I have to jump in here. Sorry. When it is warmer in Nome Alaska than Ithaca NY the jet stream has a very high amplitude. Waves with high amplitude have a lot of energy. The jet stream derives its energy from the temperature differences from polar regions to the midlatitudes and subtropics. Stronger temperature differences lead to high amplitude patterns. So it is the intense cold at high latitudes that leads to stronger high amplitude patterns that dump cold air down here. We saw such patterns in the 1960s and 1970s too a globally cool period. Canada was actually quite cold last winter so we had an highly amplified jet stream that deposited record cold in the central U.S. A warmer Canada doesn't lead to cold polar vortexes displaced south. The cold originates from the Arctic and Canada and becomes so expansive that it reaches our latitude. There also have been many instances where is can get warmer in Alaska and colder in the east because of a high amplitude jet stream. The brutal winter of 1976-77 saw record heat in Alaska in January. This happens more than you think. The cold that hit the Rockies this September originated over the land in northern Canada. It was clear and strong radiational cooling caused it. Global warming from greenhouse gases would have modified this air mass enough to lessen the extreme cold. It didn't happen. The cooling "power" of the land masses of the high latitudes remains intense. We don't get a lot of bitter cold air from the Arctic ocean. Its Alaska,and northern Canada where we get our cold from. On Wednesday, September 16, 2020, 08:03:46 PM EDT, Kevin J. McGowan <k...@cornell.edu> wrote: “Record cold of this magnitude is not consistent with global warming. “ Why not? Global warming doesn’t mean warming happens all over the globe evenly. I’ve been watching our area in the northeast for the last decade, thinking mostly about Snowy Owl incursions, and I’ve noticed strange changes in the distribution of cold across the arctic, perhaps changes in the “polar vortex” that seem to isolate the NE as a cold spot while Alaska warms up. The last ten years have shown Ithaca regularly with winter temperatures lower than Nome, Alaska. That isn’t right. Global warming at the poles doesn’t mean every place warms up, it means that the consistencies of weather patterns we could count on could be disrupted. Colder Ithaca winters and heat waves in Alaska are totally consistent with a global warming scenario. Freak arctic blasts into the rockies while the north pole melts also points to something freakishly abnormal happening, totally consistent with global warming. Kevin From: bounce-124948138-3493...@list.cornell.edu <bounce-124948138-3493...@list.cornell.edu>On Behalf Of david nicosia Sent: Wednesday, September 16, 2020 7:46 PM To: Peter Saracino <petersarac...@gmail.com>; Jody Enck <jodye...@gmail.com> Cc: atvaw...@gmail.com; CAYUGABIRDS-L <cayugabird...@list.cornell.edu> Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] New Mexico Mass Motality The western U.S has a history of extreme temperature changes. This event ranks number 3 for the biggest temperature swing in history and it occurred during fall migration. Most of the other big swings in temperature occurred in the winter. What is dramatic is how cold it got and the early snows that fell. Temperatures in parts of the Rockies fell to 9F with winds over 50 mph. That is insanely cold for so early in the season. The Arctic high pressure that came across the Rockies has denser and heavier air which flows downslope into California, and Oregon warming by compression leading to high winds and VERY dry conditions. This fuels the tremendous fires. So in a sense it is the brutal unseasonable cold air that is the real cause of the conditions that caused the fires. I assume the fires, combined with temperatures in the 80, 90s and 100s dropping to the teens 20s and 30s in many areas in the Rockies with early snows was too much for many birds to handle causing the high mortality rates. I have read that people are blaming climate change on this. I don't see it because it is the intense cold that really fueled the fires in CA and OR and probably had a negative effect on the birds. Record cold of this magnitude is not consistent with global warming. On Wednesday, September 16, 2020, 05:18:09 PM EDT, Jody Enck <jodye...@gmail.com> wrote: Thank, Pete, for passing along the Guardian article. Additional information has been forthcoming recently. Hypotheses include movements related to smoky conditions in some states, coupled with those weird temperature swings recorded last week (90 to 100 F one day and below freezing, with snow, the next day). Seems less likely to be a nefarious even (e.g., poisoning) than something more likely caused by challenging environmental factors. I hope more information comes out soon.
Jody W. Enck, PhD Conservation Social Scientist, and Founder of the Sister Bird Club Network 607-379-5940 On Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 5:03 PM Peter Saracino <petersarac...@gmail.com> wrote: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/16/birds-falling-out-of-the-sky-in-mass-die-off-in-south-western-us-aoe On Tue, Sep 15, 2020, 6:47 PM Tom <atvaw...@gmail.com> wrote: I just learned of the mass mortality of migrating birds in New Mexico. I read a CNN report. Is there any new information on the cause? They’re talking hundreds of thousands, even millions. Tom V Sent from my iPhone -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations toeBird! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations toeBird! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations toeBird! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --