Why Aren’t They Grounding Flights in Birmingham, Ala?

It was all over the news a couple of days ago that human-caused climate change is so severe that Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, Arizona, is having to ground planes.

“Too Hot to Fly? Climate Change May Take a Toll on Air Travel” New York Times, June 20, 2017

“It’s so hot in Phoenix that airplanes can’t fly” – Washington Post, June 21, 2017

“Extreme heat grounds flights in Phoenix” – AOL, June 21, 2017

Most of the “greenhouse gases” are in Alabama. Why aren’t they grounding flights in Birmingham?

The average concentration of atmospheric “greenhouse gases” in June 2017:
Phoenix = 5,400 ppm
Birmingham = 16,400ppm

Phoenix:
Water vapor = 5,000 ppm (average absolute humidity = 5 g/m³)
Carbon dioxide = 400 ppm
Total “greenhouse gas” = 5,400 ppm
Average June 2017 temp = 92 °F

Birmingham:
Water vapor = 16,000 ppm (average absolute humidity = 16 g/m³)
Carbon dioxide = 400 ppm
Total “greenhouse gas” = 16,400 ppm
Average June 2017 temp = 79 °F

The mechanism by which human activity supposedly caused this June’s extreme heat in Phoenix, Arizona, is the “greenhouse effect” hypothesis, which asserts that the atmospheric concentration of “greenhouse gases” and surface level air temperatures are directly proportional.

That is, as the “greenhouse gas” concentration goes up so does the temperature because these “greenhouse gases” are said to “trap heat” in the atmosphere [i].

Can the high concentration of “greenhouse gases” in Birmingham be “trapping heat” in Phoenix, but not in Birmingham itself?  No, of course not.  If “greenhouse gases” were actually “trapping heat” then that “heat” would be “trapped” where the “greenhouse gases” are and not 1,700 miles away!

If the “greenhouse effect” hypothesis were true, Birmingham this June (and every June for that matter) would have been much hotter than Phoenix because it had an average of 300% more “greenhouse gases.”

In this graph, the blue bars are the average June temperatures over the past 18 years in °F for Phoenix (left) and Birmingham (right.)  The orange bars are the average June absolute humidity readings over the past 18 years in g/m³ for Phoenix (left) and Birmingham (right.)

While the “most potent greenhouse gas”—water vapor—was 300% higher in Birmingham compared to Phoenix, the average June temperature in Birmingham was 13 °F cooler than Phoenix.  This means that atmospheric “greenhouse gas” concentrations and ground level air temperatures are inversely not directly proportional.

Water vapor has a distinct, obvious and measurable cooling effect on ground level air temperatures.  The hypothesis that asserts that atmospheric “greenhouse gas” concentrations and ground level air temperatures are directly proportional is therefore falsified by empirical observation.

This, of course, does not mean that people will abandon their belief in the “greenhouse effect” hypothesis and stop making specious claims like the high concentration of water vapor in Alabama causes heat waves in Arizona, but at least now you know that they are simply “blowing smoke”.

[i] “GREENHOUSE GASES . . . absorb heat (infrared radiation) emitted from Earth’s surface.  Increases in the atmospheric concentrations of these gases cause [the] Earth to warm by trapping more of this heat.”  Climate Change Evidence & Causes, An overview from the Royal Society and the US National Academy of Sciences