Saturday, January 13, 2007
Petroleum and Natural Gas Watchby Michael Vickerman, RENEW Wisconsin
January 13, 2007, Vol. 6, Number 1
This winter’s weather has been the stuff of front-page stories, though not for the usual reasons. Where I live, in that part of the country formerly known as the Snow Belt, we haven’t seen the white stuff in 40 days. As we enter the coldest seven-day stretch in the calendar year, Madison’s largest lakes remain more than 99% ice-free. Even along shallow Monona Bay, where the ice-fishing season typically lasts three months, guys in snowmobile suits have given way to joggers in shorts and sweatshirts. Except for a slushy snowfall on December 1st, it has been clear sailing for commuter bicyclists like myself. On some days I didn’t even wear gloves!
A few days ago, the National Climate Data Center reported that the United States recorded its warmest year in 2006. The unusually balmy conditions that have prevailed this past month—it was the fourth warmest December on record--lifted 2006’s temperatures into record territory. Thus far, Ol’ Man Winter has confined his cantankerous self to just a few memorable visits to Colorado and neighboring states; elsewhere, he has been MIA since Thanksgiving.
Can this extraordinary mild weather—31 straight days with high temperatures in Madison above the freezing mark--be simply an outgrowth of the current El Niño phenomenon? Or is it yet another indication that Mother Nature is running a fever, brought about by our addiction to fossil fuels. Is Ol’ Man Winter’s long absence from these parts simply a one-time-only event or does it mean the Snow Belt is migrating northward?
Continue reading.
0 comments:
Post a Comment