This is August in the Northern Hemisphere. I don’t know whether or not the following facts are taught in schools, but August is on average one of the hotter months, and in many locations, also among the drier months.
Summer’s been the season since the Solstice in June, when the Sun, from our perspective reached its apex (but not zenith) in the dome of our sky. And whereas it’s true that since the Solstice, the Sun’s angle has been declining, it is also true that the buildup of heat actually started way back in December with the Winter Solstice. With months of longer days and increasingly higher Sun, Earth’s surface has warmed, and the heat will take months to dissipate as the days grow shorter. Thus, there’s no abrupt end of summer on America’s Memorial Day. Closures of swimming pools leave plenty of hot September days un-enjoyed.
The Reason for the Seasons
This cycle of seasonal heating and cooling has occurred ever since Earth, early in its formation, was hit by a Mars-size planetoid that knocked it over relative to the plane of its orbit by some 23.5 degrees, an angle that changes cyclically. In short, summer heat and winter cold are the product of Earth’s tilt, which also makes winter in the Southern Hemisphere coincide with summer in the Northern Hemisphere. And—bonus fact here—the relative importance of that tilt is significant in the context of Earth’s orbital positions of aphelion and perihelion, the former occurring during the Northern Hemisphere’s summer. In other words, we Northern Hemisphere residents are three million miles farther from the Sun in summer than we are in winter.
‘Nugh said, I think on the cause of summer’s accumulated surface heat that warms the bottom of the atmosphere. “No,” you say, “my teachers never covered that stuff or if they did, I wasn’t listening.”
Other Influences
One can add to the info some peripheral influences on temperatures: Latitude is chief among them because Earth’s surface lies on the arc of a sphere. Then land-water distribution because water has a higher specific heat than land (it takes longer to heat and longer to cool). And while we’re mentioning that climate and weather parameter, we should note continentality: The farther inland, the wider the ranges in temperature, with, for example, interior USA reaching higher summertime temperatures and colder wintertime temperatures than coastal USA., which has the moderating effect of water. Next: Altitude. Tops of mountains cooler than lowlands. Add in this mix, the albedo. Light colored surfaces like the Sahara’s sands or Greenland’s ice reflect solar energy, whereas dark green rainforests are more absorbent of that energy. Other influences include prevailing wind systems, ocean currents, and cloud cover. The Prevailing Westerlies of the Northern Hemisphere compound the effect of altitude. Thus, the western side of Mt Whitney and the Sierra Nevada get more precipitation than the eastern side, where America’s hottest and driest desert lies in the “rain shadow.” Walla! Sequoia Forest on the western windward side and Death Valley and the Mojave on the Eastern lee side, where downslope winds dry out and heat up as they roll off the eastern slopes.
There’s more to consider, of course, but why write any of this?
Consider this headline in the LA Times: “July was California's hottest month ever, as climate warms to dangerous new extremes” (Grace Toohey Thu, August 8, 2024 at 3:15 PM EDT) * Consider this fact buried in the story: “The agency's statewide climate data goes back to 1895.” That’s 129 years of Earth’s 4.5+ billion-year history. That's 0.0000000266%. Is Earth currently warming? Or, is the warm July just a fluctuation in weather on a planet whose temperature has trended upward since the melting of the great ice sheets that covered most of Canada's provinces and the northern US states. And how do a single month's temperature data figure into the 50-million-year decline in temperature since the Eocene or into the pattern of glacial and interglacial periods of the last 2.5 million years?
Consider, also, the influences on temperature I mentioned above and throw in other influences, such as seasonal semipermanent High and Low pressure systems and oscillations that couple ocean temperature to atmosphere.** We just rode an El Niño through a rainy Florida in 2024. Are we going into a period during which an El Niña dominates?
Earth Had Weather before 1895
Consider that during that brief 129-year span, some decades have been drier or hotter than others. Are we looking at climate or weather. Given a time machine, would the climate alarmists be astounded at the drought that decimated the Hopi (Anasazi) before anyone kept daily records? At the heat of the Medieval or Roman warm periods? At the persistent cold of the Little Ice Age or Younger Dryas? At the oppressive heat during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum?
Just askin’.
*Online at https://www.yahoo.com/news/july-californias-hottest-month-ever-191501225.html
**Summer's Atlantic "Bermuda High," for example, or the Low that forms off the western coast of India during summer and that directs moisture onto the subcontinent, where it rains over the Deccan Plateau and subsequently floods the western lowlands.
