Great Lakes ice coverage now 91% - Global ice sheet trend shows precipitous decline in levels

[ffr]

03/04/14



Okay, while you are all looking at this NOAA.GOV graphic above thinking maybe my parroting Faux News friends have a point. Maybe this proves we are headed towards an ice age. Look at that, Climate Change is a hoax!

Now ask yourself what the ice sheet levels were in 2012 or 2011 or for that matter 2010. Can you tell me that or ask your parroting friends what Faux said about those years? You probably don't know the answer, because if it made the news, it most certainly didn't make it onto Faux News.

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<snip>
Maximum ice cover on the lower lakes normally occurs between mid-February and end of February, while the maximum on the upper lakes normally occurs between the end of February and early March. According to the Midwest Regional Climate Center, average temperatures were below normal across the region during the second week of February. If cold temperatures persist, the MRCC reports, “it is possible that the Great Lakes could approach the record-setting year of 1979, which recorded 94.7 percent maximum ice coverage.”

But while ice cover and water levels are known to vary on the Great Lakes from year to year, scientists have observed an overall decrease in ice extent since records began in the early 1970s.

<snip>
Percent ice cover on the Great Lakes at winter maximum each year since 1973. The dashed line shows the long-term average of 51%. Prior to the mid-1990s, most years were above the long-term average; since then, most years have been below average.
<snip>
- Climate.gov

And while it might be interesting headlines to focus on one region of the globe or one season or one storm, overall global ice sheet coverage is declining.

Here's another example of similar arguments and justifications, taken from skepticalscience.com


Unfortunately for sensationalists and their distracting headlines, the trend speaks for itself. No argument.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

1. love that last gif n/t

[Scootaloo]

2. Kinda like neoliberals on the economy, innit?

[cprise]

4. The chocolate rations are ever-increasing. n/t

[GliderGuider]

7. +1 Orwell had it figured out! nt

[mdbl]

3. The brainwashed teabaggers will deny this because it snowed in March

My teabagger relatives love to be sarcastic about global warming every time it snows. Never mind that everything is melting in the frozen environments.

[ffr]

5. I loved this editorial comment from Weather.com today

Not since early 1994 has ice been so widespread on the Great Lakes.

This is an abrupt turn around from the past four winters, during which the peak ice coverage remained around 40 percent or less. - Weather.com

Or if there was an equally weighted 24/7 left leaning Faux competitor, it could have just as easily been written:

2014 marks one of the few instances where ice coverage has exceeded the average.

This is an abrupt turn around from the past four winters, during which the peak ice coverage has been as almost nonexistent, reaching a low of 12.9% in 2012.

Meanwhile science marches on. February will undoubtedly be the 348th consecutive month with above 20th century average temperatures.

The M$M will not Fair and Balanced that headline.

[ffr]

6. Follow up for 2014. Great Lakes ice coverage not a record.

According to an analysis by NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (NOAA/GLERL), ice cover peaked at 92.2 percent of the Great Lakes on March 6. In records dating to 1973, only February 1979 (94.7 percent peak) had a greater ice coverage.



And now declining. And while the Artic blast created some record lows in some regions, those regions will probably not see record cold months, further solidifying the already overwhelming mountain of evidence that the Earth's climate is continuing its unabated warming.