Posted by Elana Janson on July 18, 2014 at 12:22:40:
In Reply to: Untimely hailstorm in July in Russia posted by Karin van Breda on July 17, 2014 at 04:07:14:
The incident of sudden hailstones in Russia was fascinating because we are unaccustomed to seeing such a rapid change in temperature. The plummeting temperature (approx.105 to 71 degrees F) immediately changed sunny sunbathing to running for cover from bruising hailstones.
No matter where you live on this earth the scenes in Russia were probably unsettling because this is a sign of ‘abrupt weather change’.
I am particularly interested in this phenomenon because of the signs of global warming that we are seeing at the present time and because I believe I was given insight into the book Revelation and these signs of global warming are actually the signs predicted in Scripture as the final signs before the Return.
It is because of Revelation 16:21 that we of course look at hailstorms with Scriptural interest.
Rev 16:21 “And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.”
According to my understanding of Revelation the plague of hail is the final ‘sign’ of the “plagues” and the ultimate sign that will cause the inhabitants of the earth to realize that God exists. This is revealed in Rev 15:8 “And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.” I understand the words: ”no man was able to enter the temple” as indicating a final time that sinners can repent and enter the kingdom of God.
Do I think that this hailstorm in Russia is a forerunner of the “great hail’ of Revelation 16:2?
It seems that hailstorms have increased in the last approx five years.
Global warming is the key.
What I do think is that if the phenomenon of “abrupt weather change” is going to happen in the near future as a result of global warming then the sudden hailstones in Russia could be a forerunner of the “plague of hail”.
I am going to give some extracts from articles on the web for those who may not be aware of what research can tell us about “abrupt weather change”.
Extract 1
“We generally consider climate changes as taking place on the scale of hundreds or even thousands of years. However, since the early 1990s, a radical shift in the scientific understanding of Earth's climate history has occurred. We now know that that major regional and global climate shifts have occurred in just a few decades or even a single year. The most recent of these shifts occurred just 8200 years ago. If an abrupt climate change of similar magnitude happened today, it would have severe consequences for humans and natural ecosystems. Although scientists consider an abrupt climate change unlikely in the next 100 years, their understanding of the phenomena is still a work-in-progress, and such a change could be triggered instantly by natural processes or by human-caused global warming with little warning.
The National Academy of Sciences--the board of scientists established by Congress in 1863 to advise the federal government on scientific matters--compiled a comprehensive report in 2002 entitled, Abrupt Climate Change: Inevitable Surprises. The 244-page report, which contains over 500 references, was written by a team of 59 of the top researchers in climate, and represents the most authoritative source of information about abrupt climate change available. Most of the material that follows was taken from this report.
Ice cores hold an amazingly detailed record of Earth's climate. Each year, snow falling on glacial areas accumulates, piling on top of thousands of years of past snow, compressing the snow into yearly layers of ice, like rings inside a tree trunk. Preserved in the ice are tiny bubbles of ancient air that tell us the composition of the atmosphere at that time. The amount of dust in the snow tells us how windy the climate was. The thickness of the layer tells how much precipitation fell that year. Most importantly, the amount of the "heavy" isotope of oxygen, 18O, lets us infer the average atmospheric temperature, since water vapor with "heavy" 18O molecules condenses out of clouds more readily at cold temperatures
Accessing this treasure-trove of climatic information is a huge undertaking--cores of ice must be drilled miles deep in some of the most inhospitable places on Earth. In 1989 the National Science Foundation funded the $25 million Greenland Ice Sheet Project II (GISP2) to drill an ice core through the entire two mile depth of the Greenland ice sheet. At the same time, a separate European project (GRIP), drilled through the ice just 20 miles away, providing a crucial independent check of the GISP2 data. By 1993, both the GRIP and GISP2 drills had hit bedrock, and two miles of ice cores, preserving 110,000 years of climate history in year-by-year layers, were taken to laboratories for analysis.
What the scientists found was surprising and unnerving. They had known from previous ice core and ocean sediment core data that Earth's climate had fluctuated significantly in the past. But what astonished them was the rapidity with which these changes occurred.
Ocean and lake sediment data from places such as California, Venezuela, and Antarctica have confirmed that these sudden climate changes affected not just Greenland, but the entire world. During the past 110,000 years, there have been at least 20 such abrupt climate changes. Only one period of stable climate has existed during the past 110,000 years--the 11,000 years of modern climate (the "Holocene" era). "Normal" climate for Earth is the climate of sudden extreme jumps--like a light switch flicking on and off. “
Extract 2
“The historical records shows us that abrupt climate change is not only possible--it is the normal state of affairs. The present warm, stable climate is a rare anomaly. It behooves us to learn as much as we can about the climate system so that we may be able to predict when the next abrupt shift in climate will come. Until we know better when this might happen, it would be wise to stop pouring so much carbon dioxide into the air. A nasty surprise might be lurking just around the corner. In the words of Dr. Wally Broecker”.
Extract 3
“Dinosaurs were wiped off the face of the Earth by a sudden drop in temperature and not by a comet striking the planet, scientists claimed today.
Researchers studying fossils in Norway have discovered that the world's seas plummeted 9C from 13C to just 4C around 137million years ago.
They believe this was caused by a sudden change in the Atlantic Gulf Stream - a phenomenon many experts fear is about to happen again.
The temperature drop during the Cretaceous period would almost certainly have wiped out an 'abundance' of the world's dinosaurs.
The scientists behind the ground-breaking study claim
this would have been the first major step dinosaurs took on their eventual road to extinction.
Some experts believe the creatures were wiped out by one cataclysmic event 65million years ago - such as a meteor hitting the planet.
But the new research suggests they were wiped out by a series of environmental changes - starting with a drop in sea temperatures.
The study was conducted by a team of scientists, led by Dr Gregory Price of Plymouth University, who examined fossils and minerals from Arctic Svalbard in Norway.
Dr Price found the drop in temperatures was so severe that numerous species of dinosaur previously living in warm, shallow seas, land and swamps would have died out.
He said the team's research showed the drop in temperature happened when the Earth was in a 'greenhouse' climate - similar to now.”
These extracts indicate how suddenly there can be a vast change.
Many reports of hail
There have been numerous reports of hail storms in recent years. Some have suggested that there have been more than previously as a result of global warming.
Varying predictions are made scientifically.
“Severe thunderstorms, often exhibiting destructive rainfall, hail and tornadoes, are one of the primary causes of catastrophic losses in the United States. New climate models suggest a robust increase in these types of storms across the country.”.(Stanford University September 23, 2013)
“Analysis has suggested that changes in the atmosphere will lead to more frequent conditions favorable for severe thunderstorms. According to recent studies there will be more damaging winds related to thunderstorms. The number of tornadoes and large hail is expected to remain at the same level as today.”
(Finnish Meteorological Institute June 4, 2013)