So yesterday it was in the mid 50’s here. In Minnesota. In Mid December. And while I may detest cold weather, this was a bit much, even for me.
I mean, I enjoyed my lunchtime walk without a jacket. So that was nice. And the storms later? They actually weren’t that bad (I was expecting a derecho), and I saw more lightning last night than I did all summer because of our drought. So that was cool.
I was a bit concerned about my mom. She lives in Iowa and that’s where the rough line of storms was marching through. She can’t get to her basement anymore and her tornado sirens were going off so she had to shelter in her bathroom shower. Thankfully she was fine and they didn’t lose power down there. So all good, right?
No. No bueno.
I mean, c’mon. This is record breaking, odd as fuck weather. On the heels of an unusually long and mild autumn. And a drought summer. And you know it all relates to shifting weather patterns due to global warming.
As I pondered this, I was reminded of a holiday “hymn” that I sang as my answering machine greeting back in 1990. It’s to the tune of Gloria In Excelsis Deo:
With our human greed unending
We have thrown the world askew
The icecaps and both poles are melting
Because of the buildup of C-O-2
Glo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-bal warming
Soon we’ll all be toooooast…
Yeah. I was aware of global warming and the shrinking sea ice back in 1990. Thirty fucking years this has been a thing, and still geopolitical and corporate greed, and selfish human behavior have done little to nothing to curb the warming trend.
As I type this, I am hearing about a super typhoon slamming the Philippines. These typhoons (and hurricanes) are getting bigger and stronger and more destructive.
And this reminds me of a story I heard on NPR about Bangladesh and how that country is experiencing more devastating and large typhoons as well. And it is one of the most prone countries to these devastating storms, and now instead of one massive one per lifetime, they are seeing them every couple of years.
I think even in the next 5 years we’re going to see massive shifts in storm events and heat waves, droughts, floods, etc. it makes me wonder what event will finally cause governments to react?
Mangina Monologues 
Yeah I used to joke the day we’d take climate change seriously is when those in landlocked states would wake up one morning and realize they now lived on waterfront property. But it’s also weather extremes. Hell back in 2010 there was major flooding in the valley section of Providence. It goes back into the 1980s i worked at a hardware store the west river was right behind it. That flooded regularly.