Another day, another sprinkle/shower passing overhead. This pool of cool air is finally moving away tonight. In its wake, I have a SUPERB day on tap tomorrow…without so much as a sprinkle (although there will be some afternoon clouds).
This isn’t really a big pattern change. We’re just window dressing as we stay near normal through the end of the week. We’re really in a holding pattern until the weekend, when I expect a warm front to charge through and warm us into the 70s – to near 80! Now, I bet you’re asking if THIS is a pattern change – to summer. Not really. We seem to cool down later next week – and could even go below normal for a few days. Still waiting to see how the summer will pan out. Like a political election, it’s too close to call.
Speaking of politics, I was encouraged to see the president finally address the issue of climate change today. Truthfully, the fact that we’re doing this now irks me a little – we should have done this 10 or 15 years ago. Better late than never, I guess. Secondly, while it’s nice to hear it from someone capable of eliciting change, I am a big proponent of the depoliticizing of the AGW issue. Lest we forget how Al Gore became a lightning rod for disinformation and flat-out hatred of AGW proponents in the 1990s – something we’re still trying to live down. Certainly, the politicians should shape the policies and forge a way forward, but they shouldn’t be in the business of disseminating climate information. That role is for scientists, and should be based on scientific fact. Allowing the channels of communication to become politicized only weakens the argument and mires the discussion in those “for” and those “against”. With the scientific community now coming together as one voice, it’s obvious that we need to move beyond that. What’s needed is an international science czar who oversees the dissemination of information from the scientists to the nations of the world. This is a world issue, after all. And it will take a global effort to solve it.
Pete