Not any place on earth regularly has an "average" year with predominantly average days with only average readings for anything. Not for temps, not for rainfall, wind, or anything else. That's why averages over longer periods of time are so much more meaningful when looking at weather and keeping the views at that high level. than any kind of discrete data.

If you picked certain years or even certain days, you could conclude that where I live is one of the rainiest places in the US. Other choices would support a conclusion that it's desert with only scant rainfall. And everything in between.

Data of all kinds needs to be considered in context for what it is, what it's being compared to and what it's not. A known phrase of uncertain source is “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Weather data is statistics. All statistics have the potential to as easily be useful as misleading.

How quickly we forget prior years of harsh weather. I heard someone say "it's never been that hot, cold or whatever here before" then remind them it was more extreme in some past year that I remember. They usually respond that they had forgotten about that incident.

- 6 degrees here now. Winter can BITE ME!

Weather along with temperatures comes in cycles. While extreme cold, around zero or below, has come later than normal this season I remember similar from the late 1950s/early 60s, 1980s. Almost always followed by hot dry summers with drought but other parts of the country the reverse. The weather in this area for the last twenty years has been abnormal especially the last ten. Last year in this immediate area there were only a couple of days of near 100 temps where in the past most years there was a week or more. Search your memories for what weather/temperatures were like. I use weather and temperatures as separate things because weather can include moisture of all types or lack of it while temperatures are normally hot in summer and cold in winter. Each person's idea of what is extremes of temperature vary with the individual

Extreme weather events and their increasing frequency are recognized as a clear indication of climate change. Violent storms, droughts, extreme hot or cold, increased flooding, wildfires, etc. are all part of the mix. We need to revisit what is considered "normal".

We did not go to Florida this year because of COVID. DH says he will never stay in Michigan for another winter! Whether or not I go! Well, we get our second vaccine shot on Feb. 25 and I will suggest to him he go by himself if he wants to!

I hear him tell his friends that I made him stay home! Nope, he could have gone, but I wasn’t.

Of course none has lived "forever", so we don't really know everything needed

to compare. But...here...this severe cold spell (now going into it's third week,

is the coldest on record for the past 10 years. Sure..that could be misleading (if

you say so), but I have no reason or knowledge to doubt it. That's cold for me.

So far, I haven't been able to figure out how studying "stats and sources" just

in case the weather guessers are wrong, can make me feel warmer.

It's cold. That's about as truthful and "studied" that I can know.

And...to add to it, in west central Florida, into the 80s for the past couple of days!!

I accept the idea that human activity has at least exacerbated if not caused the current warming trend. Global warming and cooling trends are cyclical, well documented, and well understood. But exactly as with other things that are cyclical (like the stock market), it really isn't possible to know if an up is an up as part of a greater up, an up preceding a down, a blip of a nature never seen before, or something different, until much later. Normally what any one trend is gets assessed in the context of the next few cycles that follow and that won't happen until very many years from now. . It puzzles me how so many scientists can be so certain (beyond identifying the trend) about what will happen in the future. I can't help but believe it's an unfortunate intersection of science and their own personal politics. Of these further conclusions I for now am on the fence.

Jim, I don't remember exactly the year but perhaps 40 years ago, I was at a Rose Bowl game on Jan 1 in Pasadena, CA, with a seat on the sunny side. The temperature that day must have been close to 90 degrees. Neither that, nor your Florida weather last week, mean anything.

I just have to ask Elmer do you really believe that all you said means anything??

It had been a really nice warm winter until last week. Since then we have had record breaking cold temps. -42C here overnight (that’s -43F)

People that study climate for a living are on the whole unified in a belief that man caused climate change is burning the planet up. And that time to turn the cruise to Hell around is rapidly growing shorter. With the main problem with predictive models that has been appearing is that the deterioration is turning out to be coming on a lot faster than anticipated.

"I just have to ask Elmer do you really believe that all you said means anything??"

Sure, no more or less than other thoughts hastily assembled and typed. You've seemingly had trouble understanding other comments before, maybe that's the case here? Do you have any thoughts of your own to share?

We are having a mild winter--over all. These 10 days we are in the sub freezer but other than that easy peasy. I found is HILARIOUS thinking of all the Global Warming folk--the pandemic with sooo much closed down, emissions at an all time low=temps went up!! The earth is gunna do what the earth is gunna do with or without our help it seems.

Last year, no snow. This year, we have had several significant snow falls. Climate change is real. We need to act now. I think unpredictable weather and extreme weather are going to become more and more common. It's one of the things (the other being $$$) that keeps me from buying a home at the shore. I have visions of it just floating away into the sea.

Global warming is a mistaken term. Rightfully, human induced climate change.

jim, global warming is a fine term when used in a strictly scientific sense. The planet Earth is such a big place, we as individuals can't use our daily weather experiences to say what is going on everywhere else. Now on the verge of it being too late, we're finally talking 'human induced climate change'. Up next, 'human induced sixth mass extinction.'

What cheery thoughts -- not!

DH and I are getting ready. He just brought home Nevil Shute's 1957 On The Beach, where nuclear war results in Earth's demise.

We're a dogged bunch, humans. If we can't destroy our world one way, we've got other means.

We had a day at 111 F last summer. This is Southern California, not Phoenix. It is worrisome.

"I found is HILARIOUS thinking of all the Global Warming folk"

With your own ideas so often and so obviously displayed, don't overlook the likelihood of a shared view in return about those who try to refute facts. Facts of all kinds.

Last August there were five days that it was above 115° in Palm Springs, which I think might have been a record, but it did not break a record for high temperature, as it only reached 118°. The record all time temperature for Palm Springs of 121° was set in 2019 - only one degree higher than the 120° record set in 1969, 50 years earlier. This is not much of a change in 50 years.

To observe global climate change, it is better to look at the retreat of glaciers and the loss of ice on Greenland. It is well documented that sea levels are rising, due to loss of ice.

I think what the news has stated that some people are understanding as "humans" have "caused" climate change according to scientist is simply trying to sell more news. Real Scientists would never say that humans "caused" climate change only that they have accelerated the cycle. Real Scientists know that this planet has been hot and cold before however the change has not been this rapid. It is better to try to find solutions to reduce the increase as long as we can until we like most other creatures can no longer live with the conditions.

The thawing of the permafrost that covers about a quarter of the northern hemisphere is equally or even more disturbing. Releasing megatons of CO2 and Methane in the process which in turn may increase the rate of warming in a vicious cycle. The yet to be answered question is how much of the gases from the thawing permafrost will be released as CO2 and how much as Methane which warms the planet at a nearly 100 fold rate compared to CO2.