Weather Oddities 2

It's another wet and stormy June day today.  I couldn't have imagined just how wet this month would turn out with my first foray into summer rainfall amounts.  The pattern continues as the wet weather will push into July.  Philadelphia will surely pass the ten inch mark this month.  Great time to start keeping track of rain.  Southern areas are doing well themselves.

Speaking of rain, I think the majority of national news stories involving weather are flood related.  Alberta is taking a beating.  I was going to post videos but there are too many out there.  Do a search on Calgary to see the whole city under water or look into Canmore, a town I Goggle mapped my way through just a few weeks ago that sits in a picturesque part of the Canadian Rockies, if you choose.  But there has also been news about flooding in France and in India that has claimed over a thousand lives.  It's amazing the power and simplicity of water. 

I'm a little behind on my weekly weather oddity column so let's dive in.  The goal is to keep it around three each week.


1)  I don't want to keep going back to the same stories in this section but the Moore tornado was back in the news.  I bring it up because of something I never considered.  Residents who went through the process of cleaning up and beginning to rebuild are starting to experience medical issues caused by breathing in the bits of debris in the air.  Obviously when homes and businesses are demolished particles are inhaled that are normally avoided by people.  Hopefully people remember to use all the necessary protection when digging through the wreckage including face masks.

2)  The WASHINGTON POST article:

There is the headline from an article in the Washington Post.  I'm no longer taking sides on this, not that I really did before, as long as we can learn and understand both viewpoints.  And I for one do not want to be a part of any trend that includes the word warming.  The title perfectly encompasses the article by letting us know that while the rate of warming over the last 15 years has been slower than the 20 years prior, that doesn't mean we should get excited.  The article goes on to throw out questions as to why, in short summary, what should we make of it, is it random, or does it tell us something interesting about climate change?

The four selected answers are as follows.

1. THERE IS STILL GLOBAL WARMING -  That certainly answers it

2. ONE THEORY, OCEANS RESPONSIBLE - Cool, care to explore other theories?

3. EVEN IF YOU PLACE A LOT OF WEIGHT ON THE RECENT SLOWDOWN, IT DOESN'T CHANGE PROJECTIONS OF FUTURE WARMING TOO DRAMATICALLY
Okay so I took this one verbatim as written.  Good golly do I love it.  So much in here to play with.  It is clear the message we are going for in this piece after three apparent answers to predetermined questions is global warming is very much a threat.  I'm fine with that.  The wording is the great part.

Even If You = Go ahead, but you are really reaching
A Lot Of Weight = You are putting all of your eggs in one basket now

Doesn't Change Projections:  It might have if you didn't just say I placed A LOT of weight
Too Dramatically:  So there is a change?

You realize if I was on the other side of this issue I could have used the exact same basis of the sentence and written the following without being incorrect:  IF YOU PLACE WEIGHT ON THE RECENT SLOWDOWN, IT CHANGES PROJECTIONS OF FUTURE WARMING

4.  STILL ON PACE TO BLOW PAST 2 DEGREES CELSIUS TARGET 

Let me sum it up.  What should we make of this?  I don't know.  Is it random?  Maybe.  Does it tell us something interesting?  Not yet.

3)  A woman in Colorado who had her home destroyed by the Black Forest fire that swept through the northern area of Colorado Springs returned to her home to sift through whatever valuables could be salvaged.  Turns out the police were doing some searching of their own.  She was arrested on a traffic related warrant while trying to clean up.