Another high wind warning for Southcentral Alaska today

[Blue_In_AK]

with more rain and flood warnings. This climate change is kind of sucky for us.


http://www.ktuu.com/weather/?icast_page=/Local/Alerts&icast_location=USAK0012

[kestrel91316]

1. Hey, at least you're not going on 8 weeks of nearly continuous 105F+ temps........

[Blue_In_AK]

2. I'm sure it's all connected somehow.

The jet stream is not acting right.

[kestrel91316]

3. The jet stream is completely FUBAR. I'm frankly terrified about what our weather future holds

over the next several years (and possibly millennia).

We virtually never have to run the AC 24/7 here. Usually just a few scattered nights in Jul-Aug-Sep. But we've had to for most of this same 8 week period!!

[Blue_In_AK]

4. Isn't it a shame that Alaska can't share all this moisture with the Lower 48.

We have had almost 5.5 inches of rain here in Anchorage over the past month when our normal is 2.11, and there is more rain in the forecast. Even at that, we're lucky. The towns around Prince William Sound are really getting hammered. Cordova got almost 18 inches of rain between September 15 and 18, and it's still coming down.

If you have any of those apps that show the global weather, you can clearly the see the low that's sitting over Alaska. They called the last one a "fire hose." Nice.

[kestrel91316]

5. We've got a high parked over us that just keeps bringing that ghastly hot desert air in.

NO cooling influence from the ocean at all. For 2 months.

I have been noticing an increasing tendency for weather to get "stuck" in prolonged extremes in recent years. And climatologists say that's because of the Arctic getting so warm. Jet stream's not functioning.

Now all we need is for the Gulf Stream to shut down.

[AverageJoe90]

6. The Gulf Stream isn't going to shut down......however.....

On the other hand, though, the possibility certainly does exist that it may perhaps change direction, and maybe sooner than might be expected, given the strings of bad luck we've had these past few years. What worries me most is what could happen to Northern European agriculture, especially that in the U.K. and Ireland. Temperatures might actually drop quite a bit, at least during the winter, because it really helps moderate the climate in those areas.

[AverageJoe90]

7. I'm not optimistic, either.

Given that I have a very realistic and pragmatic outlook on life, I tend not to buy into some of the extreme "Armageddon" type "We're all going to go extinct!!!!11!!one!!" scenarios that some nutty cranks have been bandying about for years. That said, though, we have noticed a significant change in the weather worldwide, and it hasn't been for the better. Which is why I've kept saying that the longer we wait to act the worst things will get and the longer it may take to mitigate the damage; things will get better someday, but whether or not some, or perhaps any of us will live to see it happen, will depend on what is done within these next couple of very crucial decades.