The Ice Age Cometh! Forget Global Warming!

This may be related to the bear stories but, a friend of mine had said that he knew a few people who hunted moose and they had noticed that the moose have a LOT more body fat on them this year. According to the hunters this is a good indication that this winter will be long and cold.
The bears and moose are probably as equipped as some cows, as this example shows, though it is not from this season:
Can Animals Predict the Weather?
Farmers in the Midwestern U.S., who recently experienced the coldest weather in a generation, are saying they knew the extreme weather was coming before it was officially predicted. This foresight was not due to meteorology, but to the way their animals were behaving.

Reuters spoke with Deanna Brennecke, an Iowa cow-calf farmer who said she knew the cold was coming days before because of the behavior of her cattle. They were eating far more feed than usual, putting on weight to help keep warm before temperatures plummeted.

“They were meeting us at the gate, filling themselves full, and we just knew,” said Brennecke.
Below are more thoughts on what one may be able to learn from observing nature in relations to changes of the weather and climate.

When I enter a forest for a brisk walk, the birds and animals pick up the disturbance and even warn each other. It is known that plants can react to people, animals, or insects harming them. Likely, there will be a lot we do not know or notice about the communications that take place in nature and within nature. If one took a really large perspective, animals also have protein antennas. Understood in this way, a group of cattle might have more antenna power than just one member of the herd. Maybe the species and its family, genetically speaking, have still more.

It could also be that the animals have system sensors for survival. Our mobile phones for instance have several, and some are used or integrated into other apps in ways that make them invisible. Birds and animals have senses and sensors too. We have discovered that some species can orient themselves along long migration routes. Are there still more abilities, more difficult for us to discover, that are rarely used or noticed, but which are also included in the system of some members?

While one can think of birds, animals and nature in general reacting to changes in their environment whether local or cosmic, if the future is open, wouldn't there sometimes be more than one trend? How long in advance would some animals or some groups of animals be able to pick up a trend? And if one says the Canadian moose is fatter on average this year in some areas, is it more than a reaction to the short-term prospects? Still they are tendencies interpreted and attributed a meaning. The interpretations of such signs in terms of weather leads to the ancient ways of understanding meteorology and augury. The Wiki about meteorology mentions:
Early attempts at predicting weather were often related to prophecy and divining, and were sometimes based on astrological ideas.​
The Wiki on augury, considered as a Roman religious practice, describes various types:
ex caelō [from the sky]This auspice involved the observation of thunder and lightning and was often seen as the most important auspice.[15] Whenever an augur reported that Jupiter had sent down thunder and lightning, no comitia (a gathering deemed to represent the entire Roman population) could be held.
And add to this ex avibus, from birds, ex quadrupedibus [from quadrupeds], ex dīrīs [from portents]. These auspice signs are in two groups:
There were two classifications of auspice signs, impetrative (impetrativa, sought or requested) and oblative (oblativa, unsought or offered). Signs that fall under the category of impetrativa were signs that resulted due to the actions performed by the augur during the reading of the auspice.[13] The other category of signs, oblativa, were momentous events which occurred unexpectedly, while the magistrate was either taking auspices or participating in public debate.[13]Ex Caelo ("from the sky") signs of thunder and lightning or other natural phenomena, would be considered an "offered" sign. Unless the magistrate was accompanied by an augur it was up to them to decide whether or not the “offered” sign was significant.[13]
Being familiar with the idea of augury, one can even wonder if signs of an approaching ice age would show up as extra appetite among some animals preparing for a cold winter? The millions of mammoth, enjoying the sunshine and chewing flowers and herbs prior to their flash freeze, 13000 years ago, probably went about their business as usual.

Even if the mammoths died suddenly, maybe it was as it should be. Moving to philosophical point of view, one can think of these quotes from the New International Version of the Bible regarding "sparrow" which certainly is a much smaller than a mammoth:
Psalm 84:3 Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young— a place near your altar, Lord Almighty, my King and my God.
Luke 12:6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Luke 12:7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
And "hour":
Ecclesiastes 9:12 Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so people are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.
Mark 13 The Day and Hour Unknown
32 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard! Be alert[e]! You do not know when that time will come. 34 It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.

35 “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”
In the following chapter the "hour" comes up again:
Mark 14 Gethsemane
32 They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 34 “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”

35 Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. 36 “Abba,[f] Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

37 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,” he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour? 38 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

39 Once more he went away and prayed the same thing. 40 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him.

41 Returning the third time, he said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 42 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”
A reader of cards may do a spread with a question in mind and pick up ideas from the images that show up. A mere player of cards would look at the selection and see random cards. Is it similar with some of the more subtle changes that precede sudden, drastic and dramatic changes of the Earth environment prior to the onset: subtle changes will be denied until a denial is no longer relevant. For a parallel, what happened prior to March 2020 that heralded a change of the political climate? If someone had stood up in December 2020 and told about the world 12 months from then, 15 months from then, 18 months from then 21 months from then, ... what would people have thought?

