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22lb Ice Blocks From the Sky
cavedwler writes "An article http://www.msnbc.com/news/814100.asp?0dm=-23ET over on MSNBC has an interesting writeup about large ice blocks forming in the upper atmosphere on CLEAR days. Pretty interesting read." The article talks about how this could be a harbinger of massive climactic change. Either way, I'd prefer to not have one of these things smack into my house.
The Spanish "scientist" is obviously a green whacko. He even contradicts himself. Are the skys clear or are they filled with ice blocks and ice clouds? And what's with the sizes jumping around, from 10 kg to 16 kg to 300 kg?
I think it's clear from inspection that this is just not happening and we don't need to investigate any further.
What's with the dramatic pauses? I was expecting a violin crash after he uttered "Iberian rain".
Back to the topic, what are we to glean from such a shallow article from an entertainment company? Can we get an article from a scientific journal next time? Is this really a new phenomenon, or is it that accounts of ice falling from the sky are discounted? After all, you can't expect the evidence to last very long on a balmy summer day...
"I think all foreigners should stop interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq"
-- Paul Wolfowitz, 7/21/2003
The article talks about hail, but they fail to
mention that hail ONLY comes from thunderstorms.
Just like tornadoes ONLY come from thunderstorms.
And almost all lighting comes from, you guessed it,
thunderstorms. They also fail to talk about the
freezing level. That's how a thunderstorm becomes
a thunderstorm. A cumulus cloud that's growing
upwards because of vorticity (air rising fast)
grows past the freezing level. The top of the
cloud and the bottom of the cloud get different
charges and blammo, you have a big floating battery in the
sky. The hail forms because there are rapidly
moving columns of air moving up and down
in the cloud and water trapped in that column
gets frozen, recoated with water, frozen again,
etc.
The ice clouds he's talking about are
cirrus clouds of some kind. That's basically
any cloud made up of super tiny ice crystals
because they are above the freezing level.
a VERY VERY rare type of cloud is called
cirrocumulus. This is ice crystal clouds in
the shape of the puffy white clouds called
cumulus that sometimes turn into thunderstorms.
The reason these clouds are so rare is because
they are unbelievably heavy. It takes an
incredible amount of 'vorticity' to keep
them up there, and they don't last long.
If you ever see very high puffy cottonball
looking clouds, there's a great chance you'll
have a thunderstorm soon (24-48 hours) because
vorticity (air rising fast) is one of the major
things needed. There is NO WAY upper atmosphere
vorticity is going to hold water in the air
long enough for it to weigh 10 friggin pounds.
There is no way that ice clouds would clump
together and form ice. There is simply no force
there to do that work. You might get a ball of
something more like snow, but definitely not
ice. I'd be more willing to bet some smartass
with a catapult is having fun at the ice factory.
If they said this was related to thunderstorm
activity, I might buy it. But on a clear day?
No way.
The most important thing any republican needs to know.
Why? its just one of those random things bound to happen.
I bet somwhere out there there is a free standing rock weighing exactly 666.666kg. That doesn't mean its satan's rock, it means randomly its bound to happen.
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
Pfft. The media talks about how EVERYTHING could be a harbinger of massive climactic change, and furthermore how it's OBVIOUSLY the fault of technology and Western democracy.
I've quit listening to their made-up crap. It's blips of statistical noise overlying a long-term cycle of temperature variations that pre-existed any human life.
Climate change has become grant-grubbing junk science harnessed to the service of failed leftist political ideologies.
Pay no attention to the watermelon wackos. Buy that SUV if you want one and drive on without guilt!
-ccm
Too much Law; not enough Order.
It seems that every news article about weather events these days mentions a possible connection to climate change! Has it occurred to anyone that since there is a lot of money for climate change research, scientists, in response to the inevitable reporter question, will of course say it *might* have something to do with climate change.
It is time for a new fear. Climate change is getting trite!
The only good weather is bad weather.
"Martinez-Frias said only around a fifth of the ice meteors are ever found."
Ermm... how do they count what they haven't seen?
"Martinez-Frias suggests that because global warming involves one level of the atmosphere getting colder while another gets hotter, some ice clouds now remain longer."
Logic dictates that if global warming causes one level to get colder while another gets warmer, that global cooling would cause one level to get warmer while another gets colder. Am I repeating myself? And besides, this is a suggestion, not a formulated hypothesis based on evidence. At least not yet.
Scientific fact is that water vapor and carbon dioxide are the most abundant greenhouse gas. As our combustible-fuel appliances become more efficient, there are less hydrocarbon emissions and more H20 and C02 emitted; the net effect on greenhouse gases is the same. Besides, it has been argued that a single volcanic eruption has a far greater effect (neg or pos, you decide) on the atmosphere than the entire history of mankind burning stuff.
One more thing: there's no such thing az a ZEV (Zero-Emission-Vehicle). Electric is displaced emissions -- unless your power is hydro (and "we all know how bad that is for the fishies"). The manufacture of solar cells and batteries/fuel cells require the use -- and disposal -- of tons of toxic chemicals. Nuke also involves toxic waste (nevermind it's the cleanest and safest form of electricity, it's gotten a bad rap by the actions of irresponsible people).
To say that man (woman too!!) is causing global warming is a crock. If we all went back to eating wooly mammoth cooked over teradactyl dung, I don't think we'd notice any difference in the rate of global climate change.
Give me my freedom, and I'll take care of my own security, thank you.
Is chicken little going to become a
Since we are dusting off the 1970's shoes styles, we might as well pull out the good old fashioned scare mongering too.
For those who have not seen a good example of history repeating itself, sit back and watch the 70's replay themselves. But I must warn you, the stories have to get much more spectacular before the trend comes to a close.
The whole scene can be put into perspective if you view it from a great distance. This should be fodder for some great flame wars on motives.
- High Tech workers, please say NO to Union Carpenters, their Union sees fit to control our compensation.