Science a GoGo's Home Page Forums General Discussion Climate Change Forum Troll food from California

As I have now come, albeit sadly, to agree with my colleagues here that the trolling is contrived I will no longer play their synapse-free games. But that doesn't mean I will cede the field of battle to them. So here is the next installment of reality brought to you by serious science. ================================================================= Climate Data Shows California Has Been Heating Up Average temperatures in California rose almost one degree Celsius (nearly two degrees Fahrenheit) during the second half of the 20th century, with urban areas blazing the way to warmer conditions, according to a new study by scientists at NASA and California State University, Los Angeles. ill Patzert of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., teamed with Steve LaDochy of California State University, Los Angeles, and Richard Medina, now a doctoral candidate at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, to investigate California air temperature patterns from 1950 to 2000. They analyzed data from more than 330 state weather stations, looking for patterns of climate warming and cooling in each of the state's seven major climatic subregions. Their objective was to shed new insights into the relative roles humans and natural climate events play in affecting California regional temperatures. Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070330221144.htm

Morgan - perhaps you would like to share how you think trends in California have anything to do with global warming (much less whether those trends are caused by CO2 in the first place).

But since you think it's relevant.........here's the first paragraph of the story, which you quoted.



Urban areas are blazing the way to warmer conditions eh? Perhaps you think that climate change affects urban areas more than rural areas? Give me a break.
Morgan - why don't you ask yourself what possibly could be going on in those urban areas that could make them hotter than the countryside?

Here's a hint........pavement and concrete.

What do you know - the researchers understand this linkage, perhaps you didn't read the full article (did you stop at the headline?). Here's a couple significant quotes.

"Average temperatures increased significantly in nearly 54 percent of the stations studied, with human-produced changes in land use seen as the most likely cause. The largest temperature increases were seen in the state's urban areas, led by Southern California and the San Francisco Bay area, particularly for minimum temperatures. "

"Patzert said the increased rate of minimum temperatures has led to narrower daily temperature ranges throughout the state. "California nights are heating up, giving us a jump start on hotter days," said Patzert. "This is primarily due to increased urbanization, not increases in cloudiness or precipitation."