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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.
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.
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.
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
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