Unsettled

According to this article, the weird North American weather this past couple of winters -- benign out west, frigid in the east -- may be due to a "blob" of warm water that's parked itself in the Pacific.  That's according to one group of scientists, who are risking their careers by suggesting (those of a sensitive disposition should skip the next few words) that the blob may not actually be the result of global warming.

Up till now, the favoured theory has been that global warming is inducing a loosening of the "polar vortex", the wind circulation that normally bottles up the coldest air in the Arctic, and that this has been forcing cold air to the south and east.  Then again, if you read on in the linked article, you'll find a reference to another guy who thinks the culprit is warm water a whole lot further south, near Papua New Guinea.

And the theories don't end there. Meteorologists in North America have discerned a link between the snow pack in Siberia and winter temperatures in eastern North America. The last two years have seen exceptionally large snow pack in Siberia, and sure enough, there have been two very cold winters in a row from the eastern Prairies all the way to the Atlantic coast.

So if there are four possible explanations for recent weather just in this part of the world, how can climatologists claim that "the science is settled", when it obviously isn't? And why do the rest of us allow ourselves to be cowed into submission by the bully-boy fringe among climatologists, when it's clear they don't understand nearly as much as they want us to think they do?

Still, enough about the climate -- let's talk about the weather!  Beautiful spring day today in God's country, under cloudless skies. Neighbours coming out of hibernation, trees and vines starting to bud.  Bring it on!