Phil Plait, the Baddest Astronomer in the whole damn town and one of the people I would like in my neighborhood, points to something that should be pretty obvious at this point, but is certainly worth repeating.  The climate is changing.  We are causing a lot of it.  There is a lot of research on this.  99.8% of all articles agree with this.  Even Richard Muller, the man who doubted climate change and was hired by the Koch brothers to investigate the evidence,  came to the same conclusion.

The best way for a scientist to become known is to prove another scientist wrong.  To believe that there is a giant cabal of scientists that are silencing dissent is to completely misunderstand how the scientific process works.  There is more money in proving that climate change isn’t happening than in proving that climate change is happening.  Scientists that work for the government don’t make a lot of money.  Scientists that work for big business do.  Big business pays a lot of money to try to disprove climate change.  How many scientists do you think would be lining up to make more money and make a name for themselves if they thought there was actually a chance that climate change theories were wrong?  A lot.  That’s how many.

The scientific method: proving people wrong since 1600 BC.

Chicago has already broken a record for the number of days in a row without a measurable snowfall.  We are currently at 281 days and counting.  March 4th, 2012 was the last snowfall.

Not only that, but Dallas has now had a snowfall earlier than Chicago.  This is only the second time that has happened.

Now, we will likely break another record: The latest snowfall of the years.  All we have to do is make it to December 16th.  There is a chance of rain/snow that weekend, so it all depends on how warm it is when the precipitation falls.  It seems a shame to come this far and not break the record.  Kind of like having to turn back when the peak of Everest is in your sights only without the effort or sense of accomplishment.  Or fun…

Chicago has also been much drier than usual this year.  We are currently 10″ below average.  That’s a little over 30% less rain than we usually get.  And when we do get rain, it tends to come in higher accumulation deluges.  The city has noticed this and is starting pilot programs to do something about it.

In a year already filled with extreme weather, get ready to add another one.  This one has all the makings of being severely devastating.

Typhoon Bopha is a category 5 storm and is striking the Philippine island of Mindanao.  Mindanao is not equipped to handle a storm of this strength.  A tropical storm that hit it last year caused 1,268 deaths.  A category 5 storm is orders of magnitude more powerful than that.

Mindanao is very close to the Equator and rarely gets hit by tropical storms as a result.  Thus the infrastructure isn’t there.  Now, two years in a row storms will have hit this poor island and at least 40 deaths are already confirmed.

When are we going to do something about the destruction we are causing?  It’s looking all too likely that the answer is when it’s too late.