Wednesday Afternoon
As it turned out, it wasn’t too difficult to get temperatures above 40. Unfortunately the milder weather won’t last long. A moisture-starved upper air disturbance has been passing over the Ohio Valley this afternoon. All it could do moisture-wise was the clouds this afternoon. They will fade away tonight. But this system is also bringing us another shot of unseasonably cold air. It won’t be as bad as Monday and yesterday, but should hold highs to the mid 30’s tomorrow and near 40 Friday.
It still looks like some rainy (and warmer) weather will arrive by the weekend. A strong storm is taking shape over the southwestern U.S. and will provide us with at least 3 “waves” of energy before it exits our area. First, the leading edge of this system will send a weak disturbance our way Saturday. As often happens, the first surge of energy brings lots of moisture into the area but little, if any, precipitation. This one looks the same way and if it does produce any rain it will be more likely over southern Indiana rather than Kentucky. A lot more energy will be tied up in the second system, set to arrive Sunday. This should bring lots of rain and temperatures rising to near 60 degrees. Even a thunderstorm will be possible. A third storm should arrive on Monday. It’ll prevent any major temperature drop following system 2, but it should bring us some more rain. Following that system, we’ll see temperatures dropping back to January levels (highs near 40) for a couple of days.
Polar Bear Stuff
Over the past few days, several world newspapers have been carrying stories about a “40% population decline in the past 10 years.” Brings back Al Gore’s photoshopped picture of a lonely polar sitting on a small chunk of sea ice with nothing but water anywhere to be seen. It was the major talking point for his infamous declaration that polar bears would soon disappear because the Arctic would have ice-free summers by 2013 or 12014. (This summer’s ice cover minimum was 4.9 million square kilometers Current ice cover is 9.9 sq. km.)
Dr. Susan Crockford is a Canadian zoologist and professor who has been studying polar bears in the Canadian and Alaskan Arctic for more than three decades. She says the actual data is a whole lot different than the article claims. Yes, there was a drop in bear population between 2004 and 2006. Estimated drop was 25-30% of the population. The time corresponded to a series of years with thicker than normal sea ice in the spring. (Yes, a colder time.) Then spring sea ice diminished though about 2012 . What happened to the bears? Their population grew back to pre-2004 levels and is thought to be still growing.
Yes, that’s just the opposite of what the so-called greens have been shouting to us for almost a decade. Just goes to show you what happens when non-scientists start preaching about science! We could have saved a lot of time and effort if we’d just believed the real experts – the Inuits. Old saying among the Arctic dwellers- Warming weather brings more polar bears!