MIKE SMITH: GLOBAL WARMING DOOM, GLOOM HAVEN'T OCCURRED | Wichita

For more than 20 years, we have been hearing doomsday predictions about global warming's effects on Kansas and across the world. Locally, during the hot Kansas summer of 2006, forecasts were issued and media articles written tying that hot, dry weather to global warming, and forecasting more extreme heat in the future.

According to one scientist with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global warming in 2006 was already "kicking the heat up a notch."

But the weather has refused to cooperate with those forecasts.

More drought? The reality: 2007 and 2008 were the two wettest years in the history of Wichita. No area of Kansas is experiencing drought at the present time, in spite of all that hand-wringing just two years ago.

Extreme heat? The reality: The past two years, combined, had 21 fewer days than average with 90-degree or higher temperatures. Since 1990, there has been a downward trend in 100-degree or warmer temperatures in Wichita.

It isn't just Kansas.
..
I don't know what 2009's or 2029's weather might bring, nor does anyone else.

The sciences of meteorology and climatology still have a lot of learning to do.

My personal conclusion: The science is definitely not settled.

Mike Smith is a certified consulting meteorologist and CEO of WeatherData Services of Wichita.

CBM News

A good morning to you Faithful Listeners here on Radio CBM 98.6. Temperatures remain below freezing here in the capital city, and today's song dedication is Dino's Christmas leftovers, "Baby It's Cold Outside," going out with love to Al Gore from Louisiana strawberry farmers.

How cold will it get? - Breaking News, New Brunswick, Canada

Yesterday morning, temperatures in Edmundston plummeted to a bone-numbing -41.1C (-42F).

This set a new record low for Edmundston for January, breaking the previous mark of -41C (-41.8F), which was established Jan. 26, 1991.

Meanwhile, the temperatures are forecast to get even colder on the weekend, said Côté.