This may seem revolutionary given all the emphasis put on CO2 as the so-called “climate control knob.” But we have a classic case of direct linkage to water vapor occurring, with high-latitude warming and the cold seasons revealing this most vividly. More water vapor means more clouds. In fact, the cooler it is, the easier it is to create clouds, as condensation processes are faster. So increased water vapor is likely to have its biggest effect on temperatures at the coldest time of the year.
CO2 cannot be causing what you’ll see below.
For instance, maximum temperatures for the nation during the front five days of the month were 2.34°F below average.
Minimum temperatures were 2.77°Fabove average.
For the front five days of December, this is a record spread! Now look at the water vapor so far:
The nation is…
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To me water provides the basic global thermostat due to it’s properties whereby at phase change, absorbed energy is converted into Latent Heat at constant temperature. This means that in the Planck Equation ( changeF = K*(changeT) the coefficient K is zero as no change in temperature occurs.
This coefficient is in global terms what we call “Climate Sensitivity”. Thus, with some 4% of the atmosphere being water and variable the influence is marked. I suspect that this fact is ignored in most of the climate models; hence their abysmal performance.
Further, due to the buoyancy of water vapour this Latent Heat is physically moved upwards through the atmosphere and beyond independently of radiation considerations. Large energies being involved here with some 680 Watthrs per kilogram of evaporated water being so dissipated to balance incoming radiation.
I am not surprised that this process is reflected in the observations of climate behaviour as shown here. My thanks to Joe Bastardi.
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Add to that Willis’ point that sea surface temperatures appear to have an upper limit around 30C (rampant evaporation => strong convection => CB cloud formation => rapid vertical heat transfer + increased albedo….).
Water, liquid and gaseous, is a remarkable thermostatic regulator.
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