by several news reports (examples here and here ) this week about plans to create many more floating wind turbines. I have a mental picture of some of them breaking away and floating into the waters of Miami Beach.  Image by Trina Sanders Ocean wind turbines are yet another mistake by Big Climate, even bigger than land-based wind turbines. They are far more expensive than their land-based cousins and still have the prob let with intermittency. Of course, if one of these monsters floated close-in to the beach off one of Barack Obama's oceanfront mansions in Massachusetts or Hawaii, he'd have the Coast Guard shoot it down in a second. 😉 And, yes, part of this post is tongue-in-chiefs. 

With the holiday weekend at hand, the caution regarding rip currents is timely. I had no idea so many were drowning in them. Vital safety information is here .  They can be easily seen from above, as in the photo, but are difficult to see at beach level. So, I urge you to follow the flags and the advisories online and on the radio.

Yes, the second point is factually correct . 

This is the best photograph of rip currents I have ever seen. I can explain in the photo below. Rip currents slide sideways along the beach. The red circle points to a person in danger. As the current swirls down the beach (blue arrow) the person goes from being in six inches of water to suddenly being in 3-4 feet of water that comes on him or her from an unexpected direction. Sometimes the current can be strong and disorienting. All of the sudden, the person is in a situation they cannot handle.  Most rips are more subtle but this photo -- and some bring water in from two directions -- but, this should give you the idea. When there are rip current warnings out, be very, very careful you observe the pattern of the waves and flow before entering the water. Then, make sure you stay in shallow water. 

Rich Thomas, WFLA-TV via Facebook This is an amazing photo from Panama City this morning. No, it is not hurricane sea spray. Let me explain what you are seeing: If you've even been on an airplane when the humidity is high, you have probably seen cloud or cloud fragments on the top of a wing. This is due to the pressure falling (causing the humidity to rise to 100%) as the air travels over the top of the wing faster than the air under the wing. That drop in pressure lifts  the wing and the entire plane. So, in this case, the ambient outdoor humidity was just below 100%. When the air is forced to accelerate over the hotels, the humidity goes up to 100% just like it does over a wing. I've never seen this before with hotels. Really cool shot. ADDITION: Found a photo of cloud over the top of wings. A full explanation is here .

Rich Thomas, WFLA-TV via Facebook This is an amazing photo from Panama City this morning. No, it is not hurricane sea spray. Let me explain what you are seeing: If you've even been on an airplane when the humidity is high, you have probably seen cloud or cloud fragments on the top of a wing. This is due to the pressure falling (causing the humidity to rise to 100%) as the air travels over the top of the wing faster than the air under the wing. That drop in pressure lifts  the wing and the entire plane. So, in this case, the ambient outdoor humidity was just below 100%. When the air is forced to accelerate over the hotels, the humidity goes up to 100% just like it does over a wing. I've never seen this before with hotels. Really cool shot. ADDITION: Found a photo of cloud over the top of wings. A full explanation is here .

When viewing weather radar, people are used to seeing "ground clutter" -- the radar beam's energy striking the ground or buildings or other features and scattering some of the energy back to the radar. But what are the echoes south of the Island of Kauai? Answer: Wave clutter. Just like the earth is not flat, often neither is the ocean. In the case the radar's energy (red) strikes the tall wave and part of it (purple) reflects back to the radar. It is displayed as wave clutter. Of course, in nearly calm seas there is little, if any, clutter from waves.

Sigh . Hat tip: WhatsUpWithThat

As our readers already know, sea level rise has been more or less constant the last 100+ years, in spite of numerous predictions and claims to the contrary. This finding has been confirmed in a new peer-reviewed paper .

I have already commented on the silly people trying to blame the Japan earthquake and tsunami on global warming. But, the head of the U.N.'s International Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri, an ex-railroad engineer (with no training in atmospheric science), should know better. He told the world that the tsunami was 17cm (6.7") higher because of 'global warming.' Click to enlarge. Courtesy: Anthony Watts, WattsUpWithThat See the tiny purple bar in the far lower left corner of the illustration? That is 17cm versus the height of the tsunami (at right). The vertical black bar in the center is the height of the Fukushima Reactor. The idea that 17cm made any difference is absurd. But, lets assume, for just a moment, that 17cm would have made a difference. If you click on the purple link above, he connects global warming to sea level rise.  Here is a graph of sea level change (sea level has been rising since the end of the Little Ice Age) for the last 100+ y...

Update: In view of today's tsunami, I have received two requests to repost this, so I am bumping it to the top. The real Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, Honolulu There was a lot of scientific mumbo-jumbo in last night's "Hawaii 5-0." Thought it would be fun to give you a rundown... The sirens in Hawaii are used for tsunami warnings and they sound like the "tornado sirens" in tornado alley. Yes, they do have tornadoes in Hawaii and I do not know if they sound the sirens for those, also.  Hawaii tornado, courtesy of KLFY No, tsunamis are not tracked by weather radar. Yes, buoys are critical for detecting a tsunami and communicating that information Yes, underwater landslides can cause tsunamis NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the parent agency of the National Weather Service is also in charge of tsunami warnings. But, tsunami warnings are a different skill set than forecasting the weather. The former is usually done by o...

While forecasting tsunamis is a different science than forecasting the weather, both are done for the public by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA's Hawaii-based tsunami forecast operation did its job well today. The news reports I have seen indicate that only one person was killed by the tsunami in the United States, and that person went to the California coast to photograph the tsunami as it came onshore. In other words, he had the warning but did not heed it. Contrast this to the tsunami in 1964 that killed 17 on the west coast. NOAA's warnings made a difference in Hawaii, Alaska, Oregon, Washington, and California. Congratulations on a job well done. ADDITION: Amazing photo (click to enlarge) of the tsunami overwashing an airport in Japan. More terrific, yet heartbreaking, photos from The Boston Globe   here .

The Wall Street Journal  had an article yesterday (subscription may be required) about the amazing diversity in ocean species: Researchers participating in the census say they have pinpointed about 250,000 species that live in the sea, but that another 750,000 species still elude human discovery. And that's without counting millions of microbe species, which constitute 90% of the ocean's biomass. Just amazing.