In scanning news reports on February 5 I happened upon these sequential headlines from Reuters:

“Tipping point” on horizon for Greenland ice

China battles “coldest winter in 100 years”
 
The first article cites no scientific empirical evidence, but uses words like “may” and “could” to alarm the reader to the possibility of a meltdown of the Greenland Ice Cap. The very next article focused on the coldest winter in a hundred years in China that has resulted in scores of deaths and havoc as preparations are underway to host next summer’s Olympic Games.

The next week, the Denver Post contained this feature, “Dry-winter forecasts miss mark,” which lead with the far too obvious statement that, “Dry-winter forecasts were flat wrong this year for much of Colorado and the Southwest.” Naturally, some were suggesting global warming was responsible for all the snow – just as it was supposed to be responsible when the forecast called for drought.

Too warm, too cold, too wet, too dry – which is it? But, all of it blamed on the same culprit. If you’re having a problem trying to sort out the truth, you are not alone. Maybe instead of climate change of seismic proportion, it is what used to be called: “weather.”