ipscshooter

A First - Snow Falls in Baghdad


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080111/...snow_in_memory


Let's hope the local yoyos don't consider this some sort of omen from Allah...

Canuck_Buck

Yes but Allah made it snow cus it is the poison frozen rain from the west........Allah is angry with us, we must get more boom boom vests...

Sureisaniceskimask

Ya, but you know what they global warming cultist will say? They will say that snow is evidence of "climate change." That's their new thing so they can blame EVERYTHING on global warming, oh, I mean "climate change. It's so ridiculous. [&o]

Aught Six

LOL, does anyone need any more reason to kill someone?

Californiadoctor

I lived in Baghdad for two years and it is not unusual for the overnight temperature to go below freezing in January. What is extremely rare is to have precipitation when it is thatcold.

One very unusual weather event in a single location is not proof for or against the theory of global warming. One would need to observe changes in weather patterns and temperature all over the world for many decades, if not centuries, todetermine ifwarming of the climate is taking place on a global scale. Accurate records of temperature and weather events from most of the world have only been available for the past 100 years or so which, while a longperiod on a human time scale,simply may not be long enough to draw conclusions about long term climate trends.

There are some things that we should consider though. First, contrary to what is often stated on these boards, volcanoes have made onlya very small contribution to the significant increase in the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere since the start of the industrial age. Second, both experiment and observation have shown conclusively that CO2is transparent to the visible light the Sun radiates atbut isopaque to the infrared wavelenghts at which the surface of the Earth radiates. If there were no CO2 in our atmosphere the average temperature of the Earth's surface would be below freezing. In addition, even though Mercury is closer to the Sun, Venus is the hottest planet inthe Solar System due to its massive CO2 atmosphere.Many astronomers believe that early in its history, around 4 billion years ago, Venus probably had oceans similar to those found on the Earth now. However, due to its proximity to theSun, Venus' oceans became warmer and warmer and reached a point at which CO2 could no longer be absorbed into the water. The solubility of CO2 in water decreases with increasing water temperture. Over the past four billion years the Earth's oceans have sequestered a huge amount of CO2 from volcanoes in calcium carbonate sediments which has allowed our planet to maintain a fairly stable surface temperature over this time. On Venus, when the warm ocean watersstarted losing their ability toremove CO2 from the atmosphere, CO2 concentrations increased furthermaking the planet even hotter and the oceans even less able to sequester CO2 in rock. This resulted in what is known as a "runaway greenhouse" which caused the oceans to boil off and cease to be a sink for CO2. As a result, Venus' atmosphere accumulated even more CO2 and continued to get hotter until it became the inferno it is now.

The increasing luminosity of the Sun due to cumulative quantum mechanical effects of fusion of hydrogen into helium means the Earth will meet the same fate as Venusin about a billion years even if there were no anthropogenic sources of atmospheric CO2. However, I do not think we can totally ignore the issue since we do not know at whattemperatures the warming of the oceans and their decreased ability to hold CO2 in solution willbecome an irreversable process as happened on Venus and will lead to a runaway greenhouse on the Earth.

I am not trying to be an alarmist but I think it is foolish to dismiss "Global Warming" as nothing more than some sort of liberal conspiracy. There is sound theoretical and observational evidence that at some point the concentration of atmospheric CO2 could lead to a global catastrophe. It is going to happen in about a billion years no matter what we do, but it could happen a lot sooner if we ignore the problem.

Caldoc

Champlain Islander

Rats I was afraid that was going to happen. When you say a lot sooner are you saying like a week sooner? I really hope so so I don't have to worry any more.

jeepkid

Just like there was evidence in the 70's that said we were going into another Ice Age, right? Just think if we would have done the stuff they wanted us to do back then. Its the same thing all over again, just now more people know about it because of the internet and the media.

One day, the Earth will get hotter, or cooler. Thats the best answer right there.

Canuck_Buck

Source of Half Earth's Oxygen Gets Little Credit

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/06/0607_040607_phytoplankton.html

Heavy snow and cold weather has also affected Afghanistan, India, and several Central Asian countries

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/01/photogalleries/snow-pictures/index.html

walker12

People don't understand that if scientists DO NOT make crazy statements, they DO NOT get work, and CAN NOT get paid. They will say that the sky is going to fall if it means them making money. There is just as much evidence you don't hear about contrasting the theory of Global Warming. Is it credible, who knows? I think if the world is going to end due to Global Warming, it WILL be a lot sooner than a billion years, like CaliforniaDoctor said. Maybe a million years.