Climate Change and Polar Vortex

Well, that was cold last week. If I remember correctly, three quarters of the US was impacted by this storm. One map looked like the entire US except for the southern corner of California and Florida.

One wouldn’t normally think that global warming would have anything to do with this extreme winter weather, but myself, I can buy the connection. Here’s how I think of it:

First, I can see the signs of global warming in certain data such as Land-Ocean Global Mean Temperature, the Ocean Heat, and the Sea Surface Temperature.

These temperature data are highly suggestive so I’m more likely to believe in the climate change, especially when the majority of scientists believe it exists. I have not had success seeing clear data from the hurricane data; I only see faint signs but I don’t know if I’m reading too much in the signals.

Temperatures appear to be rising, so how does cold weather come in? The way I see it, rising temperatures may be introducing a change in equilibrium in the weather system. Once you introduce a change that is significant, like throwing a rock into a still pond, the effects start to ripple out, dislocating all other equilibriums, shaking up everything until a new equilibrium sets in at a higher temperature. In my mind, part of the dislocation could include a “ricocheting” of the weather temperatures from very hot to very cold back to very hot. I can easily imagine mass rising warm, moist air interacting with the jet stream in unpredictable ways. I’m under the impression that the jet stream plays a role in our weather so I can imagine hot moist air playing around with the jet stream path around the earth.

Of course, I’m no expert on the weather system, the jet stream or how warm moist air would interact with the jet stream other than possibility of storms at the boundary between a jet stream (a cold one) and the warm moist air. That’s the extent of my knowledge.

Scientists do say that these polar vortex or extreme weather patterns that we’ve been seeing are due to the climate change. I would have to do a lot more study but my current theory of dislocation and warm air interacting with jet streams is my possible explanation for now.

Last week, the jet stream from the polar went deep into the south, to the border of Mexico. That kind of polar vortex weather usually just extends into the Midwest but last week went way south.

Texas

So, I want to talk about Texas: Texas is exhibit A for the role of government, the need for regulations, and how unbridled free market does not work.

Republicans always talk about small government and I get the desire to not have government tell you what to do. However…

Sometimes we need the government to step in and the fiasco in Texas highlights it. Government plays a role in gathering and coordinating the resources needed to help people during a disaster. Government also can act as a counterpoint to big business to make sure big business does not run roughshod over people.

Hence, the Texas fiasco underscores the need for regulations. Texas’ energy market is unregulated, unlike the rest of the US which remained pretty stable (although there were a few places that had power outages but nothing nearly like Texas). I used to live in Dallas and I remember icy snowy days in Dallas, and I don’t recall any problems with the electricity. So why did Texas have so much trouble supplying power needed this time around? Especially since Texas is regarded as a major energy provider.

Huh? A major energy provider and its system almost totally collapsed?

This deregulated environment, which was instituted maybe around 2000, way long after I lived in Dallas, provided no incentives to implement weatherized equipment or planning for severe winters. Back in 2011, Texas suffered a somewhat similar winter storm – maybe not as severe – that led to extensive power outages and investigation into the power outages. Out of that investigation, experts told the power grid operator and the power producers that they needed to build energy reserves and to winterize their equipment because that kind of wintry weather would happen again.

Because of the deregulation pathos in Texas, no regulation was promulgated out of concern for government overreach.

No regulations led to no reserves or winterization.

The Texas fiasco also underscores how unbridled free market, operating under the Milton Friedman doctrine of profit maximization over everything else, including the welfare of society, does not work, especially in disaster scenarios such as a brutal winter. The power grid and operators placed profit and shareholders (if they were public companies) over everything else. Holding reserves or weatherizing their equipment would cut into their profits, so they couldn’t have that. Unbridled free market will never lead to planning for disaster prevention if such disaster prevention would mean monetary outlays cutting into profits.

The list of disasters that befell Texas is huge. It includes power outages – some for 3 to 4 days (the peak was around 4 million customers without heating and electricity); lack of water for drinking, cooking, cleaning, flushing due to possibly contaminated water; food shortages because of spoiled food in refrigerators and groceries are now empty; frozen pipes bursting; and people freezing to death (last count I have is 22 but more is sure to come). The latest insult will be sky high electric bills – I’m reading $10,000 to $17,000.

Those bills are a sign of price gouging. Power companies should not be able to charge such prices because they neglected to build up energy reserves and to weatherize their equipment. That is on them; they need to bear the cost for that.

During the early days of the pandemic, general attorneys went after people who charged obscene prices for masks under the price gouging theory. Price gouging applies to this Texas disaster too.

People have died – froze to death because energy companies failed to do the right thing.

Unbridled free market does not work; we need government and we need regulations.