I have been getting a lot of e-mail on the UKMET center announcement which people email me, and I am not reading. Why? Because such agenda-driven agencies, and plainly they are, can distract me from the actual weather. I am aware of their position, I think it makes them helpless in the face of the obvious if its coming, and unlike me, I do respect the opposite side's argument. What I don't respect is a scientific agency that is driven more by government policy than the science. So, their agenda is plain.. Mine is also..,debate and let's get the right answer.

Succinctly put, I can't trust what they say given the things I know to be fact about past climate conditions that the Earth has experienced. They have ranged from ice fairs on the Thames in the time of Victoria to weather which inspired the tapestry's of orange trees around the time of the Tudors...which occurred at the last end of the warm cycle that predated the mini ice age that was ending around the time of the Victorian reign.

Here in the States, the hurricane issue has turned into the convenient example of warming. Every time someone brings up Katrina, one can counter with 1938. My point is that this is not about science anymore, because it is simply not that warm on earth now compared to what it has been and can be.

It is amazing to me. Within 20 years we will know if they are right or wrong. That simple. Given the problems in the world today that demand immediate attention, I would think that this can be put on the back burner for a while. I want to remind you that imminent crisis has always been a political tool to move people to action, when thought and rational behavior based on known facts would be more prudent. Eisenhower, in his farewell speech also warned ..... "that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite"

Sound familiar. Oh, that's right, we aren't supposed to worry about any wisdom garnered from the past.

So don't e-mail me the UKMET ideas. I like their models, I think they are good forecasters, but the agenda driving them is handcuffing them as to them, as we saw this winter, it renders them at a disadvantage if it is going to get cold.

They better get more objective... and quickly (they do have till the warm AMO ends).

BTW... don't let this stop you from appreciating the good that they do and their excellence. Ronald Reagan said if I like 80% of what someone does and disagree with 20%, that still gives us plenty of common ground. I think the UKMET office obviously has very talented forecasters and if this issue wasn't there, they would be better. On the balance, I like them and think they are good.

What I am not wrong about is that this is not an open and shut case, and it does deserve debate and not hasty moves.

Source: AccuWeather