Imagine for a moment that the capital of the most-populated state in the union was experiencing its warmest days on record. Do you think this would be headline, front page, lead story news?
Well, the capital of California, Sacramento, last week posted the lowest recorded highs for the days August 5 and August 6 since they began keeping records in 1877.
Didn't hear about this? Of course you didn't, because a media fixated on global warming don't care about cold temperatures anywhere unless they can somehow be blamed on - wait for it! - global warming.
For those interested, the Sacramento Bee reported last Tuesday to the high pitch of crickets chirping in newsrooms across the fruited plain (emphasis added):
Don't tell Al Gore, but global warming is taking a holiday in Sacramento this week. The maximum temperatures Sunday and Monday set records each day -- as the coolest "highs" for the dates since record-keeping began in 1877.
Forecasters credit a deep marine layer and a potent low-pressure trough with funneling the cool air this way. It's as if Mother Nature cut herself a wedge of Santa Barbara weather and plopped it down on Sacramento's plate.
We're talking, for once, about the all-time lowest maximums, instead of the all-time highest. Monday's downtown high was just 74 degrees, 3 degrees cooler than the previous record of 77 degrees set in 1906, according to the National Weather Service. Sunday's downtown high of 76 frosted the previous low maximum of 78, set in 1962.
"These were the coldest highs for Aug. 5 and Aug. 6 that we've ever recorded," said meteorologist Cynthia Palmer of the National Weather Service office in Sacramento.
Searches of Google News and LexisNexis identified no other media outlet besides the Bee reporting this record occurrence. Think this would have been the case if last Sunday and Monday's highs in Sacramento were the warmest on record?
No, I don't either.
On a personal note, it was funny to see this headline, for I had business in Sacramento last Tuesday. As I drove there from the Bay Area in my convertible with the top down, I actually had to keep the heater on because of how cold it was...on August 7!
The following day, I asked in the Open Thread, "How's "global warming" impacting your summer?" My trip to Sacramento the previous day was the precipitant for this query, although I had no idea I was experiencing record summer cold for that area.
As I also mentioned in the Open Thread that day that where I currently reside in Northern California, we are experiencing possibly the coolest summer since I moved here in 1986. I think we've only turned on the air conditioner once, and have spent less time in the pool than ever before.
Normally by this time of year, we would have had several weeks of temperatures into the 100s. Although I was on vacation the week of July 4th when there apparently was a bit of a heat-wave, I'm not sure if we've yet experienced one 100 degree day here so far this year as we approach the end of summer. Most summers, we probably would have had ten by now.
I recently saw some statistics for a few Midwestern states also experiencing record cold summers, with Wichita, Kansas, if I recall correctly not having any 100 degree days so far this year either.
The point is that there are many skeptical scientists who believe that the warming cycle which began in the mid-'70s peaked in 1998, and that we are now in a cooling trend. The Southern hemisphere, as NewsBusters has reported, is experiencing an extremely harsh winter, with some areas seeing average temperatures five degrees below the norm.
Of course, the media don't report any of this because it doesn't fit their agenda. However, with last week's revisions to American climate history which once again established 1934 as the hottest year in this country since record-keeping began, and the likelihood that alterations will eventually be made to global historical data, isn't it possible that all the hysteria about climate change is coming at the peak of a natural warming cycle, and that absolutely no alterations in human behavior are necessary?
Furthermore, isn't it much like homo sapiens to recognize a trend just as it's about to end?
After all, this is why most people buy stocks at the top of a bull market, and sell them at the bottom of a bear market.
Something possibly to consider as governments across the globe ponder implementing Draconian solutions to a problem that could be solving itself as Mother Nature has demonstrated an extraordinary ability to accomplish without any assistance from the species under her auspice since the dawn of time.
