what happened to global warming pun intended

[Mahonri]

Quote:
EXACTLY!

 

[silkiechicken]

Quote:
LOL

Had you not asked, I'd have never noticed.
Headed back out into the rained on re froze snow... to make some nice hard ice balls.

 

[Mahonri]

Be careful.

Oh I am grateful I live in Phoenix.

 

[Rosalind]

It has been over 50 years since I was in the 4th grade.. that is when they told us that the polar caps were there because that part of the earth never got hit with direct sunlight.

Yeah...That's why I get steamed over science education and communication, really.

Polar areas get sunlight. Plenty of sunlight. Just ask an Alaskan resident in June. The difference is the angle of the sunlight coming through the atmosphere. It's a geometry problem. The sunlight has to travel through more atmosphere at the poles than it has to travel through to hit the equator. The difference in the polar temperatures in terrestrial planets (i.e. the non-gas planets) is proportional to their mass and the amount of atmosphere they have.

There isn't all that much atmosphere. About 5 miles' worth of atmosphere is what is causing the difference in temperature between the Sahara desert and Santa Claus' house. Think of how many miles are on your car odometer, your neighbor's car odometer, my car odometer, and all that tailpipe exhaust going up in the air. It suddenly doesn't take all that long to smog up 5 miles' worth of atmosphere with pollution.

Incidentally, it's 50 degrees out this morning in Massachusetts, and all the snow we got last week is a bunch of mushy brown grass now. There are a few lumps of ice that fell out of the gutter on the north-facing patio, but otherwise it's a mud pit outside. Normally I'd be in front of a nice toasty woodstove right now, making DH fetch me a coffee and watching the winter birds, instead I'm up and doing outdoor chores. I'd hang the laundry out on the line, but it's supposed to rain in a day or two and I know it won't dry in time.​

 

[Mahonri]

I guess with all of that extra atmosphere the sunlight won't be able to get through and we are going to start cooling off heh?

The reason we will be close to freezing tomorrow when we normally only get into the mid 40s.