Solar Panels Frying Migrating Birds

Published on by sunshinehours12 Comments

“Some animal rights activists are wondering just how many birds green energy may unintentionally kill as more and more birds turn up dead at solar energy facilities throughout California.

A recent article by Vice author Lex Berko notes that dead birds are being found with “singed wings” around several California solar energy facilities.

It happens that many of California’s solar plants are, the article claims, in the path of “the four major north-to-south trajectories for migratory birds” called “the Pacific Flyway.”

Birds are dying in one of two ways. In some cases, they imagine the shining solar panels to be bodies of water and dive straight into them. There they die when they smash into the panels from the sky.

Others “feel the wrath of the harnessed sunlight.” The ultra polished solar mirrors bounce sunrays strong enough to burn the feathers off birds that quickly crash to the ground, caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Many of the fowl dying as a result of their unfortunate flight paths over solar facilities are birds protected by the federal government under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.”

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/11/12/Oops-Solar-Energy-Plants-are-Killing-Rare-birds

 

Canada Congratulates Australia – And Gives Finger to British Columbia

Published on by sunshinehours11 Comment

Canada congratulated Australia.

"Ottawa, November 12 2013 — Today, Paul Calandra, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, 
issued the following statement on behalf of the Government of Canada on Australian Prime Minister 
Tony Abbott’s introduction of legislation to repeal the carbon tax:

“Canada applauds the decision by Prime Minister Abbott to introduce legislation to repeal Australia’s 
carbon tax. The Australian Prime Minister’s decision will be noticed around the world and sends an 
important message.

“Our government knows that carbon taxes raise the price of everything, including gas, groceries, 
and electricity. Prime Minister Abbott has said that, in Australia, the repeal of the carbon tax 
will reduce the average household’s cost of living by (in Australian dollars) $550 a year, 
take $200 off household power bills and $70 off gas bills.

“Our government has reduced greenhouse gas emissions while protecting and creating Canadians 
jobs – greenhouse gas emissions are down since 2006, and we’ve created 1 million net new jobs 
since the recession – and we have done this without penalising Canadian families with a carbon tax.”"

 Maybe the Prime Minister should get the f*** out of Ottawa every once in a while.

British Columbia has a carbon tax, and last time I checked, British Columbians were Canadians.

 

October in the USA Since 1998

Published on by sunshinehours11 Comment

According to the NOAA, October 2013 was the 37th coldest since 1895. 1963 was the warmest.

Is it unusual for there to be a cold October since … say … 1998? Nope.

They are spread all the way from 4th warmest in 2007 to the 4th coldest in 2009.

year Oct Oct Rank (1 = Coldest / 119 = Warmest)
2007 56.78 116
2003 56.57 113
2010 56.21 106
2004 55.55 101
2005 55.48 99
1998 55.24 91
2011 55.18 89
2000 55.17 87
1999 54.59 70
2001 54.39 64
2008 53.95 49
2012 53.91 45
2013 53.58 37
2006 52.69 24
2002 51.85 14
2009 50.61 4

Antarctic Sea Ice Extent – 2013 Passes 2010 For Number of Daily Records

Published on by sunshinehours11 Comment

2013 has now passed 2010 for number of daily records and is now in 2nd place. (Data as of day 315 Nov 11, 2013).

Year No of Records
2008 123
2013 99
2010 97
2007 21
2009 8
2012 8
2000 4
2004 3
1979 2
2006 1

50 days to go. I think 2013 has a chance to take top spot. But it is not a sure thing. The records 2010 holds coming up in the next few weeks are pretty high!

Antarctic_Sea_Ice_Extent_Zoomed_2013_Day_315_1981-2010

October 2013 USA State Ranking Map – Boy Was It Cold!

Published on by sunshinehours13 Comments

October 2013 in the USA was the 37th coldest since 1895 according to the NOAA.

The following map has the ranking by state. If there was a 119 (there was not) it would have been the warmest. 1 would have been the coldest.

As you can see, the whole western USA was well below normal. The center and the south were pretty average. And when the NOAA says average, they mean 50 or 60 Octobers were warmer.

