Weather

One of my recent conversations with Santa, that I passed on to you, had to do with snow. As you are well aware, weather throughout the world, for the last few of years has been weird, to say the least. There has even been considerable speculation about a so-called "warming trend." Since snow figures prominently in Santa’s activities I asked him if he was concerned. This was his response

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I’m not the least bit concerned. If you’ll excuse the expression, I’ve weathered worse than this.

You’re too young to remember, but back in 793 AD the "Viking Era" began when the Danes invaded and sacked Lindisfarne. That was a monastery located on a little island off the northeast coast of England. The attack had been made possible as a result of an intense warming trend that had shrunk the northern ice cap and enabled the Vikings to travel far and wide in their open boats. In fact it was so warm there were portions of Greenland that were actually green. Had that trend continued the world would be far different from what it is today. But that is not the way of weather. Relatively minor events can have far reaching impact. For example Tambora, a volcano in Indonesia, literally blew its top in 1815. It spewed a staggering amount of ash into the air, which blocked the sun’s warming rays. As a direct result Pennsylvania experienced heavy snowfall during August of the following year and 1816 earned the nickname "The year without a summer."

And so it was during the latter part of the Middle Ages. Something happened that reversed the trend and the Northern Hemisphere moved into a period of intense cold. This so-called "Mini-Ice Age" bottomed out in 1423. During that year the Baltic Sea and a good portion of the North Sea froze over to such an extent that the Vikings could have almost walked to some of the off-shore islands of the British Isles - had they been able to withstand the cold.

So no, I’m not the least bit concerned about the warming trend. What does concern me are some of the problems that are developing as a result of pollution. They are not reversible. I’m particularly concerned about Polar Bears and how pollutants are affecting them. I’ll have to tell you about them sometime.

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And once again, he was gone!

I’ll be in touch next month. Until then, try to be good. Santa’s watching!

Santa’s Friend

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