A new study shows that the jet stream over Northern Europe and North America may be taking a longer, more meandering path as a result of a rapidly warming Arctic narrowing the differential between upper and middle latitudes, reports the BBC.
Temperatures in the Arctic have been rising two to three times as rapidly as the rest of the globe, and as the difference in temperature between the Arctic and middle latitudes diminishes, the jet stream that separates them slows. That means that cold weather over North America tends to linger longer, according to the study presented at American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Chicago. SOURCE: Endless Winter Snow and Cold May Be Caused By Changing Jet Stream | TIME.com.
RJ's Corner 
Key words. “May be.”
As a pilot, I have the exact same training as any professionally trained weather predictor. Trust me, they are only right when they look out the window. This is another case where they “may be” right but then again, they “may be” wrong. Are you willing to bet your future on a “may be?”
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I’m not sure which side of the fence you are jumping off on Rob. But for me, I am definitely on the action side. Let’s look at the possible consequences of both sides.
If global warming is not reality and we unnecessarily reduce our addiction on carbon based fuels and move toward a cleaner energy solution that is long time sustainable then what has it cost us.
On the other hand what if global warming is right and we reach a tipping point where our climate goes into total havoc from which it is impossible to come back from. That would almost insure another ice age or even worse. What is the harm in ignoring this possibility? Almost everything.
You may be right that you have training equal to local meteorologists who are employed by every TV station. We know that many of those folks are at odds with the climatologists and other scientiests who study this at a much more fundamental level and overwhelmingly agree that we are damaging our world maybe beyond the point of repair.
I for one don’t want to put the future of humanity on denying a maybe…
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RJ,
Love this discussion and thank you for the opportunity to explain myself more completely. I am on the side of clean water and fresh air. I do not want to eat food that is tainted by GMOs, toxins, or antibiotics. Although I love a cream filled Twinkie and a coke. I do try to watch what goes into my body just as I try to monitor what my kids eat. My wife is has a garden, we recycle, have a compost bin, and I am installing a reverse osmosis water filtration system because I don’t trust the water company.
I don’t know that I buy into either Global Warming or Global Cooling. The theories sound convincing but my issue is the politics behind the theories. Neither do I discount them. I just don’t think there is enough information to have any evidence to determine the cause. We have 150 years of data to explain a process that is at a minimum 5,000 years to billions of years old. I think the sample size is too small to draw a accurate conclusion. An analogy might be investing your entire retirement in a single stock based on a one second sample from the stock market. You really don’t know anything from a sample size that small. Better to invest with someone who has data, and current information and a computer model that can accurately predict the performance of a stock. I feel the same way about the conservation movement. It might be your neighbor driving a Tahoe or it might be the sun. Science really doesn’t know.
I have been fortunate enough to travel the world and I believe the USA is the world’s leader in clean environmental practices. We are not perfect and there is a lot we can do to continue to make our world a better place. But, why does the environmental side continue to demonize the USA when China, India, Brazil, Russia and the entire continent of Africa gets ignored. China is a basically a smog filled, trash dump and India is a open sewer. With my own eyes, I can see that these places need to be cleaned up, and everyone from the UN to the most radical Greenpeace sailor knows this too. But these countries are too busy having their industrial revolutions to slow down and get green
It is a crisis in those countries, but the politics dictate that the world’s focus remain on the USA. People say my jet makes too many carbon, the carbon rating number is even on the flight release. It is a useless number because there is nothing I can do with that number. We can’t even go back to the days of the horse and carriage because a horse has a carbon rating. But, when I land in LA, San Fran, or Indy I don’t have to wear a surgical mask. I know several guys who take the mask with them when they travel the world.
I really believe that there is a political force behind this science that is determined to change our economic system. To me that is the most plausible explanation. Or maybe there is a financial incentive that needs to be explored as well. Especially when Al Gore is a multi-billionaire based on his world for the globe. If he lived in a shack like the uni-bomber (I can’t spell Ted’s last name) then I could respect Big Al for living his beliefs. He has a house the size of the Lucas Oil football stadium and rides in a fleet of suburban’s and private jets. But he is perfectly willing to coerce my company into grounding our jets and putting me out of work. I am a sacrifice on the alter or global warming.
Concerning the weather man. They are sheep blabbering the parts of the science that they can understand. For the most part, I don’t care for them giving me anything other than the local weather. I feel the same way about child actors who portray themselves as experts on anything just because they played a role sometime or my musician friends who are trying to repent for their wild rock star days.
This is a local discussion for men like you and I. Together we can make our world a better place. Because reasonable men can make reasonable decisions. Thank you again for this discussion.
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Thanks Rob for your very eloquent reply. I will try to be brief in my response. Yes, I am a scientist and would love for the evidence for or against global warming to be absolutely certain. If we wait long enough I’m sure that could happen. But I am also convinced that we we do wait that long then reversing it will be a near impossibility! I would rather error in forcing us to obtain 21st century energy earlier than we might normally acquire them.
Yes, since what needs to be done can’t happen without government intervention politics is involved. That is a known and established fact that can’t be ignored. I have come to disdain politics as much as anyone lately and being away from it on this blog has been refreshing. But somethings are more important than my comfort level.
Doing something right now if global warming is wrong will only get us to where we will eventually be sooner. Not doing something and global warming proves to be a reality has much more scary consequences. So, I error on the side of caution.
Maybe you are willing to roll the dice, but I’m not…
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RJ,
I love that two reasonable men can have opposing views and can discuss an issue without falling into the traps that so many fall into. Maybe there is hope for our country after all.
I do like to think I am reasonable and I will admit that I am able to change my view when presented with facts or solutions. Can you give me three things you would like to see our nation do to help curve the warming. And then can you give me three things that I can do as a individual to help solve this issue.
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