Odds Are - It's Winter-White

Climatic and meteorology experts have delivered the news that all those hoped-for "white Christmas" events will soon become a cherished memory of days long past. Owing to the reality of climate change, once termed "global warming", due to greenhouse gases impacting on our atmosphere.

'Climate change', given the seemingly increasing untoward weather and climatic events we're being treated to, seems that much more expressive of what's occurring than 'global warming'.

We don't, in fact, see too many indications of a warming atmosphere in our daily lives. Seems, in fact, that we've been treated to increasing cold, at times when we anticipate, given the season of the year, normal temperatures or what passes for normal in our memories.

We've experienced rainier summers, cooler summers. And cooler fall temperatures, and downright frigid winter temperatures - so much for global warming. Whereas, on the other hand, there's general agreement on the troubling and startling symptoms of climate change.

Still, global warming appears to be an undeniable fact. Sea ice in the Arctic is rapidly disappearing, and thousand-year-old glaciers are gradually breaking off, plopping into the ocean, and drifting off, melting in warmer seas.

The 0.7-degree Celsius rise in world temperatures since records have been kept, dating from 1900 - along with anticipated greater rises within the century speak of inexorability.

Meanwhile, a heavy blanket of snow this Christmas in the winter of 2008 has come to rest in much of Asia, Europe and North America. This is the first time in about a half-century that the entire vast geography of Canada has been snow-covered for Christmas. In fact, the celebrated semi-tropical city of Victoria on Vancouver Island is so snow-bound its ground pack was measured as the thickest in the country.

Enjoy it while we can, we're told. Climate researchers at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research confirm that "The probability of snow on the ground at Christmas is already lower than it was even 50 years ago but it will become an even greater rarity many places by the latter half of the century".

Mind, there are many Canadians who would stand up and swear that we're experiencing greater snowfall episodes, more frequently, resulting in heavier snowpacks on the ground than at any other time in living memory - last year in Canada's capital city the snowfall came close to equalling a monster snow-year in the winter of 1971-72.

We remain to be convinced.