Dawn’s rain this early Friday on California’s north coast — the heavy stuff arriving earlier with a good downpour after midnight. Dark and wet and gloomy as we quickly finish-off February’s rapid exposure, and attempt to become primed-and-ready for beware-middle-of-the-month March, which makes an entrance on Sunday.
A week later, we’ll make sure shit goes even faster, and last longer, by clock-bumping an hour into the future.

Appears this current weather system is weak on rain, but a little stronger on snow — not enough, though. From Climate Central: ‘California, for the second year in a row, saw it’s warmest December-January, with a monthly average temperature 5.1°F higher than its 20th century average. With that heat having continued into February, it’s almost certain to be the warmest winter on record in California, surpassing the previous record set just last year.’

(Illustration found here).

And should also appear a trend — a quickly-warming world creates a really jacked-out-of-whack environment. In this particular part of that world, the reason for California’s currently warming situation is a high pressure ridge that’s been literally hanging off the coast the last few years — keeps shit from happening.
More via Climate Central, and Daniel Swain, an atmospheric science PhD student at Stanford University:

“It’s certainly odd and disconcerting to see spring-like conditions for most of the winter thus far, and for much of the past few winters,” Swain said.
“As superficially pleasant as this kind of weather is, it’s not at all typical for this part of the world at this time of year.”
…
What’s keeping the ridge around for so long is something scientists, including Swain, are actively looking into.
So far, there are three main theories, Swain said: One is that it’s just random chance in a chaotic atmosphere, though Swain says the longer the ridge holds on, the less likely that is.
Another is the idea that the amplified warming across the Arctic is lessening the temperature difference between pole and equator that fuels the jet stream, causing that river of air to meander more wildly and become stuck in certain patterns.
The most favored explanation for now, though, seems to be the extremely warm waters across the Pacific Ocean, particularly just off the West Coast, which can give rise to high pressure systems — and hold them in place.
“At least part of the answer lies in the Pacific,” Swain said.
Understanding why the waters in the Pacific are so anomalously hot requires further research, but they’re expected to retain the additional warmth for some time.

Duh!
Last year was the warmest year for the earth in instrument-recorded history — bells ringing, red-flags a-flying?

Climate change and the moral obligation to stop it — a new view of how people view collapse of our only living habitat.
A new poll result via Raw Story:

Two-thirds of respondents (66 percent) said that world leaders are morally obligated to take action to reduce CO2 emissions.
And 72 percent said they were “personally morally obligated” to do what they can in their daily lives to reduce emissions.
“When climate change is viewed through a moral lens it has broader appeal,” said Eric Sapp, executive director of the American Values Network, a grassroots organization that mobilizes faith-based communities on politics and policy issues.
“The climate debate can be very intellectual at times, all about economic systems and science we don’t understand. This makes it about us, our neighbors and about doing the right thing.”

The right thing? Idiots!
Yet to explain idiots, witness kingfish-asshole-idiot, US Sen. Jim Inhofe’s more-than-douchebag-antics yesterday on the floor on that august body — remember, this clown is honcho of the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee, where climate change is handled/mishandled (per CBS News):

“Do you know what this is? It’s a snowball,” Inhofe said, holding the snowball aloft. “It’s just from outside here, so it’s very, very cold out … very unseasonable.”
“Mr. President, catch this,” he said, tossing the snowball away.
An Inhofe aide told National Journal the projectile was caught by a congressional page.
…
“We hear the perpetual headline that 2014 has been the warmest year on record, but now the script has flipped,” Inhofe said.
NASA has determined that 2014 was, in fact, the warmest year since modern recording began in 1880.

Inhofe’s ancestors (if there’s any of anyone’s ancestors remaining in the near-future) will most-likely view him in great shame — nefarious immorality at great, great expense.