It seems some people didn't believe the photos of the December snow in the Sahara.  Photographs were thought to be faked.
Even video didn't convince the skeptics.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

(originally this video was posted as "proof" of snow in the Sahara https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qstrdNPir_4)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKb4LB8Pf2Q

Yes, even Snopes had to get in on it.

http://www.snopes.com/snowfall-in-the-sahara/

They used Gizmodo as a source

The last major snowfall--if it can be called that--to hit Ain Sefra was in February 1979 when it snowed for a whopping 30 minutes. Subsequent dustings of snow also appeared in 2005 and 2012.

http://gizmodo.com/freak-snowfall-in-the-sahara-looks-unreal-1790320022

CNN (and others) reported the story as Snow falls in Sahara for first time in 37 years

It's almost all complete bullshit.

Then a month later, a meter of snow hits the same region. Sahara desert hit by biggest snowfall in living memory

http://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/sahara-desert-hit-by-a-mighty-snowfall-a-meter-thick-snow-looks-nothing-short-of-a-paradise-270005.html

A meter of snow.  Where it almost never snows.  Two snow events in a month.  (the temperature for the region on average about 74F this time of year)

The warmers see it as "a freak event", while the ice agers see it as evidence of the new ice age starting.

The problem is, it snowed in 2005, 2012, 2015, 2016 and now 2017.  In the Sahara desert.

How can everybody be so fucking stupid?  How can CNN and Gizmodo and even Snopes all be so fucking wrong about something that is so easy to check?

It's just one more reason I view almost everything, even TV news, as bullshit, served up to the masses with a heaping side order of advertising and more bullshit.

It snowed way more in 2005.  NASA even featured it on their Earth Observatory site.

Showing with scientific data the snow extent, which was massive compared to the 2017 snow event.



Here's an upload of the 2005 snow, maybe if NASA gets around to posting a high res image of the latest snow they can be compared.



http://talkrational.org/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=806.0;attach=527;image

It snowed for two days in 2005
http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=73130

The 2012 snow in the same areas was also quite a story, which even shows up on Wikipedia.

In the exact same town even, ,Ain Sefra: where it snowed on 4-6, 8 February 2012

Towns were covered in snow for weeks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_2012_European_cold_wave#Africa

The 2012 snow was not a "light dusting", you fucking idiots.

https://alizul2.blogspot.de/2012/01/snow-in-sahara-desert.html?m=1

It's why I said "It's almost all complete bullshit." up above.

There are Youtube videos and photos of all of, including the 2015 snow event.

So instead of "a rare freak occurrence", which is what the idiots actually "know" is true, instead of "the first snow since 1979", which the media spouted in December 2016, the story is completely different.

Remember Snopes claims "Subsequent dustings of snow also appeared in 2005 ".  The snowfall that paralyzed the region, buried towns for weeks, is described as "a light dusting".  (I will note the 2017 meter snowfall was not described that way.)

This is the light dusting.

http://talkrational.org/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=806.0;attach=527;image

It snowed for two days. 

How can these idiots be so wrong?  Over and over, almost always, they are wrong.

And pretty much when you find out they are, nobody actually gives a fuck

I don't believe that video because that's clearly a Saguaro Cactus, which isn't found anywhere near the Sahara.

Wrong video.  I edited.  (it was from the US of all things)

Even NPR just repeats the idiocy.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/12/22/506583885/rare-snowfall-blankets-dunes-in-the-sahara

According to Gizmodo, the last "major" snowfall in Ain Sefra was in February 1979, when it snowed for all of half an hour.

These people don't know how to use Google.  Or they are deliberately being dishonest.  (I assume idiocy, it's more common)

Either way, not one single news outlet or "cool" site online presented the facts, much less anything close to the whole story.  I mean, the snow in that exact same town is on Wikipedia even.  How hard is it to check?  (it took me less than two minutes to find all this)

It's a conspiracy of morons.

Bullshit, it's everywhere.

I don't believe that video because that's clearly a Saguaro Cactus, which isn't found anywhere near the Sahara.

See?  You knew right away that video (which was labeled as the Sahara) was bullshit.  You knew it couldn't be true. (the later scenes of American homes being shoveled out was also a clue)

It wasn't the Sahara, and you damn well knew it.  That's exactly how you should feel, when faced with obvious bullshit.

Well we've all learned that the media are among the most dishonest human beings on earth, so...

What the media did not tell you about the December 2016 snow storm, was how many people died, and how horrific it was in the mountains there.

