Outlook: Less Stuff
It
dawned on me yesterday, shuttling odds & ends back and forth
between our apartment-size storage unit, that we have entirely too much
stuff. Some of that was a result of moving to a smaller home, but we too
were seduced by the siren call of consumerism.
"Buy this and you'll be happy!"
Uh huh.
Sustainable
growth; access to clean water & food for a swelling global
population, without trashing the air, oceans and underground aquifers,
will require technological innovations and behavioral changes.
Scientists tell me we all need to buy local and consume less. I know, easier said than done.
The
forecast calls for The Mother Of All Garage Sales next spring. The best
part, the more we give away and toss out the better we feel.
No,
the timing wasn't great, but our 1-2 inch weekend dousing was very
welcome. Up to 6" soaked southeastern Minnesota, sparking mudslides near
Winona. All or nothing.
Now that it's Monday the sun makes a
cameo appearance; highs in the 70s Tuesday into Friday, when the next
cold front whips up late-day showers. It cools off next weekend, a small
frost risk in 7 days, but more 60s later in October. Meanwhile Typhoon
Danas is surging toward Japan.
It puts our weather-stuff into perspective.
* image above:
The Blue Room Blog.
One Wild Week.
From record rains and flash floods from the Red River Valley and
Midwest into the Ohio Valley to tornadoes sweeping across eastern
Nebraska and western Iowa, to record snows central Rockies into the
western Dakotas to high winds out west, the last 7 days have had
something for everyone. Map above:
Ham Weather.
Colors Peaking Up North. According to the
Minnesota DNR
75-100% of the trees north of Sandstone and Wadena are peaking right
now, pretty close to on-schedule. Peak color in the Twin Cities metro
area is still 7-10 days away.
Jackets Optional.
12km NAM guidance shows a high in the mid-70s Tuesday afternoon, coming
a bit earlier in the day (around 2-3 PM) since the days are shorter and
the sun angle is lower. Not bad, considering that sun is as high in the
sky as it was on March 4. Map:
Ham Weather.
Second Honeymoon.
OK, not exactly shorts and T-shirts, but temperatures this week will be
roughly 10F warmer than average for the second week of October;
probably 4 days above 70F. We cool off over the weekend with a slight
chance of frost, mainly outer suburbs, next Monday morning, based on
ECMWF guidance. Graphic: weatherspark.com.
A Drier, Milder Week.
The (impressive) full-latitude storm that spawned 43" snow at Lead,
South Dakota, huge tornadoes near Sioux City, Iowa and 6" rains and
mudslides near Winona, Minnesota - with serious flash flooding extending
into Louisville Sunday, will pinwheel east, setting the stage for
ridging and warming much of this week. Meanwhile the West Coast sees
another sloppy wet kiss from a family of Pacific storms coming ashore.
4km. NAM solution courtesy of NOAA and Ham Weather.
Bigger Temperatures Swings - Larger Weather Extremes.
Yes, the maps are finally looking like October. The animation above
shows (GFS) predicted winds and surface pressure into Monday of next
week; showing a drying/warming trend much of this week over the central
USA, while a coastal storm brushes the East Coast with potentially heavy
rain and strong winds. Another vigorous cool front approaches the
Midwest next weekend. No bitter blasts for the USA - yet. Loop: NOAA and
Ham Weather.
Ned Rozell: Wildfire Hits Close To Home For Scientist. Here's an excerpt of a harrowing tale as recounted to
The Anchorage Daily News: "...
I
looked up and saw this big smoke cloud," said the part-time farmer and
leader of an organization devoted to studying climate change. "That was
my first sense that this was something that was going to personally
affect me." "This" was one of the largest wildfires in Alaska during the
hot summer of 2013. It came close enough to Rupp's homestead that he
felt smoky heat on his face, a sensation that will now be on his mind
every time he tweaks a computer model that simulates future fire
scenarios in Alaska..."
Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2013/10/05/3110227/ned-rozell-wildfire-hits-close.html#storylink=cpy
Photo credit above: "The Stuart Creek wildfire plume as seen from Scott Rupp’s yard on a midsummer day." PHOTO BY SCOTT RUPP.
