Unconquered

It's been crazy.

This is absurd. My backyard looks like a swimming pool. It's been raining, essentially non-stop, for 5 days. It isn't even Spring yet...

For a little perspective (for our northerners), 11" is roughly equivalent to 9-feet of freshly fallen snow. Imagine that snow fall over 4 days...

I've lived in south Florida for 18 years, and this is my 5th year here in Tally. This has been the worst rain I've ever seen over a 4 day span outside of a tropical system. It's been horrible walking the dog in the pouring rain, he hates it

By the end of the day it is supposed to stop for good for a week. Thank goodness. It's been insane

send some of that down south. we need it.

I've lived here all my life.

During the 80's and 90's we had a ton of afternoon thunderstorms during the Summer months... but that pretty much stopped in the 00's.. it seems like it has picked up over the past couple of years, reverting back to normal.

However, I don't ever recall this much rain, not associated with a hurricane/tropical storm. And I'm certain it's hailed more this past year in Tallahassee, than it has hailed my entire life prior to this year.

I have no idea how much is global warming vs. how much is regular shift... but my intuition is telling me that something isn't quite right when it's raining ice the size of golf balls and it's 75 degrees outside.

Also, I don't ever recall shit blooming in January either... and my car being covered with pollin... this is the warmest winter I can recall.

I studied climatology, meteorology, geology, chemistry, biology and oceanography in college and most any other geo-science you can think of. The Southern Oscillation (El Nino/La Nina) plays a primary role in global and regional climate shifts. It's also not well understood (at least the reasoning and timing of the cycles), but the effects are well documented. Those daily summer afternoon showers are, more or less, a result of the same processes (unequal heating between land/ocean) that take place over India and the southern Pacific during their monsoon seasons, just to a lesser extent.

Global warming is loaded term; one that is true, but often misused (assumes anthropogenic causes). It's true, the Earth has risen in temperature by about 1* Celsius, but keep in mind, Earth is in an interglacial period and has been for about 10,000 years now (last glacial maximum). The Earth has been warming for much longer than the production of the combustion engine and the discovery of coal. That's not to say people haven't had a direct impact and accelerated these warming process, however. Carbon Dioxide is "green house gas" which does absorb and re-radiate infrared radiation emitted by earth, back to the surface. Without green house gases, we wouldn't be able to live on this planet, at least not with our current biological adaptations (too cold). However, introducing higher concentrations (whether natural or anthropogenically) will lead to a warming trend---that's a fact. Climate change is a much more apropos term to use and a common occurrence over earths 4 billion year history. Nearly every scientist agrees with climate change, it's the "anthropogenic" aspect that is constantly under debate.

There are orbital cycles (Milankovitch Cycles) that have set us in these glacial/interglacial cycles for at least the last 1 million years. Glacial periods last roughly 90,000 years and interglacial periods last roughly 10,000 years. Based on historical records, we should soon (take that as you will), enter another glacial period. Scientists are concerned that these elevated carbon dioxide levels (and methane) will prohibit that from happening---which may be a good thing, in my opinion (think reduction in crops, water availability, available land use and energy consumption). You also have sea level rise, both from Antarctic ice sheets melting--not Arctic sea ice (think ice melting in a cup, it doesn't rise) and from the thermal expansion of of water as it warms. The oceans are a "heat sink", if you will. They absorb a lot of energy with minimal change in temperature. As a result, however, they are warming too. They are also a "sink" for carbon dioxide. Unfortunately, Carbon Dioxide disassociates to form carbonic acid, leaving a hydrogen ion behind to increase the acidity of the ocean. Both of these are reducing phytoplankton (calcareous, not siliceous) and coral populations.

Anyways, there a re a lot of factors that contribute to weather and climate cycles. If you look up the warmest years on record, you will notice many of those being in the last 10 years.

Sorry for the ramble, I could go on for days. Hope you find some interesting and unbiased information within that jumble.