Same for 2005, 2012, 2015, and of course you won't see any reporters covering the 2017 snow event either.

You also can't know it started snowing in the Sahara in November.  Even when it's visible on the satellite photos.  Not a little snow either, a fuckton of snow.

Some of the snow actually shows up on Rutgers snow lab images.

http://climate.rutgers.edu/snowcover/chart_daily.php?ui_year=2012&ui_day=36&ui_set=0

For 5 days.

2005

http://climate.rutgers.edu/snowcover/chart_daily.php?ui_year=2005&ui_day=28&ui_set=0

2017

http://climate.rutgers.edu/snowcover/chart_daily.php?ui_year=2017&ui_day=21&ui_set=0

But the heavy and extensive snow from 2016 doesn't shown up there at all.

The 2005 extreme event shows up once
http://climate.rutgers.edu/snowcover/chart_daily.php?ui_year=2005&ui_day=28&ui_set=2

Well we've all learned that the media are among the most dishonest human beings on earth, so...

Yes?  You wanted to say something?

Either way, not one single news outlet or "cool" site online presented the facts, much less anything close to the whole story.

Really?

http://metro.co.uk/2017/01/21/sahara-desert-hit-by-biggest-snowfall-in-living-memory-6395965/
http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/snow/88668519/Freak-weather-leaves-Sahara-Desert-covered-in-one-metre-of-snow
http://www.travelerstoday.com/articles/35790/20170122/ain-sefras-first-snowfall-in-37-years-turned-massive-dunes-into-sledging-paradise.htm


Well here's Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2016/12/30/first-sahara-desert-snow-37-years-captured-photographer/#76080f656cd5

Or are you saying it didn't make mainstream US news (like CNN or the NY Times)?

I am very clear in what I type out. 

The 2012 snow in the same areas was also quite a story, which even shows up on Wikipedia.

In the exact same town even, ,Ain Sefra: where it snowed on 4-6, 8 February 2012

Towns were covered in snow for weeks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_2012_European_cold_wave#Africa

The 2012 snow was not a "light dusting", you fucking idiots.

Here's a screen shot, since you can't seem to follow a link.



The media reports this (and even Snopes repeated it) as the first snow since 1979.

Then there was the 2005 snow.  They simply are peddling bullshit.

'Everyone was stunned': Snow falls in Sahara desert town for first time in 37 years

That's just wrong.  It is not true.

And either they are idiots, or liars, I don't know which is worse.  How hard is it to check these things out?

NASA still has the 2005 page up, and the 2012 snow story is on NEXUS/LEXUS

Europe shivers while snow hits Sahara desert for first time in 30 years

2012

http://metro.co.uk/2012/02/10/europe-shivers-while-snow-hits-sahara-desert-for-first-time-in-30-years-314912/#ixzz4WbaRRwJT

It's like nobody bothers to check anything. 

the only thing you should bother with is go fuck yourself

I got your back FX:


Link

Thanks Bart

I don't even care enough to blog about it.

Facts are the last thing that will matter.

FX is against wire feeds and editorial laziness.

I can't wait until FX stops believing what the lying media tells him about drinking bleach

2005
Winter weather descended on Northern Africa on January 26 and 27, 2005, leaving parts of Algeria and Morroco white with snow.

2012
Europe shivers while snow hits Sahara desert for first time in 30 years

2013
It snowed in the Sahara

2015
Snowfall was recorded in the Sahara Desert for the first time in 37 years -- and the satellite imagery is gorgeous

2016
First Sahara desert snow in 40 years captured in photographs

2017
The Sahara Desert blanketed by SNOW as a metre of the white stuff covers sand dunes
The freak snowfall was the biggest in living memory

1)  Deserts can be cold on winter nights.  "Sahara" isn't automatically hot.

2)  As more energy is dumped into the system the average warms but you also increase the variability.  Thus more extreme weather events of all types, including cold, are to be expected.

1)  Deserts can be cold on winter nights.  "Sahara" isn't automatically hot.

2)  As more energy is dumped into the system the average warms but you also increase the variability.  Thus more extreme weather events of all types, including cold, are to be expected.

3) Sometimes news reports are inaccurate.

I can't wait until FX stops believing what the lying media tells him about drinking bleach

I agree that CNN is not a reliable scientific journal.

FX is against wire feeds and editorial laziness.

Of course, but isn't everyone? Or do you like lazy false reporting?

What I really want to fuck up is the deceptions, on all sides.  From Trump to Trenberth, the paltering deceptions and the deliberate commissions and omissions and the entire cloud of fuckhead bullshit that rains down on us like a gentle snow, or a blizzard at times.

