Climate Follies

Climate change is such a bore that I can scarcely be bothered to keep up with it any more, but now and then I try to check in. The latest news is that 2016 was the hottest year ever, well, that is the hottest year for which we have decent records, which is, at best, about 150 years. Seriously? Moreover, you have to dig past the breathless news reports to find that we broke the old record by—wait for it now—0.003 degrees C. (What was that you say about “margin of error”? Doesn’t count in climate change, don’t you know.)

2016, like the previous record year (1998) was a big El Nino year, so a temperature spike is to be expected. Now, if the temp record was .75 degrees hotter than 1998—given the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere in the nearly 2o years since 1998—then I’d be impressed. The fact that the biggest El Nino in 20 years put us on par with the previous record ought to be a minor crisis for the climatistas, not an occasion for another typical headline.

Likewise, last year’s El Nino was supposed to be a drought buster for us out here in California. But rainfall was only slightly above normal. El Nino has been replaced by La Nina, and so California was supposed to lapse back into severe drought conditions. Instead, we may be heading for an all-time record rain year. Maybe the climatistas don’t have this nailed down? Shhh: you’re not allowed to say that.

But we know that climate change is supposed to be bad, bad, bad already, right? Um, no one told the world’s farmers, according to reporting by Michael Bastasch:

2016’s Record Warmth Brought Record Crop Yields, Fewer Storms

While the media worried about anthropogenic global warming scenarios, some good news in 2016 was likely missed: record crop yields and relatively fewer storms.

Global crop yields hit record levels, according to United Nations data. Production of wheat, coarse grains and rice are forecasted to be higher in 2016 than the previous year. The United Nations expects cereal production to be 1.7 percent, or 44 million metric tons, higher than 2015.

U.S. corn and soybean yields hit record levels in 2016, according to U.S. government data. Corn production rose 15.1 billion bushels, or 11 percent, from 2015, and soybean production rose another 4.31 billion bushels, or 10 percent, over the previous year.

But isn’t the arctic roasting this winter? I guess it is. . . until it isn’t:

Alaska has coldest weather in years, wind chill of minus-74

Alaska, a state known for its frigid conditions, just witnessed its coldest weather in more than a decade in some areas, plunging more than 50 degrees colder than normal.

The temperature in Fairbanks crashed to a bone-chilling minus-51 degrees Wednesday, its lowest reading in 17 years.

The cold snap hit Alaska following its warmest year on record. “Each of the three years since 2014 is among the three warmest on record for Alaska, with 2015 tied with 2002 for third warmest,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a report published earlier in the month.

The core of the cold exits Alaska Friday, and next week temperatures are forecast to be above normal. By next Thursday, some areas of the state may see temperatures more than 30 degrees above normal.

You mean the weather fluctuates in ways that are unpredictable over time periods longer than a week? I am shocked. . .

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