Haven't had one of these in a while

 

Just in time for wildfire season, husband and wife team at Purdue University cook up wacky theory of instant dinosaur extinction from trapped asteroid blast heat

We are given to believe that there was an intense heat release which killed off most of the big animals globally, but that it lasted just hours, and then nuclear winter followed immediately in the days and weeks to follow to finish off the rest of the planet from cold and starvation.

Unfortunately for the theory temperature at the time of the extinction is unremarkable.

Meanwhile our betters want us to think that Odysseus felt  g u i l t y and thought his age was  d o o m e d.

None of this is proper summer entertainment, dammit. 

 

 

 

 

Updated temperature graphs for Grand Rapids, MI

Trend for lowest minimum temperature is still down, despite 30 years of moderating lows.

Trend for highest maximum temperature is still down. 

Trend for average temperature is up about 1.0 degree F in 125+ years. The graph is probably the best one for showing the colder years of the mid-20th century flanked by the warmer periods before and after.  

Trend for cooling degree days is basically flat.

Trend for heating degree days is down, about 450 HDD or 6.5% over 120 years. Again, the last 30 years have been trending milder.

As always, click on the graphs to enlarge. 

 

Nothing good ever came out of Sweden

 

Robert Kagan: Trump seems to hope to slip away without Americans noticing the magnitude of this defeat

Which is exactly what Trump did a year ago in the Red Sea.

Beyond the near term endgame Kagan describes, and the isolation of Israel in particular, Trump's cowardice, weakness, and incompetence will have the unintended consequence of reinvigorating the climate and green energy madness which has already weakened the West. 

From the story here: 

... In a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday, Trump reportedly explained that the United States was negotiating a “letter of intent” with Iran that would “formally end the war and launch a 30-day period of negotiations” on Iran’s nuclear program and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The purpose and effect of such an agreement should be clear: The United States is walking away from the crisis.

... Trump has blinked many times in the confrontation with Iran—ever since March 18, when Israel attacked the Pars gas field and Iran retaliated with a strike against Qatar’s most important natural-gas-production facility. Trump then called for a halt on U.S. and Israeli targeting of Iran’s energy infrastructure, and the war effectively ended. 

... [Iran's] terms for a settlement are those of a victor: They demand war reparations, no limits on uranium enrichment, recognized control of the strait, and an end to sanctions. For Trump to respond to this defiance by now calling for another 30 days of cease-fire and talks is a tacit admission of defeat.

... with 30 more days to heal, rearm, and fill its coffers with tolls, Iran will be a more formidable adversary. In 30 days, moreover, the new Iranian strait regime may already be firmly in place. As the Institute for the Study of War reports, Iran has been using the cease-fire period [since April 7] to “normalize” its control over the strait by “compelling oil-importing countries” to establish transit agreements with Tehran and charging fees on vessels from nations without such deals.

... Now that Trump has made clear he has no intention of fighting to reopen the strait, the stampede to get good terms with Tehran will begin. 

... By the end of 30 days, most of the world will have a stake in the new arrangement and will oppose any resumption of hostilities, even in the unlikely event that Trump wanted to go back to war. Trump no doubt hopes that he can slip away without Americans noticing the magnitude of this defeat.

... The president may also hope that he can change the subject by launching another military operation, this time against the government in Cuba. ...

Through yesterday, KGRR Michigan precipitation is 7.03 inches above normal for 2026 year to date

 Wish the rest of you could have some of it. Our rivers are flooding.

 

 

With seven of twelve periods complete in the current weak La Nina year and an average anomaly of -0.7985714 to date, the experts on X are predicting a Super El Nino based on a model

 🤣

New York firewood supplier sold face cord equivalents, 8'x4'x16", for $493 during recent winter cold snap

 Shivering Americans Snap Up Firewood as Winter Grinds On...

 ... On Jan. 24, the day before a winter storm buried much of the Northeast in snow, Woodbourne Firewood had its highest-grossing sales day in the history of the company, which was started in New York in 2022, said Mr. Heby, 35, the owner. He said the company sold seven full cords of wood, units that are eight feet long, four feet tall and four feet deep, enough to fill a tractor-trailer and generating $10,356 in revenue in one day. ... Grahm Leitner, 48, a logging contractor and forester from Waterbury, Vt., said the number of days spent logging in a given year is about half of what it was in the 1980s, especially because of climate change. ...

 

The U.S. state capitalist EV boondoggle comes to an end, shape-shifting automakers take well-deserved $50 billion hit

 

 Detroit Automakers Take $50 Billion Hit as EV Bubble Bursts

... Following years of investments into EV technology, the Detroit Big Three ... have announced more than $50 billion in combined write-downs.

EV sales fell more than 30% in the fourth quarter, after a $7,500 federal tax credit that had juiced U.S. sales expired in September. ... 

Automakers’ retreats and massive write-downs have come as Republican lawmakers abolished a lucrative federal tax credit for EVs last fall, while also doing away with federal fuel-efficiency mandates. Even with federal support, EV demand was below expectations. ...

Ford Motor blames tariff timing and fires at an aluminum plant for earnings miss when it was its electric vehicle business

 

Ford reports worst quarterly earnings miss in four years, guides for better 2026

 

... On an unadjusted basis, the company’s net loss of $8.2 billion last year was its largest since the Great Recession in 2008, according to FactSet. That included $15.5 billion in special charges during the fourth quarter largely related to a pre-announced pullback in its all-electric vehicle plans.

Automakers commonly exclude “special items” or one-time charges from their adjusted financial results to provide investors with a clearer picture of their core, ongoing business operations.

Ford reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $11.1 billion, or a loss of $2.77 per share, compared with net income of $1.8 billion, or 45 cents per share, in the same period in 2024. Adjusted for the one-time charges, the company reported earnings of 13 cents per share.

 

Monthly mean average temperature in Grand Rapids, Michigan has been below normal for three consecutive months

 

Actual monthly mean average temperature in Grand Rapids vs. average monthly mean since 1892:

November 2025: 38.7 F vs. 39.1

December 2025: 26.0 F vs. 28.5

January 2026: 20.2 F vs. 23.8

Totals: 84.9 vs. 91.4 = -6.5 degrees F or 7.1% colder.

 

On an annual basis just a handful of years since 1999 have been at or lower than average temperature of 48.1 F:

2000 48.1

2003 46.8

2009 48.0

2014 46.5.

 

 

Snowfall in 2025-2026 to date:

 

66.2 inches vs. 41.6 normal to date. Annual mean = 66.8 inches. 

Relying on electricity for heat seems kinda dumb

 

Thank you, Lake Michigan