I've been working on this in my mind for some time. Al Gore is sure it is happening, but he lives in the Beltway in Washington, DC and he must be confusing hot air with global warming. Here are some anecdotes for Al to quote in his next speech. With a little work, they could become "Algore-isms."

I do not refute some global warming, in fact, it is all that is staving off the next ice age! In other words, global warming is good. It may be all that maintains the status quo.

Ice ages run in 10,000-year cycles. The last one ended 10,000 years ago. Each ice age has been preceded by the glaciers receding - not from heat, but lack of snowfall. As the Earth cools, less water is evaporated from the oceans and that translates into less snow fall to feed the glaciers, so they recede until the ice age kicks in, then watch out! (Just as a note, the glaciers on Mt. Rainier grew last year (1996). The first year in decades.)

Actually, man (or persons if you are PC) has caused some global warming. We have probably staved off disaster for 50 years or so. But, the glaciers are coming. Below is my humble chronology to be added to as more evidence surfaces.

• April 27, 1997 White Pass Ski Area closed for the season in a blizzard with 110 inches of base. They ran out of skiers. Normally this resort operates with 48 to 60 inches base. (Monday, the area was closed with 6-12 inches of new powder.)
• May 1, 1997 Bud break at the Chateau Puryear Vineyard. Two weeks later than normal. In a way it is good, because the nights have been so cold, the new shoots would have been frosted had they emerged on schedule.
• May 1, 1997 The Washington State Highway Department announced that Chinook Pass will not open on Memorial Day Weekend, its normal opening date for the past 50 years. Deep snow coupled with recent accumulations at the summit will delay opening to mid to late June.
• May 3, 1997 Yakima Herald Republic weather: Heating-Degree days Oct 1 to date: 5643 - 226 above normal.
• May 3, 1997 Yakima Herald Republic weather: Growing-Degree units Last year to date: 1111 - 182 behind the 40-year average. To make up for a deficit this large will take two months with the temperature 3 degrees above normal every day.
• May 7, 1997 Yakima Herald Republic - The State Department of transportation plans to reopen the North Cascades Highway this morning - weather permitting. May 7 is the latest opening since 1976 just after the highway was built. Normally it opens in mid-April.
• May 20, 1997 Anchorage Daily News - 18 years of satellite temperatures show no (global) warming. (This is bad news, Al.)
• May 24, 1997 Worldwatch Institute, an independent environmental study organization, issued its latest collection of data, among them, global temperatures are declining. (Maybe Al Gore should stick to fund raising with Asian Business Persons and stay out of science.)
• May 25, 1997 Yakima Herald Republic - Quote from another Chinook Pass Story on why the pass will not open on schedule this year. "As recently as Tuesday (May 20) 'it was snowing and blowing hard almost all day." Lee said."
• June 5, 1997 Anchorage Daily News - (letter to the editor) Russian Laurentiy Zagoskin saw Yukon River ice move at Nulato May 5, 1843, at 5:20 PM. In 1997 - 147 years later - ice at Nulato moved nearly a week later than in 1843.
• June 12, 1997 Yakima Herald Republic - Chinook Pass is scheduled to open today, the latest opening date since 1975.
• September 12, 1997 I went over White Pass today. The ridge just west of the pass still has snow on it. The snow on this ridge has never lasted all summer before. New snow has already fallen at this elevation and will start adding to last year's accumulation. Could this be the first step in the return of the glaciers to this ridge?
• September 28, 1997 Grape Research News, published by IAREC of Washington State University. "As of September 28, heat unit accumulation at the WSU-IAREC was 2468 using a base temperature of 50oF. That level is closing in on the 64-year total heat unit accumulation of 2430. In comparison with the 12 most recent years (inclusive of 1997) for the September 28 level, there are 6 years higher and 5 years lower than 1997. From September 28 to October 31, heat unit accumulation has averaged 141 units with a low of 51 in 1995 and a high of 289 in 1988. Basically, it is a roll of Mother nature's dice!" Hum? Doesn't look like any evidence of any trend here.
• October 6, 1997 The first frost of the year. This is 9 days ahead of our average first frost which usually occurs around October 15. Maybe Algore should go outside and read the thermometer.
• November 8, 1997 Yakima Herald Republic (editorial reprint from the Spokesman Review)(complete text-this is too good to summarize!) The Chicken Little crowd that fretted several years ago about global cooling and nuclear winter is back again.
• Now, it's hyperventilating about global warming and the possible damage a few extra degrees may cause decades from now - melted ice caps, rising seas, swamped coastal cities, floods, storms, diseases, devastated wildlife.
• Unfortunately, the alarmists have Vice President Al Gore's ear. And the United States is dangerously close to signing an international climate treaty that will trash our economy and compromise our sovereignty.
• Before the White House sells our birthright, Congress should hold hearings on the scientific uncertainty associated with the global warming theory. Also, it should demand that the U.S. not sign a treaty that causes serious damage to our economy, invites United Nations bureaucrats to oversee compliance or treats nations unequally.
• Only a fringe minority of the scientific community supports the Chicken Littles.
• Just 13 percent of climate scientist polled in a 1992 Greenpeace survey believed that runaway global warming will occur as a result of continuing climate changes. Scientists in a May 1997 article in Science estimated that it will be a decade or longer before they know whether human activity is, in fact, causing climate changes.
• For some reason, Gore & Co. never mentions that humankind contributes only 5 percent of the 200 billion tons of carbon dioxide released annually into the atmosphere. Nor do the environmentalists reveal that the average temperature of Mother Earth has risen only one-half of 1 degree Celsius in the last 120 years - and most of that was before World War II. In the past 18 years, the average temperature actually has dropped nine-hundredths of 1 degree Celsius.
