i have lived in texas a long time, and i think the weather from the 80's has been crazier... what do you mean by crazy?

We have reported all time heat records. The wind is howling over my head right now from the South and we rarely get a south wind, it is almost always from the Southeast. We have also gotten a lot of West wind which we rarely ever get. The massive about of hot (we have been running over ten degrees over normal) moist air heading North is what is causing the tornadoes over the past week. The spring storms are not usually till May so we may not have even seen the worst of it.

We are also in one of the worst droughts ever. Are you paying attention?

Texas drought now extreme. Any relief in sight?

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor came out today and it’s rather grim. About 98 percent of Texas is now in a drought, and more than 86 percent — including Harris County — is in a severe drought or worse.

Furthermore, the northern third of Harris County has entered an extreme drought. Here’s the latest map of Texas:

link to drought map here

http://blog.chron.com/sciguy/2011/04/texas-drought-now-extreme-any-relief-in-sight/

i guess you don't remember the heat wave of 1980? broke 90 heat records in 110 days, including the most people dying from heat?...we are always in a drought here, except for the last few years... every year our stock tank would dry out, and the would ration water in dallas every year in the 80,s... i'll admit, here in houston we haven't gotten any rain this month, but hardly any reason to worry... i'm paying attention, but there is no reason to jump on the "we're gunna die" bandwagon... weather in texas is always crazy, i've know that since i was a kid... and your worried about a south wind? sorry, but in the gulf, the south is just about the only direction the wind comes from, ant time of year...

And Moe, it amazes me that people are so unaware of what is going on around them. You live in an area that is having ALLTIME drastic weather changes and goofy weather RIGHT NOW. And you post as if you are totally unaware of it.

Here is the National Weather Service report for your (and my) area.

AXUS74 KHGX 272047
DGTHGX
TXZ163-164-176>179-195>200-210>214-226-227-235>238-280400-

DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
345 PM CDT WED APR 27 2011

...DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT...

...EXCEPTIONAL DROUGHT CONDITIONS PREVAIL OVER THE NORTHERN
THIRD OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS...

...APRIL 2011 NOW ON TARGET TO BE DRIEST APRIL
ON RECORD ACROSS SOUTHEAST TEXAS...

SYNOPSIS...
DRY CONDITIONS CONTINUED ACROSS SOUTHEAST THROUGH LAST WEEKEND. A
STRONG UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE TRIGGERED SCATTERED SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE NORTHEAST PORTION OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS...
MAINLY ALONG EAST OF A MIDWAY TO HUNTSVILLE TO KINGWOOD TO ANAHUAC
LINE ON MONDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT. EAST OF THE AFOREMENTIONED
LINE...RAINFALL AMOUNTS AVERAGED BETWEEN 1 TO 2 INCHES WITH SOME
ISOLATED RAINFALL TOTALS NEAR 4 INCHES. WEST OF THE LINE...LOCATIONS
WERE NOT AS FORTUNATE AND RAINFALL TOTALS WERE GENERALLY ZERO.

IF THE DROUGHT WAS NOT SEVERE ENOUGH...RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES WERE
ALSO REPORTED. COLLEGE STATION AND HOUSTON EACH REPORTED SEVERAL
RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES AND A STRING OF MORNINGS WITH RECORD HIGH
MINIMUM TEMPERATURES. GALVESTON RECORDED A HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 95
DEGREES ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON (APRIL 27TH). THIS VALUE IS THE
WARMEST TEMPERATURE EVER RECORDED IN THE MONTH OF APRIL.

SINCE FEBRUARY 1ST...THE CITY OF HOUSTON (IAH) HAS RECEIVED ONLY
1.58 INCHES OF RAIN...COLLEGE STATION (CLL) HAS RECEIVED 1.30
INCHES...HOUSTON HOBBY (HOU) HAS RECEIVED 1.12 INCHES AND GALVESTON
(GLS) RECEIVED 3.49 INCHES. DANEVANG (WHARTON COUNTY) HAS ONLY
RECEIVED 0.69 INCHES OF RAIN SINCE FEBRUARY 1ST.

HERE ARE THE FIVE DRIEST FEB 1- APRIL 27:

CITY OF HOUSTON COLLEGE DANEVANG
HOUSTON HOBBY STATION

1.58 - 2011 1.12 - 2011 1.27 - 1916 0.69 - 2011
1.68 - 1925 2.59 - 1996 1.30 - 2011 0.92 - 1925
2.28 - 1916 3.24 - 1954 2.63 - 1920 1.84 - 1996
3.09 - 1996 3.63 - 1989 2.67 - 1972 2.09 - 1984
3.90 - 1920 3.85 - 1963 2.86 - 1925 2.26 - 1956

HERE ARE THE PERCENTAGE OF NORMAL RAINFALL SINCE FEBRUARY 1ST FOR
THE FOUR PRIMARY CLIMATE SITES:

