Climate change is the topic for this years Blog Action Day or as some like to call it Global Weirding because the effects of a warming planet can be all over the map weather wise. Various weather-related extremes, including both hot and cold, wet and dry and the intensity of storms will become much more pronounced. Global warming does not just simply mean every last square inch of a dynamic, fluid oceanic and atmospheric environment will get hotter.
Global weirding is also appropriate to the small army of deniers who persist in muddying the waters of debate on this crucial topic. Some do it professionally no doubt for pay and others in a misguided loyalty to a group affiliation or some vague ideals turned to rigid ideology. Civil discourse on this and many other topics has truly become weird.
I can certainly be accused of impassioned debate and a little flame throwing. I even like to say too many facts can get in the way of a winning argument. I am not a scientist, policy wonk or even a dedicated researcher and don't claim to be one. I will however give science and scientist their proper respect and rely on them to tell us the facts. When the over whelming majority of scientists and scientific data tell us that climate change is happening and that it is human caused I believe them.
Asheville North Carolina is proud to be the home of the National Climatic Data Center, the world's largest archive of weather data. This is the go to place for data and scientific research to assess and monitor climate variation and change.
The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) is part of the Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS).
Their mission is to provide access and stewardship to the Nation's resource of global climate and weather related data and information, and assess and monitor climate variation and change. This effort requires the acquisition, quality control, processing, summarization, dissemination, and preservation of a vast array of climatological data generated by the national and international meteorological services. NCDC's mission is global in nature and provides the U.S. climate representative to the World Meteorological Organization, the World Data Center System, and other international scientific programs. NCDC also operates the World Data Center for Meteorology in Asheville.
What kind of information can you find at the NCDC site?
The key findings of the 2009 report Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States for one thing. The home page of this report alone could keep you busy for days.
There is also climate data on land based, upper air, marine, satellite, paleoclimatology and weather/climate events, information and assessments. Remember this is the world's largest archive of weather data. You could get lost in there. I sure hope their search function is a good one.
Maybe you would just like to peruse the What's New page.
The National Climatic Data Center is a resource worth bookmarking for those who like their facts when confronting the skeptics and deniers online. Weather nerds would enjoy a site like this too no doubt.
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