Oh, yeah!! Leaf-peepers, a BIG economic season here, have got a poor show this year. Trees did not get the memo to turn red, yellow, orange, on the schedule published on the tourist site. While we had "color" it has been muted, mixed with leaf-drop and leaf retention. Trees ARE very confused by unseasonable warm dry weather. Yeah, conifers too.
Flip side is my desperate attempt to get grass started on new fill, between August heat and the cold we expected, has gone very well. Just enough dew (some small rains) and plenty of warmth. Both the scratched-in and the *oversown* seed sprouted, and some will survive the winter.
I think the leaf-peepers left on Monday. Traffic has been busy all through the summer; today we could see the end of the traffic jam at our one stop-light (it extends out of sight most of the summer). Still contractors at work (long lines at beer-thirty) but they will chill-out soon. Then they turn the traffic light off for the winter.
Nearly midnight and still 64 deg F.
Flip side is my desperate attempt to get grass started on new fill, between August heat and the cold we expected, has gone very well. Just enough dew (some small rains) and plenty of warmth. Both the scratched-in and the *oversown* seed sprouted, and some will survive the winter.
I think the leaf-peepers left on Monday. Traffic has been busy all through the summer; today we could see the end of the traffic jam at our one stop-light (it extends out of sight most of the summer). Still contractors at work (long lines at beer-thirty) but they will chill-out soon. Then they turn the traffic light off for the winter.
Nearly midnight and still 64 deg F.
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Yesterday afternoon I walked just over two miles in the park wearing only a pair of shorts. It was cool (60F) and windy with a mix of sun, clouds, and scattered rain but I never got wet. There was nobody else in the entire park, not even the usual dog walkers. There are usually several walkers on the trail and kids on each of the sports fields.
This morning I woke up to 40F, and went to the gym. The local weather guy on the TV news was stating the possibility of a SNOW flurry or two this evening. Expected HIGH for the day is 47F, low 32F. UH, what?
Well its almost 10:30 AM and it has made it up to 42F and it's raining. Maybe he is right. I dragged the house plants back into the garage. They are quite confused too. The potted rose bush has dropped it's leaves twice, and now had some fresh new growth again from last weeks warmth.
This morning I woke up to 40F, and went to the gym. The local weather guy on the TV news was stating the possibility of a SNOW flurry or two this evening. Expected HIGH for the day is 47F, low 32F. UH, what?
Well its almost 10:30 AM and it has made it up to 42F and it's raining. Maybe he is right. I dragged the house plants back into the garage. They are quite confused too. The potted rose bush has dropped it's leaves twice, and now had some fresh new growth again from last weeks warmth.
so is what you're alluding to is that "not only is the day to day weather getting weirder, but things may be changing even more long term?"
let's wait another couple of centuries to have enough data to postulate a thesis
wait, what we won't be here for that - the individuals, that is, not the species?
I don't think we have to wait that long given that the 15 hottest years on record all happened since 2000.
As your namesake - or is it just an ironic avatar? - and Henry Bates among others became aware, solid science can (will always?) take far too long to find general acceptance when it challenges the status quo.
Some of us may not be around long enough to see our grandchildren's middle school textbooks decry the willful ignorance of homo sapiens' accelerating devastation. Even if possible, colonization of other worlds will only spread the contagion. My only consolation is that Gaia has a strong immune system and should survive until Sol starts its end of life cycle.
don't worry, be happy
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I have thought this for a long time. We humans are poison, we've ruined one planet, and have no business even thinking about moving on to ruin others.
Douglas Adams obviously had the same idea a long time ago, as it's pretty clear that his Vogons are actually a parody of the worst aspects of us humans.
I do think there is some real validity to this. What would the Buddha do, if he were faced with the now inevitable destruction of most of the worlds habitat and living things over the next few decades?
He wouldn't worry, that is a useless emotion, and not something an enlightened human would waste his or her time on. Reality is what it is, and there is peace in accepting that.
I am not enlightened like the Buddha, not by a long shot, so I still have a hard time facing the fact that we are collectively so stupid that we are rapidly destroying this once incredibly beautiful planet, and are well past the point of no return already.
-Gnobuddy
Quite true. The dinosaurs dominated the planet for 150 million years, we humans will only have managed to survive for about 200,000, and dominate for just a couple of hundred years.Global warming is a self limiting problem.
-Gnobuddy