Dubya and the Weather
I blame King George for this lame Minnesota winter. In the three winters we have experienced since our return from Redmond, we have gotten either no snow with cold snaps that lasted a short time, or a bit more snow and rain with temps so warm any snow goes away in a hurry. And now, with last year being one of the warmest on record, we are looking at a super lame winter. (note: I like a cold and snowy winter - it means you can actually do winter stuff, which I like) The forecast for this coming Wednesday is in the mid 40's!

How can I blame W? Let's compare data from Minneapolis from
January 8th for the past 11 years:

Year     Actual High          Departure
1996     21 F                     +0
1997     28 F                     +7
1998     36 F                     +15
1999     10 F                     -11
2000     37 F                     +16

2001     23 F                     +2
2002     45 F                     +24 (record)
2003     54 F                     +33 (record)
2004     20 F                     -1
2005     20 F                     -1
2006     34 F                     +13

Now, you might argue that during those five years of Clinton we had some above average temps, but you'd be forgetting about El Nino (1998 was one of the warmest on record). I think that the two record days speak for themselves. 2005 was one of the warmest years on record, despite Jan 8th being normal (Nature, Dec 21, 2005) and there's no El Nino effect. More climate digging reveals that we had a number of warmest ever winter days during King George's reign, whereas other warmest days are scattered throughout the record for the last 30 years. You could also argue that the climate moves slowly, but you'd be both right and wrong, as it can respond quickly. Face it - it's his fault.

We'll be moving to Seattle in a few months, and while this year looks to be better for snow in the Cascade mountains, last year's drought could spawn more. Dubya's administration discounts global warming and eschews pro-environmental policies based on establish science, claiming they hurt the economy. I only hope there's still time to correct the disastrous pro-industry, record-emission-pumping ways of this country's republican leadership. I want my winters back.