Damn it's Been Cold

I spent a week in the Florida Keys and missed the last big snowstorm of about 14 inches. Every place I look there are mounds of snow. The inch or two dusting we got the other day put a nice pretty white covering on the piles underneath.

I freaking hate snow, really I do. That's one of the reasons I ignore the Winter Olympics. That plus I find just about all of the events kind of boring.

So, where's Global Warming when you need it?

Apparently it's on vacation as well. The latest NASA reports on average temperature continue to show what looks like a pause in the planet's warming trend. In fact, temperatures have been pretty much flat for the last 10 to 15 years. But the increase in greenhouse gases has continued.

So what exactly does this mean? Are the doubters correct? Perhaps, but on the other hand maybe not.

Climatologists have a number of ideas as to why we may have hit a temporary pause including the El Nino Southern Oscillation in the Pacific, a cyclic decrease in solar activity and, something I found sort of hard to understand, China using more coal.

I always thought burning coal contributed to Global Warming but apparently not. Coal burning produces sulfur particles which I'm being told tends to cool the climate and could cancel out the warming trend from the greenhouse gases.

OK,  then why not just use lots of coal? Well, it seems the pollution is harmful to human health for other reasons.

If this all sounds to you a little, or a lot, like rationalizing, welcome to the club. This is going to make getting anyone to do anything more than a little difficult.

Facts are facts and the facts say that the models were wrong and for at least the last decade there has been no measurable warming trend. Time will tell whether the explanations being put forth are correct or an attempt to save face.

To be honest it would be nice if the whole Global Warming thing did turn out to be a fantasy because the models being relied upon are wrong or too unsophisticated because it's going to get ugly if it is really happening.