Snow in the desert: Vegas sees snowfall estimated to be up to 3 inches by the time its done
I’ve been to Las Vegas twice, both times near the end of August. To say it was hot doesn’t come close to doing it justice. The day I arrived on the 2nd trip it was 118° at 11:00 in the morning. That kind of heat gives you that “just opened the oven door” feeling when you walk outside. I swear I could feel the water being sucked out of my body right out of my eyeballs.
It’s very different picture on the FoxNews.com story talking about the weather today. Vegas is getting its second snowfall of the week, an event that is usually exceedingly rare.
Snow piled up around the famous “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign on the south end of the Strip, as visitors parked and posed for pictures wearing hooded jackets. In other parts of the Las Vegas valley, snowfall toppled trees, blanketed rooftops and delighted residents who rarely get to see winter weather.
If this global warming stuff keeps up, we’re all gonna freeze! /sarcasm.
Comments
Comment from Ric James
Time December 18, 2008 at 13:30
Thank you for the commentary. My humor is pointed on the matter for a couple of reasons. Global warming is blamed for literally everything. If it’s hot, we’re told it’s global warming. If it’s cold, it’s global warming. Too much rain? Global warming. Drought? Global warming. I’m having a hard time buying the notion that all of these effects are caused by the same thing simultaneously.
Then there’s the always-present underlying accusation that this global warming is all Man’s fault and the only fix is to radically change everything we do. The political push to call that notion a matter of “consensus” when it’s by no means conceded by the science is my largest complaint about it.
Finally, I’d like to see the biggest mouths on the issue actually act as if it’s a problem. Flying around on private jets and maintaining cavernous homes with energy signatures the size of small towns doesn’t impress me as the acts of someone who thinks my cutting back right this second is critical and I shouldn’t be asking questions about doing it.
By the way, if you have a link to a good discussion of the Gulf conveyor system you referenced, pop it on here for the folks that may follow so they can get up to speed on the theory.
Comment from bjameswi
Time December 18, 2008 at 12:29
For your readers who might not understand the nuanced humor of your last remark: Global warming isn’t about a lack of clod weather. It’s about a very small increase in the *average* annual temperature that results in erratic, changed weather patterns, precipitation amounts, soil and flora conditions, all of which add up to large-scale changes to which the inhabitants must adapt. Some of those changes, however, can cause larger-scale changes that can alter huge areas of the planet. The threat to the Gulf Stream “conveyer” is just the most easily-understood planet-changer.
Bottom line: global warming just might tip the weather pattern over to something that spawns the next ice age, so your comment might be true.