(Do you recall, just a few years ago, the concern was we were due for
another ice-age?)

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1171620847309210.xml&coll=2

Cleveland's weather wizards downplay global warming
Friday, February 16, 2007
Plain Dealer Columnist
Michael Scott

Sure, a panel of 2,500 scientists this month declared that it is
"unequivocal" that global warming is occurring and at least 90 percent
certain that humans are responsible.

And, yes, the international report predicted that world temperatures
will rise from 3.2 to 7.8 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100 and that sea
levels could rise from 7 to 23 inches, leading to worldwide
catastrophe.

OK, fine -- but don't get too worked up over it.

That was the consensus among five Northeast Ohio meteorologists at a
panel discussion Tuesday at Landerhaven in Mayfield Heights.

It's not that Mark Johnson, Dick Goddard, Mark Nolan, Jon Laufman or
former Cleveland weatherman Don Webster disbelieve the data entirely.

But they're skeptical, and they don't believe that it's necessarily
our fault or that we should panic over it.

"We have maybe 100 years of data on a rock that's 6 billion years
old," said Johnson, a WEWS Channel 5 weatherman. "Mother Nature tends
to even herself out, and the fact is, the Earth is cyclical."

Goddard, WJW Channel 8 meteorologist, said scientists have
flip-flopped on the matter: "I have a file an inch thick from 30 years
ago that says the planet was cooling," he told the crowd of several
hundred.

They cautioned listeners not to put too much stock in what they said
was an insufficient history of warming.

"The term global warming' strikes fear in the heart of people every
time you say it, but it's simply a rise in temperature over time, and
it's happened before," said Nolan, meteorologist at WKYC Channel 3.
"I'm not sure which is more arrogant for humans: to say we caused it
or to say we're going to fix it.

Laufman, who has free-lanced for WOIO Channel 19 and taught
meteorology courses at several local colleges, including Case Western
Reserve University, also referenced history.

"There was also a significant spike in world temperatures during the
1400s -- and that was well before the Industrial Revolution," he said
"We haven't studied it long enough to know what causes global
warming."

Even Webster, who now lives in Hilton Head, S.C., but flew in this
week to moderate the discussion, was flippant.

"Where's Al Gore now?" he joked with the audience, referring to the
former vice president and his documentary film, "An Inconvenient
Truth," which argues the case for global warming. "You can bet he's
not in New York, where they've got nearly 12 feet of snow right now."