Ticker for October 29, 2008

                
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October 29, 2008   October 29, 2008   October 29, 2008   October 29, 2008



The Momentum of Climate.

Today's breaking Ticker news story is that it's October 29th.

Okay, that's just part of it. What's kinda interesting about it is
that we're getting the same amount of sunlight today as we do in
early February (the days are about 11 hours long, with pretty much
identical sun angles). I don't know where you live, but I'll take
the weather here over anything from the "early February" category.

So, how can late October be so yummy, while early February - with
the same amount of available sunlight - is so ... well, let's put it
this way: in early February, we're so desperate for warmth, we pull
a big rat out of the ground to ask him for a six-week reprieve.

And it's not a freak "2008" thing. Climatologically, late November
is much warmer than early February:
Feb 4th:  

Oct 29th: 


So, what gives?

It's all about Big Mo. Momentum. Inertia. Memory. Whatever you want
to call it. The Earth is a big thing, and a hemisphere can store up
a great deal of summer's energy in land and lakes, the oceans, and
even the atmosphere itself. So, considering October vs. February,
the amount of sunlight may be the same, but the climatological task
is wildly different. Early February's "job" is to pull us out of
the depths of winter, while late October is still coasting on lots
of stored energy from the summer.


Moron Frost

Uh, let's make that "more on frost". Anyway, some self-proclaimed
expert on the internet wrote up a nice summary of frost and frost
damage Did you know that antibiotics can reduce frost damage? Try
filling that prescription.

Here's the column:
http://weather.fox.com/Community/Blogs/DekeArndt/2008/10/26/All_About_Frost

We're big fans of that guy. Of course, he has competent editors,
which the Ticker certainly does not.