I live in Wichita, and it seems like the weather has been much better in the last 15 years or so. Tulsa is not too far South, and I wonder if the same is true there, too.

It seems like in the 70's and 80's we got a lot more snow. It still snows, but not nearly as much. (Or, so it seems.) Also, it got to 5 below regularly and occasionally hit 20 below, but now does a "touch and go" (aircraft practice landing) to zero maybe once a year. Rarely dips below 10.

So is the Summer hotter? No, I think it is better. I remember when it got to 115; it regularly got to 108 or 109. Now, it rarely goes over 100. Maybe gets to 105 for a day or two.

It just seems better. All year long.

That tells me we might be entering a macro-cycle-weather thing. If we are, I'm not sure that I think pollution is doing it, although it might be. I'm not privvy to the data, haven't paid attention to the seasonal averages. I also don't trust the things said by those with political agendas on either side, so I'm skeptical of any information that is proferred in this regard.

What I know is that long before ecologists sounded their warnings and global warning scares, geologists have found evidence of what they thought were regular climate shifts. So it would seem that this kind of thing happened before man was burning stuff. On the other hand, it would seem prudent to use fuels that pollute less and maybe don't require us to buy oil from potential enemies. So I'm all for advances in that area.

I like my ground-pounding big-block, and I'm proud that the exhaust will burn your eyes so bad you can't see. Stand near it when it's idling and your eyes are burning in about 30 seconds. That's a hot-rod and the kid in me loves that stuff. But I wouldn't have any problem filling it up with alcohol though, and then it would be cleaner and wouldn't burn your eyes anymore.

Anyway, not that you asked for my opinion on the greenhouse gas thing, but out it came anyway. I respect both sides of the global warming debate, as long as their not screaming. The screamers on both sides annoy me. As for weather shifts, I think we're a little hotter here in the summer and a little cooler in the winter but it isn't a huge difference and I definitely don't think we'll become extinct as a result.