A constant buildup of horseshit that is so pernicious we tend to just take it for granted, even when the bottom falls out of the economy or the elderly or children die in their homes, because somebody was full of shit, and it's just fucking bullshit.

I don't take it personally, because anyone at the top of the frenzied foodchain learned long ago to just go along with the bullshit, because you can't reach the top telling the truth, you get murdered long before you become one of the elite newscasters or politicians with your snout firmly in the government or corporate trough.



The rare moments where you actually see it is when the few open their eyes and minds and realize, "Hey!  There is some serious bullshit going on right there".

You can probably see it clearly when it comes to Trump and friends, but in other arenas it's not as easy to spot.

But when every news outlet and the online sources (like Snopes or Gizmoda) repeat the same bullshit over and over, then move on to the next line of crap, you know things have gone tits up for honesty and facts.

My personal moment of knowing, that sure knowing, that there is something seriously, and I mean seriously wrong with what we are told, was simple and direct.


http://w2.weather.gov/climate/xmacis.php?wfo=lwx

Feb 5-5, and Feb 9-10 2010 the most snow ever recorded, ever experienced, happened in DC, and surrounding areas, the biggest fucking snow storms to ever happen, back to back, that crippled the US Capital, shut down the government (and almost everything else), and they had to shut down the US postal service for the first time in history. Nothing was moving, not trains, not the highways, nothing.  It was a complete disaster, there was simply no way to clear the snow, emergency rescue shut down, and the most heroic efforts were made to fight fires, because you can't just not do anything when a power pole is burning, and the grid is down.

I know from experience because it happened in my view, they got a lane through to reach the burning power lines and stopped the fire and restored power, in the middle of the blizzard, at night, God bless America and all that.  6 hours later and they couldn't have get through.They also managed to save my neighbor before the roads became impossible, fire rescue with their own plows made it just in time. (the road wouldn't be cleared for the next 10 days.

So what did I see that made me so sure there was absolute bullshit at work?

The weather news.  There's the DC crew, they had to spend the night in the newsroom, nobody could leave.  They are reporting the news, and the weather guy reads the lines, "This blizzard didn't even make the top ten, with only 10.8 inches of snow".

The two other anchors, with out time to think, their heads snapped over to him, and they both spoke (off script), because fuck, they all knew that outside there was 4 or 5 feet of snow making it impossible to go anywhere.  (the plowed areas had pile ten feet high, before they couldn't plow anymore)

Their faces were all like "What the fuck?", it was so obvious.  Then the weather guy said they had to use the "official" totals because that's how it works, you pick one place and that's where the records come from, and you could see even the weather guy wasn't happy reading the script, because he knew it was total bullshit.

And it really was.

It's on record, here it is.

http://w2.weather.gov/climate/xmacis.php?wfo=lwx

Here it is again

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_9%E2%80%9310,_2010_North_American_blizzard

So according to the official records there was only a snow depth of 21 inches, when the reality, which everybody knew was reality, was there was 45 to 60 inches of snow outside.  (some places even more)

The snow came down in heavy bands, so while the average might be 36 inches (snow depth), some places were just buried.  But nobody got 10 inches in the second blizzard.  And everybody got more than 24 inches in the first (the official total was 17.8 )

So while the official story was 21 inches of snow depth when it was all over,the reality was obvious, especially since nobody was going anywhere.  It truly was Snowmageddon , and it was before the Weather channel started naming winter storms.

Since there was two of them, back to back, the second one was referred to as "Snowpocalypse", which it certainly was. 

It wasn't just the snow of course, it was fucking cold.  While the official record is 16F after the first blizzard, it was around 8 in the burbs.  Buried in snow, freezing our asses off (the pipes bursting) no power, no rescue coming, and I have my really old infirm relative to try and save. But no snowshoes, no snowmobile, and no way to get him to safety.  Frank and I were going to try, but fuck, it was looking grim.

Thank God they got the fire out, and the power restored.  Or there would have been possible death.  The short trip down the block to friends with a wood burning stove wasn't going to happen in the middle of the blizzard.  Not for the beloved elder.

Was the bullshit reporting intentional?  Nope.  He had to report the official record, he couldn't go off script (or he would be unemployed), and the other anchors ,let it drop of course.

Of course the supreme irony was that at this same time, there was a global warming conference scheduled in DC, which was cancelled because nobody could get to it.

Look FX, I'm helping you my good friend:



Link

It won't make any difference.  The truth is the last thing people want to hear.