Winter's back in 07-08... where'd Al Gore go?!

As I sit marooned at a friend's house this sunny Sunday afternoon, I can't help but wonder where Al Gore is hiding today... or where he's been in recent months. A little over a year ago, he could be seen on one network or another telling anyone who would listen that evidence was overwhelmingly proving that he was right and everyone who criticized him had to be idiots.

The message that global warming was coming and would soon be here to stay started to grate on people's nerves. His pointing to the fact that we were living through one of the warmest years in history, citing the lack of "winter" in north eastern US states, he almost gleefully gloated everyone HAD to admit that he was right. Apparently, naysayers no longer had a leg to stand on.

Sure, the last 4-5 years saw very little snowfall here in Ottawa. It's been that long since I last spent any time on local ski slopes... mainly due to the increased amount of freezing rain and scarcity of snow. Mr. Gore said that we had to get used to freezing rain, the "new snow" of the future for the northern inhabited regions of North America. Well, as I sit at this very moment, we're now a hair away from blowing away the all-time snowfall record here in Ottawa.... here in 2008....

Winter is back and it's back with a vengeance. Could it really be, as I've written before, that some cyclical and (usually) unpredictable factors conspired to give us "milder" winters than usual in recent years? Could it be that this year's snow accumulation is just another stat on a chart of numbers from which nobody can truly extrapolate any trends?

Who knows!

All I know is that I have seen more snow fall this year than I ever have since being born in 1975. I'm stuck at a friend's house because the street outside has five foot snow drifts that are impassable even for my trusty Ford Escape that has bailed me out of more than one tough snowy spot in the past. Yes, smarter people than me have pointed out that I should have stayed home yesterday, but I'd be stuck there too -- but that's a landlord-related story for another day.

Mr. Gore once pointed to scientists who supported his claims. Some of those scientists (and more are coming along each day) now believe that we might soon enter an era of global cooling.
Does anyone really know? I don't really think so.

All I know is that I have started my golf season around March 30th twice in the past three years. Now, April 30th seems rather optimistic. I have an OC Transpo travel plan to whip out tomorrow morning if I don't get out of here. I love my friends, I love my truck... but this snow is getting ridiculous.

And there is NOTHING I can do about it!