Friday, August 10, 2007

Global Climate Instability

The term "global warming" doesn't quite describe what is happening to the weather locally. While some places are experiencing unprecidented heat, in other places folks are shivering.
In Paraguay, the weather has been hovering around freezing for nearly a month. Most people in Paraguay do not have central heating. While Paraguayans may experience the occasional chilly day in winter when the wind is from the south, this is unprecedented. Their flora is much like the Amazonian basin. It isn't able to tolerate long periods of cold.
In the Seattle area, our winter temperatures are milder but winter weather extends far into spring. We have had only a handful of warm days this summer. Late July and August have been unusually chilly. I had to turn on the heat yesterday.
Native Washingtonians are inured to gray chilly days. About half of us are from somewhere else and we find it hard to bear. We don't think plunging into a chilly water or camping in a downpour is really recreation.
Everywhere, storms are becoming more freqent and more violent. Expect this to get worse. All weather is caused by an exchange of heat.
CarolDW


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