This Is Global Warming —Get Used to It

Bizarre weather patterns lie ahead, physicist writes
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 28, 2011 10:26 AM CST
This Is Global Warming —Get Used to It
Louis Kelly of Vernon Conn., works clearing snow from the roof of his home yesterday.   (AP Photo/Journal Inquirer, Jim Michaud)

The northeastern US is being clobbered by snowstorm after snowstorm, and while it may not look very warm out there, global warming is the likely culprit, physicist Michio Kaku writes at CNN. Moisture in the air has a lot more to do with the amount of snow dumped than temperature does—as an example, Kaku points to the fact that a colder freezer may make ice cubes faster, but it's the amount of water you put in the ice tray that determines how big the cubes will become. And as the oceans warm, more moisture is generated, which translates into monster snowstorms in the northeast corridor and plenty of freak weather elsewhere, Kaku explains.

Kaku then shares another metaphor as a way to argue that global warming's main consequence is more violent swings in the weather, not warming. He points to a child in a swing—"by adding more energy by pushing the child farther, the child does not suddenly rise and stop in midair. Instead, the oscillations and swinging increase." As such, "we might expect more unusual, bizarre weather patterns in the future. And unless something is done about it, get used to it."
(More climate change stories.)

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