In the process of writing this post, I learned about possible sources of information for the future: World Weather Information Service. There is a world map and when you zoom in, you can click the local forecast which has a link to the local service. Later in the season, these services might be helpful with ice warnings.
There is also a severe weather page: Severe Weather Information Centre which has an upcoming feature, at present in beta, that highlights all the areas of the globe subject to warnings.
 
The Biological Laws of Nature and the interconnected systems we biologically share with the animal kingdom on this Earth is a fascinating yet underestimated study, in our "modern age".
Birds and animals have senses and sensors too. We have discovered that some species can orient themselves along long migration routes. Are there still more abilities, more difficult for us to discover, that are rarely used or noticed, but which are also included in the system of some members?
Oh, yes! Infinite more abilities, in my opinion.
The discovery and usage of these abilities is only as difficult as the task of dumping most of the installed "belief" programs of human superiority and that Man is above/outside of, and in control of nature!
Modern "science" is still calling a majority of our non-coding DNA "artifacts and junk", so it becomes an individual quest.
Nature is and economist, and does not make or allow junk, everything has a purpose on this planet, or, so I have learned.
While one can think of birds, animals and nature in general reacting to changes in their environment whether local or cosmic, if the future is open, wouldn't there sometimes be more than one trend?
I would consider it much more than a "trend", more of a deep and abiding instinctive mandate, felt from the very Earth and generated by the cosmos, picked up by living DNA antenna.
Perhaps the "Future is open" via the conscious actions taken after the conscious choices are made on what is seen, felt, realized and acted upon?

How long in advance would some animals or some groups of animals be able to pick up a trend? And if one says the Canadian moose is fatter on average this year in some areas, is it more than a reaction to the short-term prospects?

I remember a lot of stuff that my maternal grandfather talked about.
He was a walking compendium of natural knowledge, and he had spoke with a gentle laid back Oklahoma accent, the old school cowboy archetype in real life.

His Cherokee mother, my Great Grandmother, taught him the signs of animal behavior that she had learned from her elders.
He did talk about the fat content of the moose and deer harvested in the fall hunt, in Northern Alberta, although winters were always harsh there, some were harsher than others, and he insisted that the "bone signs" in the foraging animals were always more accurate.
He maintained that the thickness in the leg bones was more important that how fat an animal was, since a very lush and productive summer season always resulted in "fatter animals everywhere".

I was pleasantly surprised to see this on the local Canadian Weather Network last month:

"Jenna Bower is an interpreter at the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre, in the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada and while we were touring the grounds, we spotted a deer grazing for food.
[...]
But that is not all the Osoyoos Indian Band learns from the deer.

“When we hunt the deer, we know by just the bones what kind of winter we are going to have,” says Bower.
How, you might ask? According to Bower, it is all about the thickness of the bone marrow.

“When you look at the marrow, and the marrow is really thin and the bone is really thick, then you know it is going to be a really harsh winter because Mother Nature is preparing the animal for the winter that’s to come. If it is a thinner bone with thicker marrow, then you know the winter is going to be fine.”

 
All of these animal signs remind me of the book "The Sixth Winter" that some of us read a few years ago.


Some time in the year future the next Ice Age will be triggered off. It could happen in a thousand years' time, or in a century from now.

Or it could, quite literally, happen next winter. This book is fiction only because the events described have not yet happened. But it is not science fiction because all the science in the book is fact. When the year arrives that we see the sixth winter resembling 1792 within the space of a decade or so, then the Ice Age will be with us in a matter of weeks - and it will develop very much as described here.

Read the blurb about the author, John Gribben.
 

Full #soleil on the #France this Thursday before a change of weather ... and the last images of the #ouragan#Pamela which touched part of the #Mexique these last hours. Good Thursday !@BFMTV #météo

The next night will be calm and cold, in a mass of dry air. Radiative conditions, favorable to low minimum temperatures. No record expected for the period, but probably an aggregate minimum temperature below 5 ° C, the first since May 3.

 
An unusual choice of words:
All of these animal signs remind me of the book "The Sixth Winter" that some of us read a few years ago.

Some time in the year future the next Ice Age will be triggered off. It could happen in a thousand years' time, or in a century from now.


Read the blurb about the author, John Gribben.
Some time in the year future </>Some time in the near future?
 
One quite startling difference I noticed in the years spring, summer and autumn was the lack of flies. All spring/summer I hardly saw/noticed any flesh flies of any size or description, while I saw/noticed no fruit flies at all the whole year. It was only in the beginning to mid-autumn that I noticed very, very few flesh flies appearing all of a sudden. It might not be true, but the number of flies I saw this year can probably be counted in one hand, at most!

I don't know if that was noticed in other places on the globe too, but I don't think I can remember ever not seeing many flies of any description flying around, especially in summer. Anyone else noticed that?
 
