You're getting warm!

Actually, I just walked outside ... I'm getting cold! I, for one, wouldn't mind some global warming! Winter should be in the 50s!

Barbarian,



I don't know anything about the SE. But the West can't GET any drier! It isn't called a desert for nothing!

Which is just as I like it when I lived there. Down with rain! Down with snow!

(I seriously used to think that the verse which states that rain falls on the just and the unjust meant: "bad things happen to both good and bad people"!!!)

Since the rapture will be happening in 2012, and the millennium will only last for a thousand years, and then the earth will be destroyed, who cares?!?

Since the rapture will be happening in 2012, and the millennium will only last for a thousand years, and then the earth will be destroyed, who cares?!?

(Barbarian chuckles)

God has a word on that...
http://www.apologetics.com/forums/ubbthr...sted=1256391573
Luke 12:16 And he spoke a similitude to them, saying: The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. 17 And he thought within himself, saying: What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 18 And he said: This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and will build greater; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul: Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy rest; eat, drink, make good cheer. 20 But God said to him: Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?

Actually, it can. And has. The dust bowl was the result of people assuming unusually wet conditions in the Great Plains were permanent. When it return to it's usual state, farming ruined vast areas. Places where dry land farming is possible will become grazing land, and grazing land will become arid.



Did I mention the Ogalala aquifer, which provides water to much of the region is declining rapidly? And it recharges on geological time scales.



Rain has some useful aspects.

Barbarian,



The wet conditions which exist in the West, however, are completely manmade as a result of irrigation, drawing water from sources far away (particularly the Colorado River, which has its water source in the Rocky Mountains). Water rights over this river is the most contentious political issue between the southwestern states. Any Western farmer (at least, southwestern farmer) who depends on rain will fail after a single season.



I just realized -- we may have a very different definition of "west"!!! To me, Western states are those states which were taken from Mexico in the Mexican-American War (Utah, Nevada, California, Arizona, and New Mexico). Most of the states which derive their water from the Oqualala aquifer I would term "mid-western states", which is composed of all states west of the Mississippi which were part of the Louisiana Purchase.



So I've heard. I still have my doubts!!!

I've told God that he can make it rain any day he wants from 2:00-5:00 in the morning. He hasn't begun to follow my advice yet, however!

According to wikipedia, the Oqualala acquifier is drying up due to overpumping of water, at a rate greater that the input of water from the Colorado River. While manmade, this would not be the result of global warming.

All the water in the area comes from precipitation. The rivers depend on snowmelt. And that will become less and less, as the climate dries. Even the aquifer water is from ancient snowmelts and rain. And it's being drawn out at a rate that will empty it in a few decades, in most places.



Roughly, I'm talking about the Great Plains. And yes, it can get drier the far west as well. The west coast, west of the mountains will not get drier, but east of the mountains, a rise in temperature will cause serious droughts. If you live on the coast, it's likely the only real concern is more severe storms, bigger El Ninos, etc.

We're seeing one consequence in the mountains now. When the last ice age ended, there were many relict ecosystems which moved to higher elevations, where an arctic climate still exists. Now, those populations are in trouble as warmer climate is moving into higher elevations. Some extinctions will be inevitable. And of course, less snow, which is a more immediate concern for humans.

Incidentally, I live in Dallas, which might get wetter as the climate warms. If prevailing winds in late summer move to the east, we'll get wind from the Gulf instead of from Northern Mexico. And more rain would be the result.

That's why they call it "climate change"; things won't be the same everywhere.

Right. Just pointing out that the fallback source is also in trouble.