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Because Calgary is cold? That's not remotely new. There was plenty of extreme weather before global warming, too. Edit: for those arguing otherwise: https://

Because Calgary is cold? That's not remotely new. There was plenty of extreme weather before global warming, too. Edit: for those arguing otherwise: https://www.currentresults.com/Yearly-Weather/Canada/AB/Calgary/extreme-annual-calgary-low-temperature.php https://www.currentresults.com/Yearly-Weather/Canada/AB/Calg...

aredox 3y ago
Because the Arctic sea ice melting means a more unstable polar vortex, which means very cold spells pushing very far south.
criddell 3y ago
Canada is one of the countries that could see a net benefit from global warming.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- josho 3y ago
  Not sure that’s true. It means droughts for the grain growing regions. It means extreme cold/warm cycles in the winter will kill off trees in the forests. It means more extreme cold days like this that puts stresses on their infrastructure (calgary also nearly had rolling blackouts last night).
  - criddell 3y ago
    I don’t really know either. I’m just echoing what I read here: https://www.moodysanalytics.com/-/media/article/2019/economic-implications-of-climate-change.pdf https://www.moodysanalytics.com/-/media/article/2019/economi...
    - josho 3y ago
      As I read that report it seems to conclude that the rich nations will benefit from climate change. Which I suppose may explain why those same nations have largely done nothing to address carbon emissions.
- voisin 3y ago
  We are having massive forest fires all across the country every summer, something I do not recall as a child. The west (everything west of Ontario) is in a massive drought. The east is getting tornados and flooding and the impacts of increasing hurricanes coming from the south.
  - COGlory 3y ago
    The forest fires are because you don't recall them as a child. Forests need to burn, that's the natural order of things for millions and millions of years. That's why redwoods are fire retardant. It's why eucalyptus trees need fire to grow. Only when us dumb humans started putting them out all the time did it become such a big problem. Now there's far more flammable material in a forest to burn than there would have been if we allowed periodic fires, so when they do occur, it's insane. Global warm is real and has real effect, but people need to stop attributing absolutely everything to it.
    - raydev 3y ago
      > The forest fires are because you don't recall them as a child. Forests need to burn, that's the natural order of things for millions and millions of years This doesn't apply to many of the wildfires farther north in Canada, because no lives there in the first place. Historically the year-round moisture has made the trees "fire retardant". Now they can experience thunderstorms and burn for weeks and cover NYC in a blanket of smoke.
- FredPret 3y ago
  I think the optimal tenperature for infrastructure would be something in the 20C’s. Much higher and tar starts to melt. When it goes to -20 and below, you need to invest in sanding and snow plowing trucks to make the roads less slippery. But when it gets to around 0, I suspect it’s actually the worst. Now you can use salt instead of sand & gravel. But you get many freeze-thaw cycles that wreck concrete and tarmac as liquid water seeps into places, then freeze & expand, etc. Toronto has this problem whereas Calgary does not. A little bit of warming might be bad for much of Canada’s infra!
- mardifoufs 3y ago
  Locally? Probably yes. but it would still need tons of infrastructure change to for example pipe water to the great plains to avoid water shortages etc. But I think we'd still feel the effects that it has on other parts of the world, making it much harder to actually see any benefits
- raydev 3y ago
  In terms of comfortable weather, I hope so, but I will add that there are millions of square kilometers of untouched forest that have rarely experienced dry spring/summers as we saw in 2023. Canada had multiple wildfires so far away from civilization that it was impossible to reasonably control, but due to wind patterns the smoke covered much of Ontario and the northeastern US, including NYC, for nearly 2 weeks. Not to mention the other wildfires further west that impacted other parts of the population. And there's a lot more forest to burn beyond that.
josho 3y ago
My understanding is climate change weakens the jetstream, which results in more frequent winds pushing cold air from the North Pole to the south, and pushing that cold air farther south. Remember a few years back when Texas froze? Climate change means that will happen much more frequently. So yes Calgary is cold. But this is a symptom of something much larger.
- COGlory 3y ago
  No, Calgary simply gets this cold, and has for the entire history of recorded temperatures. https://www.currentresults.com/Yearly-Weather/Canada/AB/Calgary/extreme-annual-calgary-low-temperature.php https://www.currentresults.com/Yearly-Weather/Canada/AB/Calg...
  - josho 3y ago
    That data of coldest days each year is not sufficient to draw any conclusions from. Yes, Calgary gets cold that's clearly not new. What is new, that from some quick google searches, this year they've had both record cold and record warm and record low snowfall and over the summer record fires. Which goes to my previous point that there is something larger going on.
- josho 3y ago
  > climate change weakens the jetstream... this is a symptom of something much larger. I don't like being downvoted when I'm right, so here are some sources for those doubting my comment. The cold in western Canada is from a Polar Vortex, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/polar-vortex-explainer-1.7082446 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/polar-vortex... Watch the video and they explain how polar vortex's occur from a breakdown in the usual jetstream and experiencing polar vortex's in el nino years is strange. And an article about the jetstream changing (becoming 'wavier') as a result of climate change, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B9780128215753000153 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B97801... So, yes, Calgary gets cold. But this year is also not normal.

