Les Henry is a soil scientist and obviously a human caused climate change denier or sympathizer.
He has never published a peer reviewed climate change paper and never will.
It's not possible to draw conclusions about global climate change from one weather station on the prairies and he should know that as a scientist.
When they do soil science do they use Swift Current soils to draw conclusions about all the prairie soil types let alone global soils? LOL
Now lets hear what a climate scientist says that tells a different story than Henry spun:
https://www.producer.com/2020/02/data-from-sask-tells-compelling-climate-story/ https://www.producer.com/2020/02/data-from-sask-tells-compelling-climate-story/
Data from Sask. tells compelling climate story
When Virginia Wittrock speaks to farmers about climate trends in Saskatchewan, she tries to avoid the phrase “climate change.â€
The words are politically charged and can get in the way of rational discussions about the climate.
Instead, Wittrock prefers to let her data tell the story — data that’s been collected daily over the last 55 years at the Saskatchewan Research Council’s (SRC) Climate Reference Station in Saskatoon.
So what does the data say? Is Saskatoon’s climate different than it was 55 years ago?
Without a doubt, says Wittrock, a research scientist and climatologist who’s been working at the SRC for the past 31 years.
“Our winters are definitely getting warmer, our summer night-time temperatures are definitely getting warmer and summer precipitation seems to be getting more variable,†she says.
The average frost-free growing period is also getting longer.
In fact, SRC trendline data suggests the average frost-free growing period in Saskatoon has increased to nearly 140 days currently, up from about 106 days in the mid-1960s.
Wittrock describes the SRC’s climate reference station (CRS) as one of the most comprehensive weather data collection sites in the country.
It measures temperature, precipitation, solar radiation, wind speed, soil temperature, surface temperature, barometric pressure, humidity and snow cover several times a day at pre-determined intervals.
Over 55 years, it has generated a massive amount of data.
For example, SRC data suggests that average winter temperatures — both average highs and average lows — are increasing.
The trendline for average winter minimum temperatures has increased to about -16 C currently from nearly -22 C 55 years ago.
Over the same period, trendlines suggest that the average number of days each year with temperatures below -35 C has decreased to zero currently, down from nine previously, and that the average number of days annually with temperatures below -30 C has decreased to approximately 2.5 currently, down from 25 a year in the mid-1960s.
The trend toward warmer winters will continue in the coming decades and will result in new pest- and disease-related challenges, Wittrock says.
She points to the expansion of the tick populations throughout the province’s farming region as evidence that insect species are becoming more adept at surviving the Saskatchewan winter.
“The insects are going to overwinter a lot easier. We’re already seeing that,†she says.
The length of the frost-free growing season in Saskatoon is also increasing, and growing degree days during the growing season show a steadily upward-rising trendline.
Based on her data, cumulative growing degree days between May 1 and Sept. 30 have increased, on average, to nearly 1,700 currently from less than 1,500 in the mid-1960s, a trendline increase of roughly 13 percent.
That suggests that in the future, Saskatchewan farmers may be inclined to grow different crops that require more heat units, such as corn and soybeans.
Wittrock cautions however that annual and seasonal variabilities, both in temperature and precipitation, will continue to frustrate such efforts.
In fact, statistical evidence already suggests that Saskatoon is experiencing greater weather variability, and that extreme weather events are occurring more frequently than they have in the past.
The spring of 2019 was the driest spring ever recorded at the climate reference station, she says.
“We’ve also noticed more extreme summer time rain events — both floods and droughts — that are incredibly hard to forecast,†she adds.
He has never published a peer reviewed climate change paper and never will.
It's not possible to draw conclusions about global climate change from one weather station on the prairies and he should know that as a scientist.
When they do soil science do they use Swift Current soils to draw conclusions about all the prairie soil types let alone global soils? LOL
Now lets hear what a climate scientist says that tells a different story than Henry spun:
https://www.producer.com/2020/02/data-from-sask-tells-compelling-climate-story/ https://www.producer.com/2020/02/data-from-sask-tells-compelling-climate-story/
Data from Sask. tells compelling climate story
When Virginia Wittrock speaks to farmers about climate trends in Saskatchewan, she tries to avoid the phrase “climate change.â€
The words are politically charged and can get in the way of rational discussions about the climate.
Instead, Wittrock prefers to let her data tell the story — data that’s been collected daily over the last 55 years at the Saskatchewan Research Council’s (SRC) Climate Reference Station in Saskatoon.
So what does the data say? Is Saskatoon’s climate different than it was 55 years ago?
Without a doubt, says Wittrock, a research scientist and climatologist who’s been working at the SRC for the past 31 years.
“Our winters are definitely getting warmer, our summer night-time temperatures are definitely getting warmer and summer precipitation seems to be getting more variable,†she says.
The average frost-free growing period is also getting longer.
In fact, SRC trendline data suggests the average frost-free growing period in Saskatoon has increased to nearly 140 days currently, up from about 106 days in the mid-1960s.
Wittrock describes the SRC’s climate reference station (CRS) as one of the most comprehensive weather data collection sites in the country.
It measures temperature, precipitation, solar radiation, wind speed, soil temperature, surface temperature, barometric pressure, humidity and snow cover several times a day at pre-determined intervals.
Over 55 years, it has generated a massive amount of data.
For example, SRC data suggests that average winter temperatures — both average highs and average lows — are increasing.
The trendline for average winter minimum temperatures has increased to about -16 C currently from nearly -22 C 55 years ago.
Over the same period, trendlines suggest that the average number of days each year with temperatures below -35 C has decreased to zero currently, down from nine previously, and that the average number of days annually with temperatures below -30 C has decreased to approximately 2.5 currently, down from 25 a year in the mid-1960s.
The trend toward warmer winters will continue in the coming decades and will result in new pest- and disease-related challenges, Wittrock says.
She points to the expansion of the tick populations throughout the province’s farming region as evidence that insect species are becoming more adept at surviving the Saskatchewan winter.
“The insects are going to overwinter a lot easier. We’re already seeing that,†she says.
The length of the frost-free growing season in Saskatoon is also increasing, and growing degree days during the growing season show a steadily upward-rising trendline.
Based on her data, cumulative growing degree days between May 1 and Sept. 30 have increased, on average, to nearly 1,700 currently from less than 1,500 in the mid-1960s, a trendline increase of roughly 13 percent.
That suggests that in the future, Saskatchewan farmers may be inclined to grow different crops that require more heat units, such as corn and soybeans.
Wittrock cautions however that annual and seasonal variabilities, both in temperature and precipitation, will continue to frustrate such efforts.
In fact, statistical evidence already suggests that Saskatoon is experiencing greater weather variability, and that extreme weather events are occurring more frequently than they have in the past.
The spring of 2019 was the driest spring ever recorded at the climate reference station, she says.
“We’ve also noticed more extreme summer time rain events — both floods and droughts — that are incredibly hard to forecast,†she adds.
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