Weather Blues

You see this?

This is a picture of State Route 28 in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York.  This picture was taken not in January of February but yesterday - May 9, 2020.   It only shows how much the weather is out of whack thanks to the irregular jet stream, which was no doubt altered by climate change.

This has been a very depressing spring even leaving aside COVID-19 and the events I was looking forward to all getting cancelled or postponed as a result.  Not only was there more social activity this past winter, the weather was better?  It was practically snowless and we had mostly tranquil days.  Now after an excessively wet April, there's snow.  In May.  It even snowed in flurries where I am, and after a very chilly rain - the type of weather more associated with March.

Oh yeah, just because air pollution has been dramatically cut by the lockdowns, that doesn't mean climate change is lessening.  Climate change is still on track to radically alter our weather patterns for the worse in the years and decades to come. I heard somewhere that if we went to stop emitting carbon in the air and get our climate back to normal, we have to remain on lockdown for thirty years.

And, given that Trump is screwing up the COVID-19 response, that might actually happen. 

And a chilly spring doesn't mean a temperate summer.  Not only is it still expected to be hot this summer - and the heat won't kill the COVID virus - the hurricane season is expected to be busier than normal, and the almanacs' predictions still stand . . . the Northeast could get hit by a major storm this fall.

And if I may add one last thing . . .