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Leave It To the Heat to Dull Autumn's Glory (wsj.com)
It's autumn. Somebody tell the trees. From a report: Ordinarily, two signals alert deciduous trees that it's time to relinquish the green hues of summer in favor of autumn's yellows, oranges and reds. First, the days begin to grow shorter. Second, the temperature begins to drop. But this year, unseasonably warm weather across most of the U.S. has tricked trees into delaying the onset of fall's color extravaganza. Temperatures in the eastern half of the country have been as much as 15 degrees above normal since mid-September, and the warmth is expected to persist through the end of October. The unfortunate result for leaf peepers is a lackluster fall. Two kinds of pigments produce the season's liveliest foliage. Carotenoid, responsible for yellows and oranges, is always present in leaves but is usually masked by chlorophyll. The initial trigger for its appearance is shorter days. Anthocyanin, responsible for reds and deep purples, is different. Not all deciduous trees have this pigment, and those that do manufacture it from scratch in the fall. The primary trigger for its appearance is lower temperatures. Without that cooling cue, the colors of maple and other species that generally ignite New England with brilliant reds this time of year are likely to fizzle.
But it is science-related.
Seems to me that explaining the world around us is of interest to nerds.
Not all "news for nerds" has to be "here's the latest update about Ruby on Rails implementation on Ubuntu run on a Raspberry Pi to mine bitcoin."
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
(1) We have had an unseasonably warm fall.
(2) Cooling temperatures trigger the production of red and purple pigments in leaves.
(3) We expect to see less red foliage this year.
Explain to me which of these statements is *political*.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
If you live on low quality flood prone land, MOVE.
And when ~2 Billion people have to do just that, what do you think's going to happen to those of you "smart" enough to live in the hills?
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
With millions of now-homeless people squatting right outside said property? Doubt it.
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
We
I'm from Ohio, and I'm about 50 years old.
When I was a kid I used to go skiing. My parents would take me. We have a few local ski resorts, dinky little places. Boston Mills and Brandywine. Nothing much really. Basically a few ski lifts and a couple of hills not far from where the Cleveland Cavaliers used to play - the old Richfield Colosseum off route 303.
And the skiing wasn't bad. Nobody would mistake it for Veil Colorado, but it wasn't bad.
Now I'm older and you know what? It doesn't really snow in Ohio much anymore. I have two kids now. I really wanted to teach them how to ski and...I can't. We never get enough snow. Each resort these days will make artificial snow enough to keep one or two hills open, but it's basically an ice flow. You're not skiing, you're skating.
When I was a kid you'd see an occasional flurry in October. I once went trick-or-treating in the snow. Show would pick up through November and by Christmas we would have a few feet of snow that would last through February.
Now? It's too sporadic to build up a base to ski on. It'll snow, but then go up to 55 or 60 degrees and it all melts, then drop down to the mid 30s and hang for a week. Then drop to zero and snow. Then back up into the 50's. We never get anything worth skiing on. If we get a big snow it'll last for maybe a week or so. Enough to maybe go sledding on, but by the next week it's slush.
I don't give a crap about politics.
What I do know is that I used to have snow here, and now I don't.
You misspelled "imbecile".
It's not an acronym.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
If this was a post on a local New England forums, perhaps. But this is posted on Slashdot which MEANS it is meant to be about climate change because ZOMG climate change posts have become a major topic. This in no way was meant to be a post about the interesting science behind the change in color in leaves associated with Fall.
It's hilarious when lefties use the snowflake label.
NO. Fall is the best. I am from the South East. We all agree Winter sucks (and #3 on your list) so won't go into it.
Summer... is too HOT. People think of swimming pools and ice cream. No one thinks about the smell of sweat, sun burn, and melted ice cream. Spring is when everything is trying to procreate. We get tons of pollen messing up everyone's sinuses. We have yellow streams running down sidewalks. Rain in both seasons are hot, humid, and icky. Both seasons have tons of bugs, mosquitoes, and gnats!
Fall has nice cool breezes, warm sun, and you don't need to water the lawn 2x a week. Its small showers are nice and cool. The only thing negative (and #3 above) about Fall is all the leaf clutter that sticks around for 3 weeks.
According to your deity Al Gore it was supposed to have already happened. Irreversibly. Irrefutably. I moved to Colorado expecting I'd have ocean front property now based on his Inconvenient Propaganda. Yet here I am high and dry.
It's called La Niña. It's happened before, and it will happen again. Nothing new here, just somebody who doesn't know any better panicking and setting other people off. #fakenews
Beware of Sales Reps bearing gifts.
I remember when I was a kid, and the glacier near my house lost twenty cubic miles of ice in ten years. The number of frost-free days in Fairbanks has doubled since 1950. Glacial ice loss has been most noticeable from the lower alpine and tidewater glaciers, which would be the most accessible and visible ones. I believe we're up to about fifty cubic kilometers per year for the state overall.
You can walk it back to people who live in places you care about, but there are any number of statistics to show that the Arctic at least is melting like gangbusters.
Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.