The 30 degree temperature swing this week in Chicago has me thinking of extreme or unusual weather events. Two days ago people were sitting in short sleeves at U.S. Cellular field saying “too bad the Sox are getting owned but at least the weather is perfect.” Today it’s snowing.

The 20th century alone has had its fair share of climatological oddities. The Environment Times reports that hazardous weather events have increased steadily since the 1940’s but they invalidate their entire argument by stating that advances in technology have simply made it more common for disasters in remote areas to be reported.

When I look back at historical climate records, it just doesn’t feel like this country is undergoing a major environmental upheaval heralded by bizarre weather patterns. In the early part of the century we had the Galveston Hurricane wipe that city off the face of the Earth. It was followed in subsequent years by relatively cool summers (1903, 1915,) the coldest year on record (1917,) and widespread flooding along the Mississippi River (1927.)

Then the 30’s rolled around and everything flipped around. The country experienced the hottest decade on record in the 1930’s. There was widespread drought and much of the plains looked like a desert (although that was mostly due to poor farming practices.)

So here we are. I’ve gone public with the prediction that this summer is going to be pretty goddamned brutal. Combined with the heat of 2005 and 2006, how is this any different than the 1930’s? We had our massive flood in 1993 and they had theirs in 1927. We’ve had a higher number of damaging hurricanes, but, then again we have a much higher population density these days

I still need more data to come down on one side or the other regarding global warming/climate change. On the other hand I’m glad that it’s on peoples’ minds at the moment and that progress is slowly being made.