aredox 3y ago

Because the Arctic sea ice melting means a more unstable polar vortex, which means very cold spells pushing very far south.

criddell 3y ago

Canada is one of the countries that could see a net benefit from global warming.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
josho 3y ago
Not sure that’s true. It means droughts for the grain growing regions. It means extreme cold/warm cycles in the winter will kill off trees in the forests. It means more extreme cold days like this that puts stresses on their infrastructure (calgary also nearly had rolling blackouts last night).
- criddell 3y ago
  I don’t really know either. I’m just echoing what I read here: https://www.moodysanalytics.com/-/media/article/2019/economic-implications-of-climate-change.pdf https://www.moodysanalytics.com/-/media/article/2019/economi...
  - josho 3y ago
    As I read that report it seems to conclude that the rich nations will benefit from climate change. Which I suppose may explain why those same nations have largely done nothing to address carbon emissions.
voisin 3y ago
We are having massive forest fires all across the country every summer, something I do not recall as a child. The west (everything west of Ontario) is in a massive drought. The east is getting tornados and flooding and the impacts of increasing hurricanes coming from the south.
- COGlory 3y ago
  The forest fires are because you don't recall them as a child. Forests need to burn, that's the natural order of things for millions and millions of years. That's why redwoods are fire retardant. It's why eucalyptus trees need fire to grow. Only when us dumb humans started putting them out all the time did it become such a big problem. Now there's far more flammable material in a forest to burn than there would have been if we allowed periodic fires, so when they do occur, it's insane. Global warm is real and has real effect, but people need to stop attributing absolutely everything to it.
  - raydev 3y ago
    > The forest fires are because you don't recall them as a child. Forests need to burn, that's the natural order of things for millions and millions of years This doesn't apply to many of the wildfires farther north in Canada, because no lives there in the first place. Historically the year-round moisture has made the trees "fire retardant". Now they can experience thunderstorms and burn for weeks and cover NYC in a blanket of smoke.
FredPret 3y ago
I think the optimal tenperature for infrastructure would be something in the 20C’s. Much higher and tar starts to melt. When it goes to -20 and below, you need to invest in sanding and snow plowing trucks to make the roads less slippery. But when it gets to around 0, I suspect it’s actually the worst. Now you can use salt instead of sand & gravel. But you get many freeze-thaw cycles that wreck concrete and tarmac as liquid water seeps into places, then freeze & expand, etc. Toronto has this problem whereas Calgary does not. A little bit of warming might be bad for much of Canada’s infra!
mardifoufs 3y ago
Locally? Probably yes. but it would still need tons of infrastructure change to for example pipe water to the great plains to avoid water shortages etc. But I think we'd still feel the effects that it has on other parts of the world, making it much harder to actually see any benefits
raydev 3y ago
In terms of comfortable weather, I hope so, but I will add that there are millions of square kilometers of untouched forest that have rarely experienced dry spring/summers as we saw in 2023. Canada had multiple wildfires so far away from civilization that it was impossible to reasonably control, but due to wind patterns the smoke covered much of Ontario and the northeastern US, including NYC, for nearly 2 weeks. Not to mention the other wildfires further west that impacted other parts of the population. And there's a lot more forest to burn beyond that.

josho 3y ago

My understanding is climate change weakens the jetstream, which results in more frequent winds pushing cold air from the North Pole to the south, and pushing that cold air farther south. Remember a few years back when Texas froze? Climate change means that will happen much more frequently. So yes Calgary is cold. But this is a symptom of something much larger.

COGlory 3y ago
No, Calgary simply gets this cold, and has for the entire history of recorded temperatures. https://www.currentresults.com/Yearly-Weather/Canada/AB/Calgary/extreme-annual-calgary-low-temperature.php https://www.currentresults.com/Yearly-Weather/Canada/AB/Calg...
- josho 3y ago
  That data of coldest days each year is not sufficient to draw any conclusions from. Yes, Calgary gets cold that's clearly not new. What is new, that from some quick google searches, this year they've had both record cold and record warm and record low snowfall and over the summer record fires. Which goes to my previous point that there is something larger going on.
josho 3y ago
> climate change weakens the jetstream... this is a symptom of something much larger. I don't like being downvoted when I'm right, so here are some sources for those doubting my comment. The cold in western Canada is from a Polar Vortex, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/polar-vortex-explainer-1.7082446 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/polar-vortex... Watch the video and they explain how polar vortex's occur from a breakdown in the usual jetstream and experiencing polar vortex's in el nino years is strange. And an article about the jetstream changing (becoming 'wavier') as a result of climate change, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B9780128215753000153 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B97801... So, yes, Calgary gets cold. But this year is also not normal.