The Coolest Winter Since 2001

That’s a fine Howdy Doo for a world being driven to ruin by man-made global warming. Here we are deep into the Apocalypse, and we’re still suffering cooling relapses.

The latest global warming update from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows that the winter of December 2007 through February 2008 was the 54th coolest winter since national records began in 1895 (or the 49th warmest, if you would like to look at it that way).

Either way, it’s a long way from the burning discomfort we have been told we are already experiencing. In fact, since global warming is supposed to have its greatest effect in warming up our winters, I wonder where has all the warming gone that has been building up since the end of the Little Ice Age in 1850? By the late 1950’s, according to NASA, we had already experienced six of the ten hottest years of the last one hundred.

Since the warming platform was already well established by 1940, shouldn’t we expect that warming fueled by greatly increased atmospheric carbon dioxide after 1950 should have driven us to new heights of heating? And yet here we are, almost a decade after 1998, the second hottest year after 1934 of the last 100, and we haven’t surpassed a record for warmth set 73 years ago.

In fact, ocean temperatures derived from the study of marine organisms in Sargasso Sea sediments show that our current ocean temperature is lower than the average for the past three thousand years, and is about 2 degrees Fahrenheit below than 1,000 years ago during the Medieval Warm Period.

It should go without saying, but since we’re dealing with Al Gore and His True Believers we can’t assume anything, that during the preceding warmer periods of 1,000 years ago (Medieval Warm Period) and over 3,000 years ago (Holocene Climate Optimum), there was not enough burning of fossil fuels by mankind to drive global warming.

Further, since sea levels have risen an average of two feet per century since the end of the last Ice Age 18,000 years ago, our current increase of seven inches in the past century does not appear remarkable.

Unlike Al Gore would have us believe, this photo was taken in August, also known as Summer, and is a perfectly normal occurrence at that time of year. The only danger these polar bear face is embarrassment that Al would make them a party to his lie.

Polar bears should be pleased, if polar bears can be pleasured by weather trends, that Arctic ice is back to levels similar to decades ago. In fact, Arctic ice coverage appears to be the same as in 1980, when satellite records were in their infancy. They should also be pleased, if the availability of polar bears of the opposite sex has the capacity to give them pleasure, that overall polar bear populations are increasing, and in a few areas, thriving.

None of this will stop, or even slow down, the worshipful attendance of Al and His Acolytes on the altar of Anthropogenic Global Warming. As will all religion, man-caused global warming is based on belief, not science, and mere facts will not weaken the faith of true believers.

I just hope, for their sakes, that they hang onto a good, thick coat, and keep their central heaters tuned up. For my part, I wouldn’t mind it warming a few degrees here in Gualala. I’m not getting any younger, and someday I will feel like forsaking the short-sleeve shirts I wear the year around as my aging body yearns for more warmth. In my secret heart I was looking forward to Arizona weather coming to northern California so Alice and I would never have to move to stay warm.

The way it’s cooling now, a polar bear may move into the neighborhood.