2016 could still be one of the warmest years (on average) in the satellite record. It may only tie 1998. We won’t know until the end of the year. But 1997/1998 and 2015/2016 are both El Nino weakening years flipping to La Nina, as we can see in the satellite temperature record above.
It is important to note in this context that the satellite temperature record is less than 40 years old. So when the climate cult and their media echo chambers claim things like hottest month or year “on record,” they are typically referring to one set of readings from a minuscule portion of a historical temperature record many thousands of years old.
They are deliberately deceptive to advance the political agenda of warmists, which is focused on controlling energy (and by extension your behavior), punishing you and your prosperity, and buying off third-world despots with your tax dollars to keep their people impoverished. That’show it has worked out so far at least.
These are scare tactics, no different than the repeated and false alarmism of an ice-free Arctic. Or the drama-queen imagery of the statue of liberty up to her waist in sea-water, an exaggeration that, while fanciful, can be tied to the tamer tied reality of the natural variability in the El Nino, La Nina cycle, though not on that imaginary scale.
Flipping to a La Nina, as we are now, is just as normal as the return of an El Nino. But there are differences from the 97/98 flip. The Atlantic has been entering it’s cold phase over the last few years. A cold Atlantic and cooling Pacific create different impacts on our weather.
The sun is also in a long quiet period. Sunspot activity correlates directly to both surface and atmospheric temperatures on earth. Less solar activity lends itself to cool phases on earth. Solar Cycle 24 is one of the quietest in nearly 200 years.
This combination of natural events can lead to significantly cooler trends. Like the Dalton or Maunder minimum, for example. And your governments, local, national and global, have spent the last 25 years scaring people out of believing in the value of abundant and affordable energy. Instead, we have spent billions on schemes to attack them while focusing on alternatives ill-suited to a decade or more of cooler temperatures when they come.
Actual experts, those not tied to government grants and agenda-drive climate-cult circle-jerks, suggest that we could begin to see a measurable effect from these factors beginning between 2017 and 2020. No guarantees. The climate is a crazy complex thing that has been fooling the politically motivated experts for decades now. We haven’t seen everything but based on what we have the 0.7% or less of the atmosphere over which the climate cult obsesses (Co2) is not enough to produce the promised catastrophes.
However long the cooling takes to start or however long it lasts, we’re not doomed. You don’t need bigger government or expensive studies, or higher taxes to correct it. It will correct itself. But you need to understand and accept that long-term cooling of even just a few degrees is far more dangerous than any similar amount of warming.
Not to fear. The climate cult will continue to milk the taxpayers for trillions regardless of what happens to the temperature. Just because they continue to be wrong does not mean they will stop frightening people to make a quick buck. Scaring people is how they make their living.
