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Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2007 - 8:37 p.m.

The Cycle of the Seasons And How It Affects Your Life (Or, Global Warming 101) (The CliffNotes Version) (Also the version off the top of my head)

Fall and Winter come, earth cools. The days grow increasingly shorter, so the earth begins to give off more heat during the longer nights than it absorbs during the shortening days. The days grow increasingly colder as a result. Water freezes and releases warm, moist air into the atmosphere. Rain happens. Snow happens. Frosty things build up.

Spring and Summer come, earth warms. The days grow increasingly longer, so the earth begins to absorb more heat during the longer days than it loses during the shorter nights. The days grow increasingly warmer as a result. Water defrosts and releases cooler air into the atmosphere. More rain happens. Snow melts and feeds rivers and streams, which in turn feed lakes and run into the sea. This colder water sinks to the bottom and causes convection (for lack of a better word), which drives the ocean currents, which in turn affect the Gulf Stream and other winds. The Gulf Stream is basically the conveyor belt that drives all weather patterns in the world. Some frosty stuff melts, other frosty stuff doesn't. That's how it's supposed to be.

Now, suppose you throw a wrench into all of this, and the entire globe (or most of it) experiences warmer than normal fall and winter, for whatever reason. I'm not pointing my finger at the big bad petroleum companies or anything, I'm just sayin', it happens. Is happening. That sorta throws everything outta whack. The earth doesn't give off that much heat at night, so it stays warmer than it should. Water doesn't freeze, so it doesn't warm the atmosphere as much. We don't get as much rain, because the warmer air isn't up there, and neither is the water vapor given off by the freezing water. Snow is less, rain is less. Sleet is also less, but no one complains, on accounta nobody actually likes sleet. Frost doesn't build up like and where it's supposed to, and in fact, some of it melts in places where it has never, in the entire history of mankind, melted. Some plants dependent on cold to trigger their growing cycle don't get the message to grow and instead stay dormant.

Because the earth didn't cool like it was supposed to in fall/winter, spring and summer are hotter. There's less ice and snow to melt and feed into rivers and streams, which suffer low water levels, which causes a variety of problems, not the least of which is irrigation and hydroelectricity issues. They don't feed into lakes and the ocean like they're supposed to. There's not as much colder water to sink to the bottom of the ocean. The currents start to slow. They weaken and don't drive the Gulf Stream like they're supposed to. Things in the atmosphere start to slow down and grow sluggish. Weather systems change. Butterflies flap their wings and not a damn thing happens anywhere. There's not as much moisture in the atmosphere, so it still doesn't rain. Crops suffer. More frosty stuff melts than is supposed to. That opens up a whole nother can of worms I'm not equipped to discuss, so we'll leave it.

While it's summer in one part of the world, it's winter in another. The two halves feed into and off of each other. But because spring/summer are/were out of whack, fall and winter are affected, in both parts of the world. And the whole thing feeds on itself, unless something happens to change it. Sometimes it does, and you have a few years of trouble and then things even out. Sometimes it's a long time until that thing happens, and all the glaciers melt, then you have another ice age. There's a whole slew of stuff that goes along with this, but as I said, I am ill-equipped to discuss it. I'm just here to provide the basics. Which I basically have. What you do with them is up to you.

Peace out,
Katie

copyright 2002 - 2005 Katie Doyle; all rights reserved
Don't even think it, punk.






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Yesterday's News - Next Stop

In which Katie shares sad news - Wednesday, Apr. 01, 2015
In which Katie returns after a very long absence - Monday, Jun. 25, 2012
In which Katie pokes her head in and brushes some of the cobwebs away - Thursday, May. 06, 2010
In which Katie asks you to write your congressman again. - Monday, Jun. 02, 2008
In which Katie asks you to please click the link and send the message to protect the rights of artists - Wednesday, May. 21, 2008

 

 

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