SITE RAINFALL NORMAL DEPARTURE PERCENT OF
2/1 - 4/27 RAINFALL NORMAL

IAH 1.58 9.52 -7.94 16.6
HOU 1.12 9.27 -8.15 12.1
CLL 1.30 8.02 -6.72 16.2
GLS 3.49 7.63 -4.14 45.7
DANEVANG 0.69 7.78 -7.09 8.9

IT HAS BEEN BRUTALLY DRY OVER THE NORTHWEST PORTION OF SOUTHEAST
TEXAS. AN ISLAND OF DROUGHT FROM CALDWELL TO HUNTSVILLE TO
HOUSTON TO BELLVILLE TO CALDWELL HAS BEEN EXCEPTIONALLY DRY.
SOMERVILLE AND COLLEGE STATION HAVE FAILED TO TALLY AN INCH OF RAIN
IN SEVEN OF THE LAST NINE MONTHS. SOMERVILLE HAS ONLY RECEIVED
5.07 INCHES OF RAIN SINCE OCTOBER 1ST OR ROUGHLY 23 PERCENT OF THE
EXPECTED NORMAL RAINFALL. COLLEGE STATION HAS RECEIVED ONLY 6.00
INCHES OF RAIN SINCE OCTOBER 1ST OR 27.4 PERCENT OF NORMAL. THE
NORMAL RAINFALL AT COLLEGE STATION FOR OCTOBER 1 THROUGH APRIL 27TH
IS 21.97 INCHES. THE NORMAL RAINFALL IN A CALENDAR YEAR FOR COLLEGE
STATION IS 39.67 INCHES.

95 degrees F is CRAZY in April here!

you haven't lived in texas very long, our your thinking to much...

here is a list of texas weather records... funny how the latest one is from 1995...

http://web2.airmail.net/danb1/records.htm

You don't have you facts right. I am a pilot. I live on an airstrip. The airstrip faces South and we almost never get a South wind ... and all of us around here are very aware of the wind direction.

"hardly any reason to worry"? Did you read any of what the national weather service said about Houston?

I have never been on any "We are gonna die bandwagon." I have been an integral part of the local scientific/engineering community. I have posted scientific facts from the absolute highest quality sources and have taken the time to try to explain it to people who are ignorant of the real story because of the flood of garbage to be found on the internet. Perhaps you should take the time to check my facts.

I have lived here my whole life and you are not thinking enough.

Okay I know the weather is changing, I can see that. The proof that is not there is that WE caused it by burning oil.

Our sun is moving us through a very dangerous part of the galaxy RIGHT NOW and our climate is effected by what the sun is doing. I expect it to get much worse before 2017 or even before 2012.

But I live in Southern Colorado where it normally goes from a brief winter to a very hot summer. THATS NORMAL. However, this is almost May and it is still very chilly weather we are having. Normally its up to 80 degrees this time of year IN THIS AREA. I have lived here now for 12 years.

Today its 43 degrees. Where is all this global warming???? I'm cold!. I am wondering when the warm weather is going to get here!

well, believe it or not, other people know things besides you... i've lived here since i was a one year old, in 1966, and i have seen the weather patterns change quite a bit since then... every year there is an extreme drought somewhere in texas... it is a big state

But they didn't say WHY. They only observe something. They don't say why they are so positive that it is CONNECTED to some theory of an immanent global warming disaster.

Chicken little had no doubt that the sky was falling either. After all, a piece of it HIT HER ON THE HEAD. What more proof would she need?

Paid researchers will find what they are paid to find. People will find evidence to support what they believe.

your a pilot, and your runway faces south? hmmm.. what does that tell us? the runways are designed to take off and land headed into the wind... even i know that... your getting sloppy now

I don't doubt that changes could happen to the earth very quickly. Hell, we could be burned up by a solar flare in an instant.

I don't doubt that climate changes have occurred in the past, maybe very quickly.

What I doubt is the idea that mankind can do anything about it or prevent it or that they somehow are causing it by burning oil.

If they are so worried they should stop destroying the rain forest and polluting the oceans with oil. I'm all for taking care of the planet, but they need to come clean about the LIE concerning oil. It is NOT a fossil fuel and we are NOT running out of it. They need to take a lesson from the Russians who have discovered something they won't even listen to. DRILL DEEPER.

OK someone brought up crazy weather in April.

Back in 1978 here in good ol California it was 110 degrees in DECEMBER for two weeks! I know because usually I had to ride my bike wearing a jacket and a rain coat to get to school. The two weeks before the two week break from school I rod to school in a t shirt. Blistering hot weather in April? THAT'S NOTHING! TRY AN INDIAN SUMMER IN DECEMBER!

Still not buying the Global Warming BS!

The sky is NOT falling!

I'm not convinced either. I think weather and climate can probably change quickly but I don't think there is much we can do about it.

Global warming is tied to global weather and the whole project started from measuring ice thickness and localized temperature changes at various points on Earth.

Then of course, the atmosphere was also analyzed and have been checked to see if there is any change in the amounts of various gases.

