Thursday, January 4, 2018

"bomb cyclone" relief

What a relief -- a "weather bomb" advancing on the East Coast of the United States and some relief from the flimsy braggadocio of a U.S. president whose lies and moral ambiguities tend otherwise to dominate the news cycles. A big snow storm is real and white and accumulating and shows signs of being actual and factual.
A "bomb cyclone" is
... [A] version of a real weather term that applies to a massive winter storm that pulled together Wednesday off the U.S. Southeast coast. But as fearsome as the storm is with high winds and some snow, it may not be quite as explosive as the term sounds.
Meteorologists have used the term “bomb” for storms for decades, based on a strict definition, said University of Oklahoma meteorology professor Jason Furtado....
“We use the term bomb,” Furtado said. “We know what it means, but I do think it gets a little hyped up.”
Here, 90 miles west of the Massachusetts coast, schools have shuttered and closed, businesses have followed suit and the snow is a mere tickling and trickling. Governors, including our own, have urged constituents to stay home and stay warm. The coastal areas of Massachusetts are in for a predicted clobbering... 14 inches, perhaps. And it's a relief ... it may only be a twinkle in some future daddy's eye at the moment, but at least it has a practical ring to it.

It sort of reminds me of the word "alienation," which once had some scientific parameters and then was co-opted by the dystopian-prone masses.

Yo -- duck and cover before the "bomb" lands!

But at least it isn't the moral cowardice of a man who never met a fact he couldn't or wouldn't corrupt.

5 comments:

  1. It's a relief sometimes, to have real challenges at home that demand attention. I try to think of the whole trump thing as a reality show I can ignore, or at least not take seriously. We're getting a little rain this week and grateful for it. But if the winds kick up we can worry about the dead trees left by drought and bark beetle falling across the pasture fence or our half mile driveway. I'm getting too old for such chores, but they're Trump free. And we all need a break from that.

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  2. Sad thing is that while this particular event has little to do with Trump, his failure to accept and deal with our country’s contribution to climate change will be at the center of future environmental anomalies.

    Yet as I have MSNBC on right now for about 1/2 hour, I’ve not heard a thing about Global Climate Change.

    Evidently Marijuana legislation is what the TV eiditors think the watchers want to watch.

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  3. Most of the meteorologists I have seen draw a line between "weather" and "climate change" and are disinclined to conflate the two.

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    1. The interesting thing about “meteorologists” is their employers.

      In any case, from what I’m reading the latest snow storm call a “bomb” may be part of climate change not just run if the mill weather.

      Taken on its face 12 inches of snow — big whoop. We’ve lived through that much and more without it being called a “Cyclone Bomb.” I saw no cyclone level winds nor an explosive snowfall.

      However, here’s a story of the term
      https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/01/04/this-researcher-helped-coin-the-term-bomb-cyclone-he-did-it-to-keep-people-safe/?utm_term=.c440589b0167

      Personally I prefer “Nor’ Easter.”

      There is science supporting both viewpoints frequently intense storms are or are not part of global warming. For example see
      https://www.wired.com/2015/11/climate-change-causes-extreme-weatherbut-not-all-of-it/?intcid=inline_amp

      Given the rate of the warming and shrinkage of the polar zones, and the likelihood of the interrelationship of global and local, given the shifts in the Gulf Stream etc., combined with the current frequency and intensity of storm weather in the Northeast as well as other area I tend to believe these things are related. As I how strongly, I cannot say.

      BTW — Have you come across the assertion that Jakarta, Indonesia may be among the first cities covered by the waters rising due to Glibal Warming?
      See

      https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/21/world/asia/jakarta-sinking-climate.html

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    2. Not sure how seriously you’re taking Polar melting. I’m not picking up the needed sense of urgency from US Media. But other countries are, as usual, a little more aware. See

      Polar ice sheet melt accelerating - BBC News

      http://www.bbc.com/news/av/science-environment-20551086/rate-of-polar-ice-sheets-melting-has-accelerated

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