Tuesday

Global What?

The first day of spring this year was March 20^th.  My family and I had just polished off some delicious flounder and eel at a fantastic local sushi joint (because that’s the cool thing to do).  We walked outside and lo and behold!  Snow!  Let me be a little more specific: sideways-blowing snow!  We couldn’t see the windows from where we were sitting, so needless to say, we were surprised.  Why were we surprised?  The weatherman did say we were expecting it, but who really believes them?  Now, snow may not be a big deal for some folks, but we live in Texas.  Snow (not to be confused with sleet (or “wintery mix”)) is a big deal!

Global warming advocates are probably reeling right now.  I’ve lived in DFW my whole life and this winter past has seen more snow than all of the previous I’ve seen combined, especially with that thirteen-incher back in February.  It stuck for a week.  We even built a seven foot snow man.  Remember Washington D.C. got a record double-blasting, too!  I was never convinced about the idea of global warming, but now I have a radical counter-question.  Is this a global cooling? 

Even after asking that question, my answer is probably ‘no.’  I do believe, however, that the Earth just has some natural cycles and we may just be in the middle of a string of colder winters.  For all we know, we might have just been lucky enough to have all the right weather ingredients to have snow here.  Even further in the back of my mind, I can’t help but return to questioning global warming.  I mean, if it’s snowing in Texas, what’s going on at the North Pole?

Well, Santa’s probably freezing his butt off!  I’m no climatologist (in this life), but behind all of the cold air that brought us snow, there’s got to be even colder air, right?  It’s pretty basic knowledge that the further north you get, the colder it is.  Sometimes, the arctic puffs its cheeks and blows that mess down to Texas.  I see the temperature map of the whole country, and I see thirty-something degrees here, twenty-somethings in Kansas and Nebraska, and single digits in Minnesota.  What’s going on north of that?  They’re probably freezing mercury up there! (That’s a sweltering -37.89۫F, by the way).  I doubt there’s a whole lot of glacial meltdown going on, but remember, I’m no climatologist.

I’m not planning on starting an anti-global warming rally or anything, just raising questions.  When was the last time you heard about the ozone problem?  I thought the hurricanes were supposed to get worse and worse after 2005.  The 2006 and 2009 hurricane seasons were below average and 2007 and 2008 were average.

I realize that hurricanes and blizzards are worse for people who actually get hit by them so it’s kind of a matter of perspective, but they still choose to live there, right?  As for the polar bears, don’t hold your breath for that global summer vacation.

By: S. Cole Garrett