What's up with the weather given that it's now officially on the books that 2006 was the warmest recorded year ever - supposedly warmest since pre Ice Age temperatures? According to this climatologist, we're looking at ice free arctic caps in 2040. There's a serious snowball factor in melting sea ice... White ice and snow reflects heat energy back into space, whereas dark oceanic waters absorb more of it. The more that melts, the hotter it gets. Here in Brooklyn there's Cherry Blossoms blooming in the botanical gardens. In January. Cherry blossoms. Read it at the Weather Underground here. And for more fascinating climate science I like to read Real Climate.