Coldest day of the year with about 1 1/2 feet of snow on the ground...nothing compared to Boston but much worse than Denver or even Billings, Montana...Global warming lately has meant cold and wet east of the Mississippi and warm and dry to the west...The Conewango river empties into the Allegheny river just beyond that last bench, both of them frozen solid enough for ice fishing. A 93 year old woman says that she cannot recall such a prolonged cold spell in Warren although she does remember the river freezing in the past. The coldest local temperature this day was about seven miles from here at -32F. If the temperature goes above 32 F next week it will be the first time in weeks.
POSTSCRIPT: March 21st-The map illustrates global temperatures for the 3 months of December, January and February. It indicates that-unlike most of the planet-the area east of the Mississippi is in some kind of polar trough that has broken all previous records. Of course, some east coast people dismiss the concept of global warming because of this anomaly, and prefer to mock Al Gore etc. Personally, I prefer to trust the science, although I must admit that I am not all that concerned about the eventual effects of climate change. Carbon dioxide levels have been much higher in the past during which time temporal forests and dinosaurs survived near the north pole. Certainly present day life will have to adapt to the changing environment, which means that Florida and Manhattan may eventually be underwater and the west will have to import water or substantially increase desalination and other measures. Granted, I do not see the political nor personal will in most people to address the problems voluntarily( ..hence the resurgence in truck and SUV sales as soon as gasoline prices went down last month), but I assume that societies will adapt by necessity rather than choice, which is typical human nature...That is, if the oceans and other ecosystems do not crash completely and kill all of us...
