What ever happened to winter?

*Update on politics: SOPA/PIPA are unlikely to be passed during this session of congress, which may as well be chalked up as a win for the Internet.  Megaupload got taken down, which totally sucks for a lot of people.  Hackers responded by bringing down some pretty government wall paper.  Meanwhile, the MPAA made a total ass of itself.  Good to see that even special needs people can flourish in today's society and become leaders of large organizations*

I'm almost positive that whatever runs the weather has been trolling the shit out of me.  I mean, we're in January, also known as one of the winter months.  It should be, oh, I don't know, mildly cold outside?  As in, shorts and a T-shirt should not seem like a comfortable clothing combination if you're significantly north of the equator.

And yet, when I go outside (this does happen- but it's rarer than finding a shiny pokemon) shorts and a t-shirt seem like a good idea.  Ignoring any and all complaints about a lack of fashion sense, actually looking decent, wearing pony gear, etc, of course.

Point being that it's really damn warm for winter.  Really, really damn warm.  Annoyingly warm.

And since building my country-wide blizzard doomsday device has suffered several setbacks due to the fact that you apparently can't import black market plutonium and that cold fusion hasn't been invented yet, unless you're trying to steal money from people.

Other setbacks- Arnold doesn't want to deliver really bad one liners for me

But, horrible Batman movies aside, I'm not the only one getting irritated that the weather is rather temperate and pleasant.  This mild winter totally sucks if you're a farmer and you rely on a large-ish snow pack to prevent spring droughts.  In fact, the entire US has been undergoing a shit load of not snow, as more than 95% of the US has had below average snow cover.

Why?  I'll wait until Al Gore is done shrieking about global warming.

He isn't going to stop any time soon?  Damn.  Alright, on with it then.

It turns out, climate is really complicated.  According to smart people who look at clouds all day, the reason for this stupidly warm winter is the lower edge of an atmospheric pressure pattern called the Arctic Oscillation.  This lower edge is called the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and has been screwing with the jet stream like a really persistent stalker.

The jet stream is a current of air that we more or less rely on to keep temperatures where we expect them.  When it deviates, we get a change in climate.  And it's been hanging out in the North Pole, probably trying to start it's own Occupy protest because it didn't get what it wanted for Christmas.  And as such, it's been cock blocking the cold fronts we usually get when winter happens.

Why is the NAO allowing the jet stream to hang out like a house guest whose welcome wore out two weeks ago?  Scientists got shit.  Some are claiming global warming (duh).  Others have decided that its the sun's fault due to high sunspot activity- then they went back to playing Minecraft.

Personally, I blame Santa.  1% of all the world is hogging 99% of all the cold air.

Ho, Ho, Ho, motherfucker

Update:  After I wrote this, the state of Washington went and declared a state of emergency due to having stupidly large amounts of snow fall (over 24 inches.  You could loose an entire midget in that).  Either this is an example of local weather not actually reflecting climate, or Mother Nature is pantsing climatologists again. 

Both are equally likely.