What they saw, was an increase in CO2 compared to previously.

So basically you can look at any sources regarding about global warming, the main theme is usually the increase of CO2 and the changes in ice thickness at the poles, so they rush to the "greenhouse effect".

One thing they seem to forgot though, that is to compare the Earth's atmospheres to other planets with atmosphere - and of course we can't really do it all the way, since there isn't like another planet very alike to Earth , but there are planets close by with somewhat of an atmosphere like Earth : Mars.

Here is something, that was written years ago already, and gone completely blacked out from the mainstream media, even though the guy has worked for NASA (and got fired), and yes, sometimes we just can't trust scientists if they start off the wrong foot, so is what this guy was doing:

The Saturated Greenhouse Effect

http://www.friendsofscience.org/assets/documents/The_Saturated_Greenhouse_Effect.htm

also consider (pdf)

Greenhouse effect in semi-transparent planetary
atmospheres
http://met.hu/idojaras/IDOJARAS_vol111_No1_01.pdf

sorry, i couldn't read all that, it was just to silly...the point is that we at the tail end of an ice age... 10,000 years ago, there was a mile thick sheet of ice all the way down to Tennessee.. the planet itself goes through changes in it's "wobble" when it rotates around the sun... sometimes the north pole faces the sun just a bit more, and more of the land masses are heated up (since there is more land in the northern hemisphere, and more water in the southern hemisphere)

Thanks Atlantis75! That link was very interesting.

"The Sun has recently become quiet resulting in declining global temperatures since 2002 despite increasing CO2 content in the atmosphere."

How we know it’s happening: Global Temp data from U.S. (NOAA & Europe (WMO)

1. Warming since mid-70’s about 3 times as rapid as preceding century

2.1990’s, warmest decade in last 142 yrs & the last 1,000 per
geologic data

3.10 warmest years all since 1990 & 5 warmest since 1997

4.Warmest year on record 2005, 1998 #2 & 2002 & 04 tied for 3rd.

5. 2003 cooler & wetter than avg in much of eastern pt of country, & warmer & drier in much of west. Ten western states much warmer than average, New Mexico warmest year, Alaska warmer in all 4 seasons & had one of 5 warmest years since measuring in 1918.

6. Europe, 2003 summer heat waves with warmest seasonal temps ever recorded in Spain, France, Switzerland, & Germany. Approx 15,000 died in heat waves in Paris that summer

7. Warm conditions with drought in 2003 contributed to severe wildfires in Australia, So Calif. & Gritish Columbia, Canada.


Scientists know with virtual certainty that:

•Human activities are changing composition of Earth's atmosphere. Increasing levels of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere since pre-industrial times are well-documented and understood.

•Atmospheric buildup of CO2 & other greenhouse gases, largely result of human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels.

•An “unequivocal” warming trend of about 1.0 to 1.7°F occurred from 1906-2005. Warming occurred in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, and over the oceans (IPCC, 2007).

•Major greenhouse gases emitted by human activities remain in atmosphere from decades to centuries. Therefore virtually certain that atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases will continue to rise over the next few decades.

•Increasing greenhouse gas concentrations tend to warm the planet.

What's Very Likely?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has stated "Most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations" (IPCC, 2007).

In short, a growing number of scientific analyses indicate, but cannot prove, that rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are contributing to climate change (as theory predicts).

In coming decades, scientists anticipate, as atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases continue to rise, average global temperatures and sea levels will continue to rise as a result and precipitation patterns will change.

What's Not Certain?

Important scientific questions remain about how much warming will occur, how fast it will occur, and how the warming will affect the rest of the climate system including precipitation patterns and storms. Answering these questions will require advances in scientific knowledge in a number of areas:

•Improving understanding of natural climatic variations, changes in the sun's energy, land-use changes, the warming or cooling effects of pollutant aerosols, and the impacts of changing humidity and cloud cover.

•Determining the relative contribution to climate change of human activities and natural causes.

•Projecting future greenhouse emissions and how the climate system will respond within a narrow range.

•Improving understanding of the potential for rapid or abrupt climate change.

In general, scientists are using the term “Climate Change” rather than "Global Warming" because what is happening is change in the atmosphere and on Earth that accompanies rising atmospheric temperatures - but not necessarily the temperature everywhere all the time. Some will exerience severe or prolonged cold.

Carbon dioxide is just one of the ways in which the U.S. is forcing this global experiment of climate change on the rest of the world. Burning vast amts of fossil fuels is not sustainable, they release the precursors to acid rain, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

The U.S. is also a great contributor to the greenhouse effect due to Chlorofluoroarbons (CFCs) - used in refrigerants & aerosol propellants - that cause ozone depletion. Many argue that this is not a problem because CFCs with chlorine are stable in lower atmospheres however, it separates higher up in the stratosphere where the chlorine splits from CFCs and reacts with the ozone to produce chlorine oxide & oxygen which destroys the ozone.