Will a warm winter season signal a more credible Gore...candidacy?

[jefferson_dem]

First off, check this out ---

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mild weather was expected to linger in most of the United States until at least early January, continuing a prolonged spell of balmy conditions that has cut deeply into heating demand, government and private forecasters said on Tuesday.

"We see no end at this point to the moderate weather pattern that virtually all of North America is experiencing," said Mike Palmerino of DTN Meteorlogix. "It is very unlikely anyone in the Northeast is going to get a white Christmas."

The National Weather Service said Tuesday that almost all of the United States, with the exception of parts of southern Texas, would have normal or above normal temperatures for the next two weeks.

The bulk of the above normal temperatures were seen concentrated over the big heating markets of the Midwest and Northeast, the NWS said.

"This is classic El Nino," DTN's Palmerino said, referring to the warming of Pacific Ocean waters that can affect weather around the world.

<SNIP>

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2006-12-19T152734Z_01_N19265915_RTRUKOC_0_US-USA-WEATHER-WARMTH.xml&src=rss&rpc=22

I know...i know...a single warmer than usual winter, or a single nastier than normal hurricane season, doesn't necessarily mean that the environmental crisis Gore speaks of is any more real. In fact, there's no question among rational people that global warming IS taking place and humans are contributing to the problem.

That being said, i also have a pretty good understanding of how the average American voter arrives at political judgments - very simply, with his gut rather than his head.

So i ask...doesn't this hot spell lend credibility to Gore's case...and more fuel for a Gore candidacy?

[Bill McBlueState]

1. i hope not

Because then, the next time we have a cold spell, just as many people will try to argue that Gore is wrong.

We need a citizenry educated enough to understand that climate change is about more than just whether it's colder or hotter than you expect it to be on a particular day.

[jefferson_dem]

4. The dolts who comprise the rw echo chamber already try -

I recall hate radio jocks chirping just a few weeks ago about how this hurricane season alone refutes Gore's predictions of environmental meltdown. Irrational, absolutely. But welcome to the shallower American politics.

[ContraBass Black]

2. No.

Global climate change is not so simply and easily observed.

[Bluzmann57]

3. As a lifelong Midwesterner

I have seen some brutally cold winters. But the last four or five years really have not been all that cold, except for brief stretches, and somewhat dry as well. I have no doubt that global warming exists, but with weather extremes like we have here, it's a bit hard to tell. Last May we had record cold temps. That tends to make people cynical about global warming.
And on edit- I really do not think that warmer than normal temps will help a Gore candidacy. He is "yesterday's news" and that's the way the country thinks, whether we like it or not. Personally, I'm not sure I'd support him should he run again.

[Bjorn Against]

9. I am a lifelong Minnesotan, and we have barely had a winter over the last decade

Of course many of you from warmer climate would tell me it is still freezing up here, but if you ask pretty much anyone who has been here a long time we have not had a real winter for about a decade now.

When I was a kid we would get huge snowstorms and sub-zero temparatures frequently. We still will have some really cold days here and there, but overall it is much warmer than it was when I was a kid.

I have not found a single Minnesotan who has been here a long time that disagrees with me on that, even those who deny global warming admit that Minnesota weather patterns have changed very significantly from what they used to be in the winter monthes.

[BlueStorm]

5. A bit OT but what is that picture in the OP? n/t

[jefferson_dem]

6. That's Al doing his thing in "An Inconvenient Truth."

Google image search ROCKS! :headbang:

The original caption: "Al Gore reviews satellite images of hurricanes roaring toward the Florida coast in 2005."
URL: http://images.apple.com/hotnews/articles/2006/05/inconvenienttruth/

[jen4clark]

7. What about

colder than usual winters? Last winter -- and so far this month -- have been extremely cold in CA and the Sierras. My dad said something tonight at dinner about it and I didn't have an answer. Does global warming always mean it will be warmer than usual, or does it mean "usual" weather patterns will change?
(Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I really don't know.)

[sabbat hunter]

8. this is

an el nino year. fairly typical of el nino years in fact. that along with the north atlantic oscillation is causing the weather in the US and europe.

Global warming is happening. probably at least natural warming pattern, with humankind making it worse with adding to the greenhouse gasses.

but just because we are having a warmer than normal winter this year, doenst mean that next season wont be colder than normal or snowier than normal (like 2004-5 was here in NYC).

if next winter is colder than normal people will forget about this winter.

it does NOT add more fuel for a gore candidacy because the current weather isnt due to GW.