Comments on: Major weather in the American West? https://gregladen.com/blog/2012/11/29/major-weather-in-the-american-west/ Tue, 04 Dec 2012 02:20:21 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.8 By: California Megastorm sign of Catastrophic Climate Chaos Cliff? https://gregladen.com/blog/2012/11/29/major-weather-in-the-american-west/#comment-496401 Tue, 04 Dec 2012 02:20:21 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=14604#comment-496401 […] weather events — such as the Pineapple Express drenching much of northern California.  As Greg Laden The reason I mention this at all (those of you who live there, I’m sure, are totally up on this) […]

]]> By: Another Week of GW News, December 2, 2012 – A Few Things Ill Considered https://gregladen.com/blog/2012/11/29/major-weather-in-the-american-west/#comment-496400 Mon, 03 Dec 2012 13:28:52 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=14604#comment-496400 […] 2012/11/29: GLaden: Major weather in the American West? [Atmospheric rivers] […]

]]> By: Jim Cliborn https://gregladen.com/blog/2012/11/29/major-weather-in-the-american-west/#comment-496399 Sun, 02 Dec 2012 00:28:48 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=14604#comment-496399 Or, is this actually a manifestation of the ENSO, El Nino Southern Oscillation?

]]> By: Jim Cliborn https://gregladen.com/blog/2012/11/29/major-weather-in-the-american-west/#comment-496398 Sat, 01 Dec 2012 21:10:31 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=14604#comment-496398 GOES whole disk, west, visible (i.e. a satellite view of the Pacific) is published online every hour. It would seem that a long band of clouds starts off the Columbian coast and streams nearly horizontal to a location northwest of Hawaii where it is turned (?) nearly 180 degrees by the jet stream to collide with my backyard in Humboldt County. I’m wondering if this is indeed the mechanism that loads the AR-storm with moisture, or just a coincidence of clouds and the Coriolis effect? Minor note: an AR-storm is not the same as the 1860s storm that flooded Sacramento; that was an “ARk Storm,” a once-in-a-thousand-years version of an AR-storm. NASA has write-ups on both.

]]> By: Jeffrey Goodwin https://gregladen.com/blog/2012/11/29/major-weather-in-the-american-west/#comment-496397 Sat, 01 Dec 2012 04:33:14 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=14604#comment-496397 In mid-October I noticed unusually large numbers of pine siskins at my bird feeder. Over the years I’ve only recorded large numbers of this goldfinch species in autumns followed by a high rain winter. In fact, in recent years they have been completely absent.

Pine siskins are known as an irruptive species and seem, and I stress seem, to portend a wet or cold winter. My observations are truly anecdotal, and the sample size is small, but my bird feeder crystal ball couldn’t be wrong….could it?

Cough-confirmation bias…cough-cough

]]> By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2012/11/29/major-weather-in-the-american-west/#comment-496396 Fri, 30 Nov 2012 15:26:54 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=14604#comment-496396 Snow in the Sierras is good. But I’m reserving comment on the effects of this particular storm until after it is over.

]]> By: Eric Lund https://gregladen.com/blog/2012/11/29/major-weather-in-the-american-west/#comment-496395 Fri, 30 Nov 2012 14:41:39 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=14604#comment-496395 Lots of snow in the Sierras is a good thing for California: as with most places in the western US, their winter snowpack becomes their summer water supply. There are reservoirs to help damp out (no pun intended) the effects of a single dry year like last year, but a prolonged drought in the region would be bad news for everyone involved.

]]> By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2012/11/29/major-weather-in-the-american-west/#comment-496394 Fri, 30 Nov 2012 12:45:40 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=14604#comment-496394 Jeffrey, this storm system is not like Sandy … It is something that causally happens normally. But this storm system does not lack a component of energy that comes from the release of fossil carbon into the atmosphere. These storm systems are either more common or wetter, and indespersed with more dry, because of global warming. Also, you’re not getting the worst of it where you are.

Stay dry! Or at least dryish….

]]> By: Jeffrey Goodwin https://gregladen.com/blog/2012/11/29/major-weather-in-the-american-west/#comment-496393 Fri, 30 Nov 2012 07:18:07 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=14604#comment-496393 I’m in the middle of it right now in Sonoma County. And after the past few years of less than impressive precipitation this “pineapple express” is welcome. Better late than never.

Anthropogenic global warming is a scientific fact. However, that is a climate issue. The periodic arrival of the “pineapple express” is really just weather, and some welcome weather at that.

]]> By: lyle https://gregladen.com/blog/2012/11/29/major-weather-in-the-american-west/#comment-496392 Fri, 30 Nov 2012 05:16:50 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=14604#comment-496392 Recall that the worst flood in Ca history happened in 1861-1862, when the capitol had to be moved to San Francisco for a bit, and there were lakes in the Mohave Desert.

Our historical record in Ca really goes back not much more than 160 or so years, so for rare events we don’t have a good idea of repeat periods. (Just like with earthquakes there).

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