Summer’s been the season since the Solstice in June, when the Sun, from our perspective reached its apex (but not zenith) in the dome of our sky. And whereas it’s true that since the Solstice, the Sun’s angle has been declining, it is also true that the buildup of heat actually started way back in December with the Winter Solstice. With months of longer days and increasingly higher Sun, Earth’s surface has warmed, and the heat will take months to dissipate as the days grow shorter. Thus, there’s no abrupt end of summer on America’s Memorial Day. Closures of swimming pools leave plenty of hot September days un-enjoyed.
The Reason for the Seasons
This cycle of seasonal heating and cooling has occurred ever since Earth, early in its formation, was hit by a Mars-size planetoid that knocked it over relative to the plane of its orbit by some 23.5 degrees, an angle that changes cyclically. In short, summer heat and winter cold are the product of Earth’s tilt, which also makes winter in the Southern Hemisphere coincide with summer in the Northern Hemisphere. And—bonus fact here—the relative importance of that tilt is significant in the context of Earth’s orbital positions of aphelion and perihelion, the former occurring during the Northern Hemisphere’s summer. In other words, we Northern Hemisphere residents are three million miles farther from the Sun in summer than we are in winter.
‘Nugh said, I think on the cause of summer’s accumulated surface heat that warms the bottom of the atmosphere. “No,” you say, “my teachers never covered that stuff or if they did, I wasn’t listening.”
Other Influences
One can add to the info some peripheral influences on temperatures: Latitude is chief among them because Earth’s surface lies on the arc of a sphere. Then land-water distribution because water has a higher specific heat than land (it takes longer to heat and longer to cool). And while we’re mentioning that climate and weather parameter, we should note continentality: The farther inland, the wider the ranges in temperature, with, for example, interior USA reaching higher summertime temperatures and colder wintertime temperatures than coastal USA., which has the moderating effect of water. Next: Altitude. Tops of mountains cooler than lowlands. Add in this mix, the albedo. Light colored surfaces like the Sahara’s sands or Greenland’s ice reflect solar energy, whereas dark green rainforests are more absorbent of that energy. Other influences include prevailing wind systems, ocean currents, and cloud cover. The Prevailing Westerlies of the Northern Hemisphere compound the effect of altitude. Thus, the western side of Mt Whitney and the Sierra Nevada get more precipitation than the eastern side, where America’s hottest and driest desert lies in the “rain shadow.” Walla! Sequoia Forest on the western windward side and Death Valley and the Mojave on the Eastern lee side, where downslope winds dry out and heat up as they roll off the eastern slopes.
There’s more to consider, of course, but why write any of this?
Consider this headline in the LA Times: “July was California's hottest month ever, as climate warms to dangerous new extremes” (Grace Toohey Thu, August 8, 2024 at 3:15 PM EDT) * Consider this fact buried in the story: “The agency's statewide climate data goes back to 1895.” That’s 129 years of Earth’s 4.5+ billion-year history. That's 0.0000000266%. Is Earth currently warming? Or, is the warm July just a fluctuation in weather on a planet whose temperature has trended upward since the melting of the great ice sheets that covered most of Canada's provinces and the northern US states. And how do a single month's temperature data figure into the 50-million-year decline in temperature since the Eocene or into the pattern of glacial and interglacial periods of the last 2.5 million years?
Consider, also, the influences on temperature I mentioned above and throw in other influences, such as seasonal semipermanent High and Low pressure systems and oscillations that couple ocean temperature to atmosphere.** We just rode an El Niño through a rainy Florida in 2024. Are we going into a period during which an El Niña dominates?
Earth Had Weather before 1895
Consider that during that brief 129-year span, some decades have been drier or hotter than others. Are we looking at climate or weather. Given a time machine, would the climate alarmists be astounded at the drought that decimated the Hopi (Anasazi) before anyone kept daily records? At the heat of the Medieval or Roman warm periods? At the persistent cold of the Little Ice Age or Younger Dryas? At the oppressive heat during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum?
Just askin’.
*Online at https://www.yahoo.com/news/july-californias-hottest-month-ever-191501225.html
**Summer's Atlantic "Bermuda High," for example, or the Low that forms off the western coast of India during summer and that directs moisture onto the subcontinent, where it rains over the Deccan Plateau and subsequently floods the western lowlands.
RSS Feed