This is a day at work  — a week — that’s hard to rearrange and/or reschedule.

It wasn’t supposed to do this until later in the day… but at 4:30 AM we already had a bit of white stuff.

… and road conditions are already deteriorating (blue is snow covered, green is slush).

The Arctic Oscillation has become strongly negative again.

Seismograph Pool, West Thumb,
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, September 12, 2007

Gallery: Madison Junction to West Thumb, September 12, 2007

See more of our Image Galleries at Haw Creek.

Virginia Beach, Virginia, May 10, 2009

I’ve added 2 new Virginia photo galleries to my Haw Creek site – The Mariners’ Museum in Newport News and images from the Virginia Beach ocean front.  All of the photos were taken on May 10, 2009.

Gallery: Virginia Beach, May 10, 2009

See more of our Image Galleries at Haw Creek.

Firehole Lake Drive, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, September 12, 2007

Information and resource page: Yellowstone National Park

Gallery: Madison Junction to West Thumb, September 12, 2007

See more of our Image Galleries at Haw Creek.

Lake Bailey, Petit Jean State Park, Arkansas, July 26, 2008

Information: Petit Jean State Park and Petit Jean Mountain

Gallery: Petit Jean State Park and Petit Jean Mountain

See more of our Image Galleries at Haw Creek.

What would the implications be if the world’s historical temperature records had been manipulated in a way that results in a warming bias?  A new report shows that this may, in fact, be the case.  At the very best, the January 27, 2010 report, Surface Temperature Records: Policy Driven Deception?, suggests that global temperature databases are badly flawed and should not be used for the basis for making policy.  Twelve “case studies in data manipulation” are included in the report.

 

There has clearly been some cyclical warming in recent decades, most notably 1979 to 1998. However, the global surface-station data is seriously compromised. First, there is a major station dropout and increase in missing data in stations that remained which occurred suddenly around 1990; about the time the global warming issue was being elevated to importance in political and environmental circles. A clear bias was found towards removing cooler higher elevation, higher latitude, and rural stations during this culling process though leaving their data in the base periods from which ‘averages’ and anomalies are computed.

The data also suffers contamination by urbanization and other local factors such as land-use/land-cover changes and improper siting. There are uncertainties in ocean temperatures; no small issue, as oceans cover 71% of the earth’s surface.

These factors all lead to significant uncertainty and a tendency for overestimation of century-scale temperature trends. A conclusion from all findings suggest that global data bases are seriously flawed and can no longer be trusted to assess climate trends or rankings or validate model forecasts. And, consequently, such surface data should be ignored for decision making.

The in-depth report was co-authored by Joseph D’Aleo and Anthony Watts for the Science and Public Policy Institute (SPPI).

We’ve been watching this storm system move our way all week – and we’ve been getting ready for it.

Yesterday, the weather forecast was that we could get as a .75 inch coating of ice on trees and power lines – enough ice to be disastrous.

Fortunately, though, the ice here didn’t get more than a quarter of an inch. Fortunately, the freezing rain changed to sleet and, later, snow.

It was enough, though, that we didn’t venture out all day – no need.  We’ve got about 4 inches of snow on top of the ice.

We were ready, though, just in case.

One of the first things I did was to move the motorhome between the house and the shop.  The area where it is normally parked is next to and under several large pines.  After our close call last year, when an ice storm dropped branches, power lines and even whole trees not too far north of us, we decided that we would move it to a safer location if another ice storm was forecast for our area.

We also made sure we had enough groceries, which we did.

Just in case we lost power like we did last year, I had topped off the fuel tank in the motorhome.  I also moved our other smaller generator up to the front porch and made sure I found the cords for running power to the refrigerator, fireplace blower, computers and TV.

Despite the winter weather we’ve had this year, we haven’t lost power this season – yet!

We had parked near the Alluvial Fan parking lot and I had walked across Fall River Road to get a different angle on the scenery for photos.  This image is one of a number of thistle plants in bloom.

Along lower Fall River Road, Rocky Mountains National Park, September 2, 2009

Gallery: Fall River and Trail Ridge – September 2, 2009

See more of our Image Galleries at Haw Creek.

Fern Lake Trail, Rocky Mountain National Park.

Gallery: Fern Lake Trail – September 5, 2009

See more of our Image Galleries at Haw Creek.

Autumn Leaf, Seven Hollows Trail, Petit Jean State Park, Arkansas.

Information: Petit Jean State Park and Petit Jean Mountain

Gallery: Petit Jean State Park and Petit Jean Mountain

See more of our Image Galleries at Haw Creek.

Old Faithful Geyser, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, September 14, 2007.

This photo was taken from the large porch over the Old Faithful Inn entrance.  It had been raining and we didn’t want to wait at the normal view area for the geyser.  With the dark background, our location made for a nicely different perspective from all of the other photographs taken of Old Faithful over the many years we’ve been visiting.

The Old Faithful Inn porch also serves as a roof over the vehicle unloading area at the entrance to the inn.

Gallery: Old Faithful Area, September 14, 2007

See more of our Image Galleries at Haw Creek.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is getting a lot of heat these days on the claim that the Himalayan glaciers will be gone by 2035.

While the information used by the IPCC is supposed to be peer-reviewed and well vetted, it turns out that this gem is derived from a magazine article in New Science several years ago that was based on a single phone call to an Indian scientist.

