Email of the day (2)
Comment of the Day

January 17 2013

Commentary by David Fuller

Email of the day (2)

More on climate change or consistency
"I first came to the rather isolated place where I live 48 years ago and on arrival my questions about the climate reflected more the dislike or liking of the place rather than real observations. So since 1973 I have collected my own observations. The date the snow settles for winter is governed by more than one factor, temperature and also factors relating to precipitation so is not good indicator. The best is the date leave buds dehisce in spring which depends solely on temperature. My offerings are attached [Ed: Graph for 'The day that leaves come out' and additional supporting copy].

These additional notes were received today:

"Yesterday I submitted an item on leaves and forgot to mention it was in response to David's request for environmental change information from around the world. Second there is no information on the graph that it is a graph of five year moving averages. Third that the moving average is forward looking rather than the more conventional retrospective format. If you want it changed I will do so please let me know."

David Fuller's view Many thanks for this survey from North Western Canada, and I am impressed by your methodology.

So what can we conclude so far, aside from the fact that this is a very complicated subject? Not a great deal but subscriber's feedback to date suggests the more stable climatic conditions seem to be in the landlocked, Northern Hemisphere regions and areas closer to Antarctica, such as Southern New Zealand. The Arctic melt is certainly a concern but the small rise in sea levels does not appear to be equally distributed, suggesting that storm tides are a bigger influence. Meanwhile, The Browning Newsletter above has natural factor explanations for some of the more extreme conditions seen in the USA and several other regions.

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