Flood Increases Washing Over Real Estate Market. Here's a clip from
The Galveston County Daily News: "
Real
estate professionals, property owners and potential buyers of second
homes are already feeling the sting of changes in the National Flood
Insurance Program. Congress in
2012 passed legislation that, among other things, mandated flood
insurance rate increases in attempt to make up about $18 billion the
flood insurance program owes the U.S. Treasury. That amount is expected
to climb sharply as the toll from Hurricane Sandy, which struck the East
Coast in 2012, is tallied. According to the General Accounting Office,
the program has lost $531 million since its inception in 1968..." (Image: NOAA).
And Then Steve Said "Let There Be An iPhone".
As someone involved in multiple tech companies I know what it's like to
fake your way through a demo - but I had NO IDEA that the original
iPhone came so close to being a disaster. Steve Job's "force-field"
allowed him to pull off a flawless demo in January, 2007, as described
in this (remarkable) excerpt from
The New York Times: "...
Grignon
had been part of the iPhone rehearsal team at Apple and later at the
presentation site in San Francisco’s Moscone Center. He had rarely seen
Jobs make it all the way through his 90-minute show without a glitch.
Jobs had been practicing for five days, yet even on the last day of
rehearsals the iPhone was still randomly dropping calls, losing its
Internet connection, freezing or simply shutting down. “At first it was
just really cool to be at rehearsals at all — kind of like a cred
badge,” Grignon says. Only a chosen few were allowed to attend. “But it
quickly got really uncomfortable..."
The Dating Scene? Hip, With A Bit of "Minnesota Nice". On Sunday
The New York Times had an article about dating and the bar scene, focused on Uptown.
Yes, It's That Good.
$55 million in ticket sales over the weekend for the new movie,
"Gravity"? For good reason - I saw this Saturday evening and couldn't
get over the special effects, and the scenes of Earth from space. If you
can see it in 3-D IMAX you'll be glad you spent a few extra bucks.
Image:
Digital Trends.
Read
more here:
http://www.adn.com/2013/10/05/3110227/ned-rozell-wildfire-hits-close.html#storylink=cpyTODAY:
Sunny and pleasant. Winds: West 10. High: 65
* photo above courtesy of Steve Burns.
Climate Stories....
Brian Dickerson: Conservatives Warming Up To Climate Change. The Detroit Free Press has an article that made me do a double-take - here's a clip: "...
More
and more often, Inglis says, the GOP voters he encounters on the stump
understand that greenhouse gas pollution represents a serious challenge
to both the environment and the U.S. economy, but distrust the federal
government’s ability to address it effectively. James Clift, who, as
policy director of the Michigan Environmental Council, has lobbied
policymakers in both parties to increase the use of renewable
alternatives to coal, oil and natural gas, agrees, adding that denial is
no longer an option for many of the GOP’s traditional supporters.
“Businesspeople who have to put their money where their mouth is don’t
really have a choice,” said Clift, who cited farmers, ski resort
operators and electric utility executives among those who have begun to
factor climate change into their long-term investment decisions. “It’s
changing the nature of their businesses, and they’re adjusting their
behavior...”
Climate Change Is Real And Denial Is Not About The Science. Here's an excerpt from an article at
The San Antonio Express-News: "...
In
fact, one could argue that climate science has not significantly
changed since it was first hypothesized that combustion of fossil fuels
could change the climate — in 1896. That's why, of the dozens of
atmospheric scientists in our state at Texas A&M, University of Texas, Rice, Texas Tech, University of Houston, etc., approximately zero of them are skeptical of this mainstream view of climate science. Our department and the Climate Systems Science Group at the University of Texas even have statements on our websites confirming our agreement (UT: www.ig.utexas.edu/jsg/css_jsg/people/statement.html;
TAMU: http:// atmo.tamu.edu/weather-and- climate/climate-change-
statement). So why is there such a disconnect between what scientists
think and the public debate? Recent cognitive research helps us
understand this. Researchers find that beliefs on climate change science
strongly correlate with other policy preferences..."
