Day: February 16, 2024

Closing Thought–16Feb24

Well crap!

Not at all what I wanted to hear from the weather people.

Appears that our hurricane season maybe more active….

Here are the weather predictions for the coming Spring and Summer….

A warmer-than-average winter across the northern US and a wetter-than-average winter across the South are signs of the current El Nino global climate pattern—one so strong it’s been dubbed “Super El Nino,” per CNN. But it’s now past its peak, easing as it makes way for its opposite, La Nina, in a transition that will have major consequences for weather in the US, potentially increasing Atlantic hurricane activity and worsening western drought. In the Pacific Ocean, trade winds usually blow west along the equator, whisking warm water from South America toward Asia. During El Nino, trade winds weaken or reverse, allowing water to move from east to west, boosting surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific.

But during La Nina, trade winds are stronger than normal, so more warm water is pushed east and more cold water from the depths of the ocean rises to the surface. This results in cooler-than-average conditions, now predicted to occur as early as this summer, according to a La Nina watch issued Tuesday by the Climate Prediction Center. Forecasters found El Nino wind patterns declined in January, along with temperatures in the eastern and east-central Pacific, per the Washington Post. The CPC now describes a 79% chance of neutral conditions from April to June, a 55% chance of La Nina conditions from June to August, and a 77% chance of La Nina from September to November, per Axios.

La Ninas follow strong El Ninos about 60% of the time and “often produce the opposite weather patterns as El Nino, including a more active Atlantic hurricane season,” per CNN. We may also see the consequences in “wetter-than-normal weather on the western side of the Pacific, as well as in southern Alaska, the northwestern United States, and the northern Plains” and “dry conditions for Southern California and the Southwest,” per the Post. As La Nina also tends to temporarily suppress global temperatures, it could keep 2024 from surpassing 2023 as the hottest year on record. If temperatures continue to climb, however, it could signal systematic change to the climate, per the Post.

A more active hurricane season….just not what we on the Gulf Coast like to hear….hopefully your region has better news than mine.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

“A Serious National Security Threat”

I awoke yesterday to “a serious national security threat”….WTF?

Of course I had to dig to find out what was so serious.

Moments after the Senate bill to provide cash for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan went to the House a convenient threat was announced…. a “serious national security threat” is on the horizon….and as it were it is Russia.  The announcement was made by GOPer Mike Turner….

“I am requesting that President Biden declassify all information relating to this threat so that Congress, the Administration, and our allies can openly discuss the actions necessary to respond to this threat,” Turner continued.

That statement was followed a short time later by a letter from Rep. Jim Himes, a Democrat from Connecticut, who called the issue an “urgent matter” about “a destabilizing foreign military capability that should be known by all congressional policymakers.” But, again, Himes didn’t provide any details and only set off hours of speculation on Capitol Hill about what it could involve.

The intelligence reportedly involves “Russians wanting to put a nuclear weapon into space,” according to ABC News. If that seems relatively underwhelming, it gets even weaker when it’s clarified that Russia’s desire for nukes has nothing to do with dropping them from space onto targets on Earth. Apparently, Russia wants to put the nukes in space to “possibly use against satellites.”

(gizmodo.com)

Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), chair of the House Intelligence Committee, made a vague public warning on Wednesday about an unspecified “serious national security threat,” prompting accusations that he did so to pressure the House to pass the $95 billion foreign military aid bill that just made it through the Senate.

US officials later told the media that the “unspecified threat was related to Russian space capabilities and a plan to develop a nuclear weapon that can target satellites.

Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) wrote a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) calling for an inquiry into Turner’s decision to release the information.

Ogles said Turner likely did so to bolster support for passing new aid for Ukraine and for extending Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows mass warrantless surveillance of Americans. Section 702 was due to expire but was extended by the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act until April 19.

A cryptic request that led to House Speaker Mike Johnson later assuring reporters there is “no need for public alarm” on the matter. Two Democrat representatives also said there’s no “imminent danger right now” and that “people should not panic,” Axios reports.

Seriously?

No one is for sure of anything that Russia is up to right now…..a lot of supposition little fact.

This whole thing is about wanting to scare the House into passing the massive aid package from the Senate.

Funny how that works.

It is all a game funded by special interests and dark money.

I say screw those countries and move on to something important like the cost of meds for Americans….especially seniors that live on a fixed income.

But that is just me!

I have a hard time taking anything that comes out of our Congress seriously.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”