The Chill of April

So much for 70s and spring- at least for now. This is a classic delicate balancing act of seasonal shifts that takes place every year. While you might think, or say, or hear about how strange the weather is, it's not. I hate to burst the bubble, but extremes this time of the year are the norm. A range of temps 15 degrees above and below normal can give nearly a 30 point swing in one week! Just last Tuesday it was 52F, and Friday hit 78F. Today we are back into the low 50s with a chance of frost. And so goes the week ahead, as you can see here. It will be interesting to see how this actually plays out- but for now, a nice warm up should be here by Thursday.

So this brings me back to the environmental discussion. As Earth Day approaches (April 22) and we roll through spring, you will be inundated with how dramatic the warming is on the planet. This after record cold and snow across much of the nation- even a fresh foot+ of snow in Minnesota last week. Sure, it's spring and as the sun returns to the arctic some of their ice will melt.
Hurricane Expert Pulls Back on Global Warming Connection
June brings Hurricane season which has been subject to dire outlooks since the 2004 and 2005 seasons. Last year failed to produce the results of an active forecast, and only 1 hurricane has hit the US in the past 2 years. So are we due? Perhaps. But now an article in the Houston Chronicle shows that Kerry Emanuel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has changed his argument for the link of Global Warming to increased Hurricane Activity. This is most profound since he has been one of the leaders of that charge. Did you read the 2008 Hurricane Outlook I posted last week? That was from Dr. William Gray- the lead tropical forecaster who himself testified to congress after 2005's Katrina and Wilma scared the public. Dr. Gray has been steadfast for decades that, contrary to pop culture- we are in the middle of a natural 30 year upswing in activity. We are in the peak now, which is expected slow down in the next decade.

Beijing Pollution Problem: