Someone Really Needs to Drive A Stake In This | Climate Skeptic

Here is the connundrum — the two surface records (GISTEMP and Hadley CRUT3) showed May of 2009 as the fifth hottest in over a century of readings. The two satellite records showed it as only the 16th hottest in 31 years of satellite records. It is hard to call something settled science when even a basic question like “was last month hotter or colder than average” can’t be answered with authority.

Cool weather dampen U.S. June retail sales « Where’s my Global Warming Dude? By Global Freeze

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Rain and cooler-than-usual weather so far in June may have dampened demand for summer items such as sandals, swimwear and beer for retailers already hard put to counter sales declines during the recession.

The effect may be most pronounced in the U.S. Northeast, where June so far has been the coldest in 27 years and is on track to become one of the wettest Junes on record, according to weather research firm Planalytics, which has tracked such data since the 1930s.

June in the Midwest so far is the coldest in six years and has been wetter than normal, but still not close to last year when it was the second wettest in 50 years.

It is the wettest in 4 years in the U.S. Southeast and U.S. Southwest and the coldest in 42 years in the Southwest, the weather tracking firm said.

[Lack of global warming hits North Dakota farmers]: Some acres won't be planted

Cold weather June 6 did some frost damage to some of the canola east of Langdon, but it was not too significant, he said. But he is most concerned about producers north of Langdon near Hannah, Osnabrock, Milton, and Edinburgh.

“They are having a big problem putting in a crop. Quite a few acres won't get planted and will be preventive plantings,” Mehlhoff said. “That's a concern with the high value crops we have.”

He said it is already getting too late for some producers.

“If you can't get in in this area by June 10 to 15, it is a big risk. It's already costing you money,” he said.

The major problem was not so much the rain this spring as the blizzard in the fall that put 2 to 3 inches of snow on the ground, he said. That snow prevented some producers from harvesting their fall crops and put them behind, and then came a cold, wet spring. “It's not a normal year. That's for sure,” Mehlhoff said.

On June 10, the temperature dipped to 37 degrees and the area was expecting it to go even lower June 11.

“We've had very few days in the 70s,” he said.