Weihnachten

New York Christmas #3 is past, and for the third year in a row it was a brown Christmas.

The weather was in the upper 30s and it rained all day. It was more of the same yesterday, though we did get a light dusting of snow last night (26 December). It will be gone by the afternoon, and, if the weather men are right, it will be the last snow we get for at least another ten days.

This has been one of the warmest late autumn/early winters on record. (surprise, surprise...)

Here are the weather statistics for December (including the forecast temperatures for the next four days):

1 day with a normal high temperature
3 days with high temperatures below normal
27 days with high temperatures above normal (22 of these were at least 5 degrees above normal)

2 days with low temperatures below normal
29 days with low temperatures above normal

17 days with high temperatures in the 40s (13 of these after 8 December)
7 days with high temperatures in the 50s
5 days with high temperatures in the 30s
1 day with high temperatures in the 20s
1 day with high temperatures in the 60s

Our average low on 1 December is 24 degrees Fahrenheit. Obviously, it is much lower on 31 December (15 degrees Fahrenheit). Incredibly, we experienced temperatures below 24 only four times during the entire month. The point is that this month has been ridiculous. What's scarier is that it was like this in 2004, six weeks were like this in mid-winter last year, and, so far, we have had eight weeks of this weather in the winter of 2006-2007.

I am angry, scared, and depressed about global warming. I have felt its effects in both Texas and New York. The freaky weather of years like 2004, 2005, and 2006 is no longer "unseasonable." The fact is that this is our new "normal" weather.

I like cold weather. I like snow. I don't like excessive heat and drought. However, I think that my home is becoming more like north-western Virginia than central New York. I think that northern New England is becoming more like central New York. The scariest thing is that the changes are not stopping. In 50 years, my area could be like Raleigh, North Carolina. ...but what about 50 years after that?

I don't know what is going to happen to the world, but I know that something is going to have to give.