Monday, February 8, 2010

Global Warming......... not in Alabama

Honestly I have lost track of how many times it has snowed this winter in our part of Alabama (I think this is day 6 but don't quote me on that). This was a total surprise; none of us saw this coming. Kids trekked off to school this morning by foot, bike, car and bus.....no sense in sending them home early since the worse is now and maybe it will warm up by this afternoon to melt this all away. The Gardiner kids raced through schoolwork (or took a break) to play in the snow. You can take the kids out of the Alps but they still love the snow.


The snow you see happened in about 3 hours





Hurry and enjoy the snow. It has stopped, the sun is shining and it's likely to get warmer.


As you can see snow in Alabama has everyone out taking pics (notice neighbor behind Abigail). The cute blonde in curls is not mine but our cute neighbor Abby.


This is our snow at about 12noon.


And 30 minutes later....

7 comments:

RAnn said...

I'll bet one advantage the G kids have over the neighbors is that they may still have clothes meant for snow.

Renee said...

We did buy new winter coats for all the kids this year since it does get cold.... but yes we still have snow pants, gloves and boots..... even sleds. Of course everything had been put away in the attic for next year.

Anonymous said...

Renee, it could be global warming causing your snow. I know this sounds wacky, but here is how Jim explained it to me. First of all, there is no doubt that the glacier fields/ice caps are melting. There is hard, scientific evidence for that. What is causing it is up for debate, but they are melting. So Jim said to me, you take a glass of room temperature water, add ice cubes to it and what happens? The ice begins to melt and as it melts, it makes the water colder. So as the ice melts, it cools the water. Basically that is what is happening to us. The ice caps melt, cooling the oceans and causing our cold, snowy weather. However, as more ice melts and the oceans begin to warm up, so will our weather. Makes some sense to me.

Renee said...

Too early and not enough caffeine for me to think this deeply...... I want warmth from global warming not cold and snow :)

Elizabeth Mahlou said...

Enjoy the snow while you have it. I did want to point out that meteorologists tell us that the effect of global warming will be more precipitation of rain and snow, including in places where snow does not normally occur, so very likely your snow is an example of global warming. (I know it is counter-intuitive.)

Renee said...

Still can't accept it... the term global means just that and warming is getting warmer.... but here in AL, it's not getting warmer... so it's not global warming since it's not globe wide....

Elizabeth Mahlou said...

I know it is counter-intuitive, but scientists have an explanation. You are not that far from a large body of water, and when a large body of water warms up, snow is more likely because when a normal cold front comes through, it meets warmer water than normal and the conditions are ripe then for snow. Here is the shortest explanation I could find on line:

Syracuse, NY, one of the snowiest cities in the U.S., experienced four of its largest snowfalls on record in the 1990s – the warmest decade in the 20th century, as a result of global warming.

“Recent increases in the water temperature of the Great Lakes are consistent with global warming,” said Burnett. “Such increases widen the gap between water temperature and air temperature – the ideal condition for snowfall.”