Record cold over North America is indeed consistent with global warming. It is a regional consequence of the global phenomenon.
To explain it simply (as I was supposed to do in the elementary course I taught of years and years, “Evolution of the Earth and Life”), the principle of the thing is that Arctic Basin warms not only by importing warm air from the south, mainly over oceans, but also by exporting cold air to the south, mainly over continents. Export of air from the north makes space for import of air from the south, so to speak. For now, at least, the export of cold air from the Arctic is concentrated over North America. Certain of my colleagues in the Department Earth and Atmospheric Sciences will be able to give everyone a far better and more detailed explanation. From: <bounce-124948208-77975...@list.cornell.edu> on behalf of "Kevin J. McGowan" <k...@cornell.edu> Reply-To: "Kevin J. McGowan" <k...@cornell.edu> Date: Wednesday, September 16, 2020 at 8:03 PM To: david nicosia <daven1...@yahoo.com>, Peter Saracino <petersarac...@gmail.com>, Jody Enck <jodye...@gmail.com> Cc: "atvaw...@gmail.com" <atvaw...@gmail.com>, CAYUGABIRDS-L <cayugabird...@list.cornell.edu> Subject: RE: [cayugabirds-l] New Mexico Mass Motality “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<mailto: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<mailto: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<mailto: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<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/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/ --
