Just a pointer to yet another thoughtful rejoinder from the Real Climate group in the wake of media hysteria. This time it's all about whether El Nino or climate change is to blame for the ridiculously warm weather that recently dominated much of North America. As usual, the answer is: it's too complicated for simple answers. Among the many poignant observations:
...while El Nino typically does perturb the winter Northern Hemisphere jet stream in a way that favors anomalous warmth over much of the northern half of the U.S., the typical amplitude of the warming (see Figure below right) is about 1C (i.e., about 2F). The current anomaly is roughly five times as large as this. One therefore cannot sensibly argue that the current U.S. winter temperature anomalies are attributed entirely to the current moderate El Nino event.
And yet, that's what a lot of alleged experts are saying on the nightly news, if they're not trying to link the warm spell to anthropogenic global warming, that is.
Think (and read) before you speak, people.
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From the link:
Emphasis added.
Speaking of canards, isn't the bolded statement itself a canard? The 'holding' capacity of air has nothing to do with it. It's the balance between condensation and evapouration, which depends on temperature, phase, presence of impurities, etc.. The air is itself irrelevant.
It's just a way of speaking, and easier to say than "the water vapor reaches thermal equalibrium with the warm air and thus attains a higher saturation pressure." I wouldn't get to worked up about it.