Is Weather Predictable?

Are we going into a new ice age? I’m really not sure, but with the cold getting more prominent and the snow that we had Sunday it is something to think about.
I seriously think that the facts will show that the weather is not consistent and that those who “forecast” what will occur in the weather. They really do not know what will happen and just think about all of the long range prognostications that have been made in recent years.
Where I live we have the predictions for the rain season on the west coast. We have El Niño and La Niña what are supposed to create opposite and extreme rain levels for the west coast. They also are seen as affecting all of the nation’s weather because what hits the west coast will travel east and affect all of the weather and in fact it could make your vacation longer or shorter depending on what the storm situation is that winter. So when they say that El Niño will be coming then we have a run on sand bags and everyone must prepare for a lot of rain. Then when it doesn’t come we are disappointed. If they say that we will not have the rain because of El Niña we should prepare for a dry year and hope we do not have the extreme water use restrictions. Those must start early and are really sensible in any year.Of course when the weather doesn’t work out the way that they expected then they just say that it is an instance when El Niño or El Niña just acted in reverse of what is expected. So all we can do is hope for good weather. In the long range we probably will have less water since those of us who live in Southern California seem to forget that the area is basically a desert and is normally dry. That is what causes most of our long range problems. In fact we waste most of the rain that occurs in our area and depend on water that is saved in the northern part of our state.

If we could really save all of our own rain we would have much less of a normal problem of moving water and balancing usage between agriculture and domestic usage. When they say that we will not have less than the normal amount of rain we must be cautious because you know that it is only a guess. This year we have proven that no matter what they say before the season starts it can be wetter than normal on some occasions. When it is wetter it just might make it miserable across the country. It could even lead to snow in places that “never” have snow. You might even have snow in beautiful downtown Burbank.
The truth is that we must all be prepared in advance for the weather problems that could occur. No matter what you think will occur being prepared will make you look good.