Well, technically, it's still Friday somewhere...
It is bitterly cold in Colorado right now, somewhere around 10 degrees below 0, Fahrenheit. It was a bit warmer than that at sunset, when I spent some time admiring the fractal patterns in tree branches. (I'll confess, it's a favorite hobby of mine.) The windswept clouds, highlighted by the setting sun, made a lovely backdrop for the bare limbs. I realized, as snow drifted around my ankles, that I might be able to share the scene without the biting freeze. So, I was inspired to create a last minute layered fractal of trees:
The geometric order of the fractal trees is almost a little too perfect to match the twisting, exposed branches of deciduous trees in the winter, or the rough edges of the evergreen:
I spent much of the day feeling chills run up my spine, but ironically, not from the snow and cold, but rather from reading a report released today by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The IPCC report lays it out cold: Global warming is happening. Anthropogenic activities have been the significant causes of recent increases in greenhouse gasses. Sea levels will rise. And, the most chilling news of all... even if we try our best to stop the emission of gasses, we're too late to stop it. It's adapt, or else.
Interestingly, while the report talks about the warming climate, it also points to other changes, which can lead to oddities like ultra-icy winters in Colorado. The "frequency of heavy precipitation events has increased over most land areas, consistent with warming and observed increases of atmospheric water vapour," according to the report. In addition, "mid-latitude westerly winds have strengthened in both hemispheres since the 1960s." Add these together, and you have all the cold air being blown up against the Rockies, full of extra moisture, and no place to go. Mix that with El Nino, which throws in even more wet and wind, and Colorado gets more blizzards while other areas get hotter.
I'll be looking more at the report while I'm working on my paper on the same subject.
All images made by the author, fractals using ChaosPro
Thanks for the comment Steve. I actually wrote in a comment here a few weeks ago asking what was happening with this blog after the announcement that O'Reilly was dropping the Digital Media division. It's really refreshing to get an honest comment on what's happening. I really hope the blog picks up again.