Not all the water vapor in the atmosphere is in clouds, though.

That's why I said mostly. There's too much variables any way you turn it.
Plus even clouds let some light trough.

As I understand it, water vapor itself is invisible and acts much like CO2: Let's visible light through, but absorbs the longwave thermal radiation bouncing back from Earth.

Maybe. :O:

The true source of deNile
 

That is smurfing epic!!:har::har::har::har:
Hopefully there won't be any California refugees heading up to Ore-gone when CA destroys itself over the drought.

Yikes, massive shift in climate change: NOAA predicts calm 2015 hurricane season for U.S. :hmmm:

I say, good news. Fewer canes means more good weather to work in. :rock:

I wondered how El Nino would affect things this year. That's a bit of good news for the east coast. :yep: Will help balance out several parts of it being underwater at various points in time lately.

http://i.imgur.com/l2CVZiy.webm

Day 2 of the fourth heatwave this year.
Which is 3 heatwaves above average for this country :o

But the heatwaves last 2-3 weeks and then we have one week of constant rain. It's perfect, hot and enough rain to prevent droughts :yeah:

Remember how the global warming nuts ran around claiming that hurricanes would become common?

Oh yes global warming. The great heat engine responsible for hurricanes gaining intensity, strength and frequency.

https://thunderlutz.files.wordpress....g-together.png

Judge for yourself:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...63cba31ef0.png

Those nuts are about as clueless as the die hard deniers (khm, one post below yours).

But Neals post says that El Nino is to blame for this spell of good luck and you might have 3 Katrinas per year after this one is over. Or you might not, the climate changes might reduce hurricane intensity in N. America. Unlike the talking heads in media and politics, scientists admit they don't know it all and they're working hard trying to figure out how a system bigger than all of us works. That's why all these charts like the one Oberon posted are made. Too see how things have changed from the past until today.

One thing is for sure. N. America is hurricane free for the last few years, but that doesn't mean the typhoon intensity is also lower and I can certainly tell that we have the fourth heatwave this year, when the last 200 year average was 0-1 per year. And not one thunderstorm this year was just a heatstorm after a hot and humid day, all of them were intense.
You may have a lucky spell, we don't.

Oh oh a chart. In 1851 the only way someone knew there was a hurricane brewing was when it ripped the roof of your house. All that chart tells me is, as time progressed so to did the technology which allowed us to identify more than we could see with our eyes.

Those cycles need a lot more of time, if you want to find a pattern. El Nino is of course one of the players, when it comes to climate.

The only stable condition and sure thing is that the climate changes, all the time. And it is not at all sure (!), what causes a global warming or else.
I would "blame" the sun, the hybris of politicians to make laws to stop global warming is somehow ridiculous, but it always is a good pretext to cause a bad conscience, and demand money from the people.

"buy the new XYZ car with a new catalyst converter, and you save the world!" Bull. Ever heard of cumulative energy balance needed just to produce a car? Every new car pollutes the world more, than driving an old one on and on, for fourty or more years. But there's money in it, and all this lobbyism and barroom clichés hinder a real discussion.
It all has become a religion of its own :nope:

Like all things in life the for & against keep changing the goal posts and that keeps them on the gravy train for life...ching ching £$£$£$.