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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 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.
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.