A snowstorm in D.C. does not change everything
It took all of 24 hours for commentators to make light of global warming. After all, it snowed more than a foot in our nation's capital.
Take that!
Please, indulge me while I briefly review the past 12 months. Yes, there were record snows in the Eastern U.S but there was a lack of snow in the Rockies and Western Canada. And though rainfall in the American South set a 100-year record, there is a decade-long drought in Western Australia.
The abnormally cold temperatures and record rainfall do not, by themselves, demonstrate anything about the long-term trajectory of our planet. After all, climate is a measure of decades or centuries, not months. Now that the water table in Georgia is above normal, do Southerners ignore Lake Lanier's recent record lows? How soon we forget.
Worldwide weather patterns are changing. The snow that traditionally falls in the American Rockies fell along the Northeastern coast. Looking back, government and academic studies predicted more rain and snow because warmer air carries more moisture.
Climate change is a global event, not a local one and, the industrialization of our planet has, perhaps, permanently affected weather patterns.
Now excuse me while I go shovel the sidewalk.
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