Climate Change ... or Not

We just came off a particularly warm winter for most of the country and I wasn't expecting this story. The Los Angeles Times reports that the polar sea ice off the northern coast of Alaska is the heaviest in ten years. They say:

While Canadian waters in the far North Atlantic have relatively low ice levels, Alaska is an iceberg — at least for now. 

Climate simply changes, and has done so forever, without our help. Our efforts seem puny by comparison with the planetary forces at work.

Are we changing the climate now? It is essentially impossible to know if we have an effect, and to assert we do without proof is hubris of a dramatic sort. Hat tip to Lucianne.com for the link.

Later - CBS News reports that we may have another El Nino this coming winter, according to NOAA scientists and the National Weather Service.  The odds are roughly 50% that we will. When El Nino happens the jetstream drops farther south and we get really unusual weather.