Something grabbed my attention in this 4 days animation of the warm/cold temperatures : look the bottom, or bottom-right for instance, Saudi Arabia, and see how the heat pulses ... it's like if ... well, i had in mind someting like "earth is breathing", it's once a day and it's easily explainable because the earth faces the sun, which makes temperatures raising. This remains noticable, and when you compare with the cold waves coming from the north, there's no such "heartbeat" phenomenom. The difference of "acting" (if i can say) is noticeable, it's like if the warm-kind-of-hearbeat in the south represents life, and the cold waves are more acting like if they constantly try to find a crack and quickly fall into it. Well, just a notice i wanted to post :)

I don't know if that was noticed in other places on the globe too, but I don't think I can remember ever not seeing many flies of any description flying around, especially in summer. Anyone else noticed that?
Not here (belgium), I will not say that i had tons of flies compared to ...20y before, but we had quite a good number, and I still have some here hanging around in my flat at this right moment. I do not try to kill them, only Pixelle (my cat/friend) sometimes try to catch them ^^
 
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I don't know if that was noticed in other places on the globe too, but I don't think I can remember ever not seeing many flies of any description flying around, especially in summer. Anyone else noticed that?
In Alaska, I noticed a lack of insects, but dragon flies were abundant. The heat probably made the bugs stay in the shade of the woods. And the Robins - they were around until the heat came, and then they went away.
Usually, the window sills will have dead flies - none this year.
 
One quite startling difference I noticed in the years spring, summer and autumn was the lack of flies. All spring/summer I hardly saw/noticed any flesh flies of any size or description, while I saw/noticed no fruit flies at all the whole year. It was only in the beginning to mid-autumn that I noticed very, very few flesh flies appearing all of a sudden. It might not be true, but the number of flies I saw this year can probably be counted in one hand, at most!

I don't know if that was noticed in other places on the globe too, but I don't think I can remember ever not seeing many flies of any description flying around, especially in summer. Anyone else noticed that?

Now that you mention it, yeah, and it's strange. Even many fewer of the green stinkbugs. But, of course, ever present mosquitoes.
 
Quite a normal year regarding flies (and abundance of fruitflies) here in the country side om Norway. The hunters talk about abundance of deer lice flies, an insect that is coming more and more. A creepy one, comes in a swarm, and you have to take it off one by one. It connects to your skin and stay.
As for the animals fat, they (2 different teams in 2 diff parts of the country Østlandet and Vestlandet ) say that the deers have a lot of fat but the moose seems to be normal.
We have a lot of rowanberries this year. This could indicate a snowy winther.

But whats not normal is the temp. I am about 2 h driving north of oslo, and 400 m over sealevel. My roses is blooming as is other flowers. I have had only one night with minus degrees so far this autumn.
 
It would be curious to get reports from other "bear countries" and if their bears are still happily engaged in fat storing, or they already went to hibernate.
In Poland, bears are still happily engaged in fat storing despite quite chilly temperatures.

Despite the cold weather, the bears have not gone for their winter rest yet. They are still active and visible. "Reptiles and bats are also observed," Krosno State Forest spokesman Edward Marszałek told PAP on Friday.
Podkarpacie is home to over 200 brown bears; almost 90 percent of the Polish population.


It might not be true, but the number of flies I saw this year can probably be counted in one hand, at most!

I don't know if that was noticed in other places on the globe too, but I don't think I can remember ever not seeing many flies of any description flying around, especially in summer. Anyone else noticed that?
Quite a normal year regarding flies here in central Poland. Altough, it depends on the species. For example, comparing to previous years, there were even more flesh flies, a normal number of fruit flies and, for the firs time, I even spotted two really big giant horse flies in our house. Mosquitoes were in abundance and are still present, which I cosider strange giving quite low temperatures lately. The only flies that I have not observed this year are spotted wing drosophila. Last year they were in abundance near the dogwood trees.
 




WeatherStory2-min.png
 
Beijing suffered its first winter freeze of -0.2C yesterday, 20 days earlier than average, while it's the lowest October temperature in 52 years logged by a city observatory. Local meteorologists have expressed concerns that central and eastern China’s early chill could be a harbinger of a brutal winter to come. Such an event would heap added pressure on depleted coal and gas reserves, and compound the global energy crisis.

Sunday’s cold wave hit fast and hard, driving temperatures down some 10C in a matter of hours–particularly in the provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu where residents jokingly likened the rapid cool-down to the “quick-freeze mode” of a fridge.

Rare October snows have accompanied the rare October lows:
On Saturday, during the National Day holiday, flakes were reported on mountain peaks across the north. Snow also settled on Mount Baiyun, near Luoyang, over the weekend–a locale that doesn’t usually welcome its first snow until late November or early December.

The latest GFS runs (shown below) see further unusual cold and early-season snow hitting large parts of Asia:


GFS Total Snowfall (cm) Oct 18 – Nov 3 [tropicaltidbits.com].

A Beijing-based expert told the Global Times that the continent’s cold wave was being caused by “the westerly”, a wind which brings cold and dry air from Siberia to China. This pattern occurs every season, but it arrived much earlier this year amid “atmospheric circulation anomalies” — in other words, the jet streams went ‘out-of-whack’ and drove Arctic air anomalously-far south for the time of year (a phenomenon associated to low solar activity, such as the historically low output we’re experiencing now):

As you’d expect, China’s early-season freeze has driven up heating and power demand — a huge challenge for the country, and indeed the world, which was already scrambling to restock coal and gas reserves before winter-proper descends.

 
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