Strange Weather Lately!

No, I am not actively trying to rip off the title of a piece written by Kurt Vonnegut, one of my favorite authors.

Indeed, this is just an observation. Recently, parts of Australia have seen record heat, which is saying something for that country, which is generally known to be hot.

Yet, here in the United States, we are experiencing record cold temperatures not seen in decades. Chicago experienced such severe cold temperatures, the the U.S. Postal Service, which has in it's motto that not cold nor snow, among other things, will keep them from their appointed grounds, nevertheless grounded all mail due to the dangerously cold temperatures. People have been encouraged to stay indoors as much as possible, because skin freezes within five minutes in temperatures as brutally cold as that. A day or two ago, it was colder in Chicago than it was in Antarctica, Siberia, Alaska or Mount Everest. And it was colder than that in other parts of the Midwest, particularly in Minnesota!

That cold streak has spread to the majority of the country. Right now, in suburban New Jersey, it is well below freezing in terms of temperatures, and the wind chill factor makes it feel even colder still. Indeed, it is below freezing in roughly three-fourths of the country, including parts of Florida and Louisiana, which are not known for extremely cold temperatures, obviously.

Now, here's the real kicker: we are expecting to get a complete reversal in just a couple of days. By Super Bowl Sunday, we are going to have temperatures well above the normal for this season, and there will be days early next week that will feel positively like spring.

Plus, there's more. There were record heat spells in other hot areas in recent years, including Australia (a year or two ago)and on the Arabian peninsula - another area known to have experienced extremely hot temperatures with regularity - in 2010. They had more records broken in 2015 on the Arabian peninsula. And in the American southwest desert last summer, once again in an area that knows extreme heat very well, they experienced record hot temperatures unlike anything that they had experienced before. I read somewhere that it was so hot out, that you could feel your eyes drying up almost as soon as you stepped outside.

Yet, last winter, Europe - I mean literally ever European nation - experienced record cold temperatures. We here in North America have seen similar trends in recent years, as we have grown used to hearing about something called the "polar vortex," which is something that, I can tell you, most of us had never heard anything about even a decade ago. Now, it seems that we hear about it every winter, as we experience incredibly frigid temperatures.

So, yes, I mean it when I say strange weather lately.

I also mean it when I say that this is not natural. It is nothing like anything we have ever experienced before.

Maybe we should start paying attention to scientists who argue that these weather extremes around the globe are the clear symptoms of climate change?

Nah! Our president assures us that climate change is a big hoax, and he would never lie to us, right? 

Right?

U.S. Midwest Freezes, Australia Burns: This Is the Age of Weather Extremes  by Somini Sengupta,  Jan. 29, 2019:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/29/climate/global-warming-extreme-weather.html?emc=edit_th_190130&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=605238850130&fbclid=IwAR04CjSdnAmPaSzzg3zjPduVcsayg6vbMAv0TX6IKWBDCCO8EW5t9cXIgds