In article <telecom25.66.2@telecom-digest.org>,
ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu says:
> If anyone had/still has any doubts about whether or not 'global
> warming' has started in ernest need only look to the US east coast
> throughout the day on Sunday. But that was (still is, at this writing)
> such an aberation, maybe global warming is underway and we just do not
> appreciate it..
> The news wire on Sunday was just full of items about the 'greatest
> snowstorm ever' on the east coast', So I just picked one at random
> which seemed to tell the story as well as any, with a reasonably
> recent dateline on it, so as to include any late breaking
> developments.
And, as usual, the wires were wrong. Yes, it was a big snow, for MA.
But trivial compared to the Blizzard of '78. I have about a foot or
so on my lawn. Because it coincided with a high tide, the coastal
town of Winthrop, MA got a storm surge, but that isn't unusual. The
storm wasn't unusual; the mildness of the winter has been, and that
has helped keep heating oil expenses tolerable.
> _Apparently_ the storm has subsided almost everywhere, now it is
> just a matter of cleaning up the streets and sidewalks, and my
> experience with this, based on the Chicago example at the end of
> January, 1967 and again in April, 1978 is that they will be struggling
> with the mess for at least a month, and probably two months, with
> thick, muddy, dirty, ice-encrusted sidewalks and bus stops. Do take
> care as you walk around over the next few days.
No, because it occured on a Sunday, most folks stayed home and watched
the tape-delayed Olympics from snow-free Torino, the plows had plenty
of warning, and the roads are OK. Local news spent almost a minute of
tape on a gap-toothed yokel who managed to spin out into a snow bank
in his Suzuki 4WD. It was more dangerous to be quail hunting in Texas
with Dick Cheney.
--Gene
Gene S. Berkowitz (first.last@comcast.net)