It's all hot air.

I was wondering why Al Gorgonzola was so quiet. It appears that we are headed for an ice age. Well, maybe.

1. The average temperature in January was about a third of a degree cooler than the average held in the 20th century.

2. Globally, this is the harshest winter in a century.

3. In Februrary, so far, Toronto has received 70 cm (approx. 28") of snow, breaking the record set in 1950

4. The Arctic Sea ice that is supposed to be melting? It has grown 10-20 cm within the past year (almost 4-8 inches).

The reason? Hot air. Wind, to be precise.

"We missed what was right in front of our eyes," says Prof. Russell. It's not ice melt but rather wind circulation that drives ocean currents northward from the tropics. Climate models until now have not properly accounted for the wind's effects on ocean circulation, so researchers have compensated by over-emphasizing the role of manmade warming on polar ice melt.

But when Profs. Toggweiler and Russell rejigged their model to include the 40-year cycle of winds away from the equator (then back towards it again), the role of ocean currents bringing warm southern waters to the north was obvious in the current Arctic warming.

Last month, Oleg Sorokhtin, a fellow of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, shrugged off manmade climate change as "a drop in the bucket." Showing that solar activity has entered an inactive phase, Prof. Sorokhtin advised people to "stock up on fur coats."

When I was thinner, I once tried on a fur coat (for fun). It suits me well. I think I'll invest in one next winter; you know, because a girl can never be too warm in an Ice Age.

Do you wonder what our last icing like event was like?

The last time the sun was this inactive, Earth suffered the Little Ice Age that lasted about five centuries and ended in 1850. Crops failed through killer frosts and drought. Famine, plague and war were widespread. Harbours froze, so did rivers, and trade ceased.

I guess this is also a global thing, because wasn't the United States, for the most part, quite prosperous and fertile? Just wondering out loud--anyone have the answer to that one?

(H/T: National Post)

Update: Have no fear, this will melt the ice.