The latest snowfall of any kind I remember growing up in Iowa was around April 15 -- but that was flurries. Today Iowa woke up in a blanket of mid-April snow in the same week that much of the nation faced numerous record lows and crop failure. Florida fared fine, and we even had a slight easing of our drought last night.
Many of you likely remember the movie "The Day After Tomorrow", which was in theaters just a couple years ago. While the hundred-foot tidal waves and stratosphere-sucking storms were pure fiction, there is some truth to the basic premise -- the collapse of the ocean conveyor belt in the Atlantic. RealClimate has an excellent explanation of the effect here.
As the RealClimate article mentions, there are indications that the thermohaline circulation has decreased by as much as 30% in recent times. So, I'm keeping a wary eye on the weather and its relation to the melting of Greenland, especially given that we're seeing record cold temperatures for the month (not just a particular day).
I went so far as to check the ocean buoy temperature data the other day at NOAA's National Data Buoy Center. Fortunately, I could discern no significant temperature trend in any of the data, but near-shore water temperature changes likely would not be the first indication of the current's collapse. All that said, however, the mainstream scientific consensus is that such a shutdown would not be very permanent nor apocalyptic. But it could increase events like what we've seen the past few days.
Interestingly enough, besides the drastic weather changes in the United States, other parts of the world are seeing significant swings in temperature. For instance, in Hong Kong they issued the first cold weather warning since their weather warning system was implemented.
My condolences to those of you who lost plants this week, such as those at Life After the Oil Crash. Hopefully it's not too late in the season to get some new ones in the ground.
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