News - Blogs - Readers respond to global warming climate change blog entries

Readers respond to global warming/climate change blog entries
Published: 7/12/2012 7:00 AM
Last Modified: 7/11/2012 12:43 PM

The Tulsa World ran this Pat Bagley cartoon via Caglepost.com in Tuesday's edition. For the comments section in response to this cartoon, click here.

We addressed the very polarizing topic of climate change (a.k.a. global warming) earlier this week (Althea on Tuesday, Jerry on Wednesday).

You've all read our opinions. Now, here's what some of you had to say in emails, comments and even on Facebook:

If fostering civil discussion is the answer, how do you foster discussions on global warming without flashing over into hot-button shouting matches? -R.W.

Tried 2 times to post a comment on your excellent Global Warming article and it would not post. I agree with your article. -H.F.

Althea: If this has ever happened to you, please email web@tulsaworld.com.

Would be nice if forecasters could tell the weather honestly 24 hrs out - supp to be upper 80s yesterday, instead was 97 ! all those computers - useless. -M.W.

Guess we should tell that to the farmers whose yields are in the doldrums thanks to it. -J.S.

"I am not a scientist, nor do I have any formal education in meteorology." Stopped reading right there. Why do you support this drivel? -J.N.

AGW denial is a false controversy in the scientific world. Why does the media have to continue muddying the waters? And when I say "false", I mean it isn't a controversy at all. It's only a controversy among laymen that *aren't* scientists in relevant fields. - J.S.

I come from a long line of farmers. I can promise you that you can call up the folks, including my father and grandfather, and they will laugh at the idea of "global warming." Farmers' yields have flirted with the doldrums for centuries. The trials of farmers due to weather isn't anything new, nor is it a weighty discussion point when it comes to "global warming." I'm open to accepting the theory, as long as it ceases being a theory and provides me with evidence, beyond the shadow of doubt. But from someone who grew up depending on the crops to produce -- I can tell you most farmers, who would love to have something to blame when their family is looking at barren, dry fields -- don't give one ounce of thought to the warming theory. -M.M.

The first thing I notice about this post is that the author is attempting to address a global topic by focusing on a small region (city and state). Also apparent to me is the fact that both of the authorities she quotes are local to the region. -R.H.

Global warming is like the economy: in the long-run the US is getting richer. But there will be periods where the wealth dips for a few years, or maybe even a decade or so. But over the long-term -- over several decades, over generations -- we are getting significantly richer.

Global warming is a long-term trend -- a long-term warming of about 0.2 - 0.3 degrees Fahrenheit per decade.

Superimposed on top of that will be short-term fluctuations, especially El Ninos and La Ninas. These can cause swings of about 0.3 to 0.4 degrees up or down.

So you have a steadily climbing line, with short-term wiggles on it.

By only looking at the last 10 years, you are focusing on a wiggle that happens to be downward. (There was a very strong La Nina in 2010-11). -D.A.

Althea: I appreciate all of the feedback, positive and negative.

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Almanac

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec

	Temperature		Precipitation
Date	High Temp	Low Temp	Total	Month to date	Historical average
1	44°	16°	0	0.00	0.05
2	59°	24°	0	0.00	0.11
3	57°	33°	0	0.00	0.16
4	68°	37°	Trace	0.00	0.21
5	69°	29°	0	0.00	0.26
6	66°	33°	0	0.00	0.32
7	59°	38°	0.05	0.05	0.38
8	51°	34°	0	0.05	0.44
9	44°	36°	0.01	0.06	0.51
10	62°	37°	0.07	0.13	0.57
11	54°	28°	0	0.13	0.64
12	44°	30°	0.25	0.38	0.70
13	55°	40°	0.01	0.39	0.76
14	°	°			0.83
15	°	°			0.89
16	°	°			0.95
17	°	°			1.02
18	°	°			1.09
19	°	°			1.16
20	°	°			1.23
21	°	°			1.31
22	°	°			1.38
23	°	°			1.46
24	°	°			1.53
25	°	°			1.61
26	°	°			1.69
27	°	°			1.77
28	°	°			1.85

TEMPERATURE

RAINFALL

SNOWFALL

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Tulsa weather milestones of 2013 (as of Feb. 12)

Highest temperature: 70 on Jan. 11 (Record: 115 on Aug. 15, 1936)
Lowest temperature: 15 on Jan. 16 (Record: Minus-16 on Jan. 22, 1930)
Hottest month (average): 40.5 degrees in January (Record: 91.7 degrees on July 1980)
Coldest month (average): 40. 5 degrees in January (Record: 21.7 in January 1918)
Most snowfall (day): 0.1 of an inch on Feb. 12(Record: 13.2 inches on Feb. 1, 2011)
Most snowfall (month): 0.1 of an inch in February(Record: 22.5 inches in February 2011)
Most rainfall (day): 0.91 of an inch on Jan. 29 (Record: 9.27 inches on May 26-27, 1984)
Most rainfall (month): 1.54 of an inch in January (Record: 18.18 inches on September 1971)
Highest wind speed: 30 mph on Jan. 30
Previous day with any rain: Feb. 12
Previous day with 1 inch or more of rain: Oct. 17, 2012
Previous day with any snow: Feb. 12
Previous day with freezing temperatures: Feb. 12
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Contributors
Staff Writer Althea Peterson started writing for the Tulsa World in March 2007 after previous stops at the Norman Transcript in 2006 and the Oklahoma Gazette in 2005. She followed her older brother from rural Wisconsin (with a public school that never seemed to call snow days) to the University of Oklahoma, but did not follow his pursuit to study meteorology. However, she tries to find as many opportunities to report on the weather as possible.

Staff Writer Jerry Wofford came to the Tulsa World in 2010 from The Manhattan Mercury in Manhattan, Kan. Originally from western Arkansas and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Jerry has lived in Tornado Alley his entire life and is one of those people who goes outside when the sirens go off.

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