For example, Oregon had the 11th coldest October. Which means 108 Octobers were warmer.

NOAA_October_2013_State_Map

October 2013 in the USA Was The 37th Coldest! These Octobers were warmer: 1897,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1907,1910,1914,1915,1918 …

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According to the NOAA, October 2013 was the 37th coldest since 1895. It was -0.61°F colder than the 1901-2000 average.

The warmest October was 1963 when it was 5.21F warmer than the 1901-2000 average. That means October 2013 was 5.83F colder than 1963!

These Octobers were warmer: 1897,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1907,1910,1914,1915,1918

and 1920,1921,1922,1924,1926,1927,1928,1929,1931,1933,1934,1935,1937,1938,1939

and 1940,1941,1942,1943,1944,1945,1947,1949,1950,1951,1953,1954,1955,1956,1958,1960,1961,1962,1963,1964,1965,1967,1968

and 1971,1973,1974,1975,1977,1978,1979,1983,1984,1985,1986,1988,1989,1990,1991,1992,1994,1995,1996,1997,1998,1999

and 2000,2001,2003,2004,2005,2007,2008,2010,2011,2012.

NOAA_October_2013

Polar Update – Nov 11 2013 Data Is Missing Edition

Published on by sunshinehours13 Comments

Yesterday some of the NSIDC data for Arctic Sea Ice Extent and Antarctic Sea Ice Extent was missing, resulting in some strange graphs.

Today things appear back to normal except the data for Nov 11 is missing completely. The data is usually updated at 7:50am every day. Todays data is missing.

The current data is dated 3:46:00 PM Nov 11, 2013 (yesterday).

Antarctic_Sea_Ice_Extent_Zoomed_2013_Day_314_1981-2010 Arctic_Sea_Ice_Extent_Zoomed_2013_Day_314_1981-2010

The Montreal Protocol Excuse

Published on by sunshinehours11 Comment

I hear there is a new explanation for The Pause in global warming. The new excuse is that a drop in CFC’s (which are a type of GHG)  has saved us!

“Our statistical analysis suggests that the reduction in the emissions of ozone-depleting substances under the Montreal Protocol, as well as a reduction in methane emissions, contributed to the lower rate of warming since the 1990s.”

The World Meteorlogical Organization puts out a Greenhouse Gas Bulletin.  Lets take a quick look at a couple of the claims.

1. “reduction in methane emissions”

Not really. One or two are down. Some have paused. Others are up.

Montreal_CH4

As the WMO says “Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) is a potent LLGHG. It is produced by the chemical industry, mainly as an electrical insulator in power distribution equipment. Its current mole fraction is about twice the level observed in the mid-1990s (Figure 6). The stratospheric ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), together with minor halogenated gases, contribute ~12%[4] to radiative forcing by LLGHGs. While CFCs and most halons are decreasing, hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which are also potent greenhouse gases, are increasing at relatively rapid rates, although they are still low in abundance”

2. “reduction in the emissions of ozone-depleting substances”

Not really! There was a CH4 pause but it resumed rising in 2006.

Montreal_Halocarbons

3. What about N2O which contributes 6% of the radiative forcing? Nope.

Montreal_N2O

Lets take a look at the over all table. I see no reduction. (I also don’t see H2O, but the AGW Cult always ignores water vapor).

Montreal_Table1

We are Melting !!!!!!!!

Published on by sunshinehours13 Comments

Update: The NSIDC dataset has a column called “Missing”. It never has any data in it. Until now.

In the Arctic the only data with data in the Missing column:

Year Month Day Extent Missing
2013 11 9 9.27397 0.00049
2013 11 10 7.1533 5.13051

Antarctic

Year Month Day Extent Missing
2013 1 14 5.58306 0.00109
2013 11 9 17.73409 0.01129
2013 11 10 11.16475 16.20944

 

Actual data from NSIDC. I think they missed some ….

Arctic_Sea_Ice_Extent_Zoomed_2013_Day_314_1981-2010 Antarctic_Sea_Ice_Extent_Zoomed_2013_Day_314_1981-2010