An IBD Editorial says:

The scientists who said that Himalayan glaciers will be gone by 2035 have admitted the claim has as much credibility as sightings of the mythical Yeti. It’s their fraudulent claims that are melting away.

We hesitate to call it Glacier-gate, but the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the U.N. body tasked with scaring us to death about global warming, has admitted that the claim in its 2007 report about the Himalayan glaciers disappearing was not based on any scientific study or research. It was instead based on one scientist’s speculation in a telephone interview with a reporter.

This issue has been hitting a number of other media sites over the last week or so.

Read the rest of the  IBD Editorial at Investors.com.

Farmers’ Market in Madison at Wisconsin State Capitol, September 20, 2008

Gallery: Dane County Farmers’ Market on the Square – Madison, Wisconsin, September 13 and 20, 2008, on the streets around the state capitol building

See more of our Image Galleries at Haw Creek.

Tugboat pushing tow upstream against heavy flows downstream of the Big Dam Bridge – Pulaski County Pedestrian & Bicycle Bridge – Murray Lock and Dam – on the Arkansas River May 12, 2007.

For more information on the bridge, see, our Big Dam Bridge page.

See the photos in our Big Dam Bridge Gallery

See more of our Image Galleries at Haw Creek.

I’ve finally gotten around to completing the photo galleries from Rocky Mountain National Park and the Estes Park area.  There is one gallery for each day, to keep the galleries from being too large.

The two newest galleries are Moraine Park Elk and Estes Park area and Fern Lake Trail.

Below is the full listing as it appears on the Haw Creek Image Galleries page:

Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park

• Arrival – August 31, 2009
• Eastern slopes – September 1, 2009
• Fall River and Trail Ridge – September 2, 2009
• Bear Lake and Emerald Lake Trails – September 3, 2009
• Moraine Park Elk and Estes Park area – September 4, 2009
• Fern Lake Trail – September 5, 2009

This post is being simultaneously published on Exit78, Haw Creek and Haw Creek Out ‘n About

According to major news sources, including the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, major budget shortfalls in Arizona will result in the closure of 13 state parks by June.  Eight others have already been closed.

The Los Angeles Times:

The action represents the largest closure of state parks in the nation, although several other states are considering similar moves.

“It’s a dark day for the Arizona state parks system,” said Renee Bahl, the system’s executive director.

“We have 65,000 acres around the state and the majority of them are closing.”

The Arizona parks receive about 2.3 million visitors per year who bring about $266 million into the state, Bahl said.

The New York Times:

The Arizona State Parks Board has voted unanimously to close 13 parks in response to budget cuts.

The Washington Post:

The Arizona State Parks Board is closing some of the state’s iconic Old West landmarks, including the Tombstone Courthouse in one of the West’s most storied towns, and the Yuma Territorial Prison, which housed hundreds of Old West outlaws and was portrayed in the film “3:10 to Yuma.”

The decision also closes parks such as Red Rock State Park near Sedona that draw tens of thousands of tourists a year.

The Legislature has cut 61 percent of the state parks budget since July.

In a Huffington Post editorial, Chad Campbell, the House Democratic Whip in the Arizona State Legislature, describes the reappropriation of a quarter of a million dollars meant for state parks:

GOP legislators recently pilfered a nearly $250,000 gift left by an elderly woman – now deceased – for the Arizona State Parks system.

The severity of budget cuts in Arizona is quite disturbing, but the cuts to State Parks have touched an especially raw nerve. In 2003, 82-year-old Asta Forrest left nearly $250,000 to the Arizona State Parks Board. This Danish immigrant’s gift to Arizona was inspired by her love of its beautiful natural surroundings.

It’s ironic that, in today’s rough economic times, state parks are being closed.  During the Great Depression, construction of state parks provided need work for thousands of young men in the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Typical farmer group of Prairie City, Missouri, in Mississippi County

1936 Mar

Mydans, Carl, photographer.

Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8a01759

The thermometer has not gotten above freezing for over a week.

While we get snow here almost every year, it’s usually melted within 2 or 3 days and, even if we get as much as a foot like we did 2 years ago, it’s gone within a week.

A week ago we had a trace of snow, not even enough to measure.  It’s been so cold that some of that trace of snow is still on the ground in areas that are shaded all day long this time of year.

I’m not complaining.  We’ve lived in colder places.  One winter in the 70s, when we lived in a high mountain desert town in Idaho, it didn’t get above 0°F for a month and was below -20°F for a week.

And, in the almost 30 years we’ve here, we’ve had had other long cold periods.

But, that was then, and this is now.

Brrrrr!

In the UK, elderly customers at charity shops are buying up hardback books – as cheap fuel.

Cheaper than coal?

One assistant said: ‘Book burning seems terribly wrong but we have to get rid of unsold stock for pennies and some of the pensioners say the books make ideal slow-burning fuel for fires and stoves.

A lot of them buy up large hardback volumes so they can stick them in the fire to last all night.’

read the full article in metro.co.uk, Pensioners burn books for warmth.

Since I’ve never been nominated for one of these, it’s no big deal to me that the 2009 Weblog awards have been canceled.

What is interesting, though, is the reason that they’ve been canceled.

It seems that voting is just too resource intensive – and expensive.

For more on the story see 2009.weblogawards.org.