Northern California Water Temperatures Too Cold For Swimming

 

Newsweek:

 

Swimmers could experience hypothermia in only 30 minutes off the coast of Crescent City, California, after water temperatures plunged because of coastal winds. Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows that some of the coastal waters are too cold for safe swimming. A recent temperature reading off the coast of Crescent City revealed that water temperatures were 47.3 degrees Fahrenheit, more than 3 degrees below normal for this time of year and 4 degrees below winter water temperatures in January.

 

Huh?! This was in late June! How could this be? “The Earth is on fire,” we are told. “The oceans are boiling!” Polar bears will drown! Penguins will become extinct! Swedes will soon have dark hair and brown eyes! We are just (fill in the blank) years away from a planetary Dante’s Inferno!

 

Yet, in the Upper Midwest, where I reside, we no longer have the “Dog Days” of summer, a stretch of two or three weeks in late July and early August where it is stiflingly hot and calm, nearly unbearable. At these times, in the “Good Old Days,” my parents used to say “There’s no relief in sight!” Gone. Moreover, of the past 22 (lake) ice-outs in our area, 15 have been later than normal. That’s 68%.

“Extreme weather! Climate change!” the crazies will shout. “That’s exactly what we predicted would happen!”

Global warming? May or may not be happening. (If it is, it is natural, cyclical-- not man-caused.)

Global dumbing? Now that I can believe in.