• The facts don't support the hysteria, nor do they support a treaty that experts say will cost the U.S. economy $3 trillion over the next quarter century -- $30,000 per family. New emission standards, predict Heritage Foundation analysts, will hike electricity prices by 50 percent and gas prices by 70 cents per gallon…
• All in the name of junk science. (I couldn't have said it better.)
• December 3, 1997 Seattle Times. "Almost20 years of satellite measurements of global temperature are failing show any warming at all. A century-long record of ground temperature measurements in the 48 contiguous states also shows no upward trend. While a worldwide average increase of about 1 degree Fahrenheit seems to have occurred since 1890, the upward temperature trend doesn't follow the rising level of atmospheric carbon dioxide. From 1940 to 1070, there was actually a slight cooling. The small warming seen could well be natures way of ending the Little Ice Age, a cold period lasting several centuries. As Al Gore's favorite glacier in Glacier Park shrinks, other valley glaciers are advancing. The Antarctic glacier, with most of the world's ice, seems to be growing. If sea levels actually began dropping in the next century, it would not come as a surprise to the experts in this field."
• December 11, 1997 Yakima Herald Republic. Al Gore attributed the flooding last winter in South Dakota to global warming. Perhaps it was his favorite glacier melting that caused the flooding.
• January, 1998 Atlantic Monthly.  http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/98jan/climate.htm Since this magazine is very PC, they have to convolute Global Warming to adhere to what the scientist-author says the data really supports - catastrophic cooling of the Earth's atmosphere is imminent and the greatest danger to mankind i.e. humankind.  Ocean currents, water vapor, and volcanic dust play a much larger role in climate than greenhouse gases.  If the Earth cools, we are in deep doggie doo-doo.  If it heats up, we flood Florida.  It is illegal to ship wine to Florida, so who cares?
• April 12, 1998  Yakima Herald Republic - (AP) The first two months of 1998 were the warmest and wettest in 104 years.  But, we broke no record high temperatures.  We didn't even come close.  In fact, daily temperatures were mostly normal - which around here is pretty warm.  If this is global warming, bring it on.  Our vineyard suffered no winter damage this year.
• April 28, 1998 Yakima Herald Republic - For those of you who think this year is unusually warm, think again. Growing degrees since Jan, 1998 are only 1117. The forty-year average is 1143. This 3% deficit in heat is hardly what Algore would tell you. The vineyard is about a week behind normal.
• July 25, 1998 Yakima Herald Republic - We're having a heat wave and so is the rest of the nation. Algore says this is it, get used to it!. The temperature was 97 degrees - 9 degrees above normal! The record for this date??? 110 degrees. It was set in 1928! Long before Algore was even born.
• August, 1998 July was the fifth hottest on record. Global warming? Hardly, you have to go back 25 years to find the fourth hottest and 70 years to find the hottest!
• May 1, 1999 Yakima Herald Republic Highway workers trying to open Chinook Pass probed for the 20-foot tall entry gate to Mt. Rainier National Park with a 9-foot probe. They couldn't find it.
• May 8, 1999 Well, we didn't break the record cold for this date, we only tied it at 25 degrees. The record? Set maybe 80 years ago before global warming? Nope, it was set in 1990. Algore should stick to inventing things like the internet.
• May 9, 1999 We broke the record cold today! Another night of 25 degrees. When was the record set? 1920 maybe? Wrong again. It was set in 1996 continuing the pattern of record highs set over 25 years ago and record cold being set in the last 10 years.
• June 3, 1999 Maybe there is hope. The Yakima Herald Republic reported today that global warming will raise the snow level in the Cascades by 3000 feet by 2025 based on computer models. Maybe the guy running the computer should look out the window not at Windows ™.
• June 4, 1999 Yakima Herald Republic. Cayuse Pass in the eastern reach of Mount Rainier National Park, opened for the season Thursday after its longest closure on record. Chinook Pass, on State Route 410, remains closed by snow. The pass traditionally opens at the end of May. If you are reading this chronologically, is this déja vu all over again or are we seeing a pattern?
• June 6, 1999 I was awakened last night by wind machines that protect the orchards from frost. Usually, at this time of year, they start picking cherries, not protect them from frost.
• June 7, 1999 There is still snow on the mountain range south of the winery. Why is this important? This range is only 3000 feet high and very seldom has snow on it in January. When it does have snow, it only lasts about a week. There is no end to winter in sight. Bud break was about 10 days late and for good reason. It has been so cold they haven't grown properly and are being frosted most every night. Frost in the vineyards of Washington State used to be very rare before Algore stopped global warming single-handedly.
• June 9, 1999, Yakima Herald Republic. "You weren't dreaming when you heard your furnace come on early Tuesday. It was cold - frigid enough to break Yakima's 71-year-old record ( set in 1928) by three degrees and bring snow to Snoqualmie and White passes. After a relatively mild winter, the Yakima Valley has experienced a chilly spring, including three record low temperatures in the past month." Let me get this straight. The world is getting warmer, but we keep breaking the record low temperature, not the record high temperature. Is there something wrong with this picture? Hello-o!
• July 2, 1999, Yakima Herald Republic. Chinook Pass, Highway 410 opened today for the 4 of July Weekend. Snow drifts over 20 feet high line the highway. This is the latest opening in the history of the pass. The pass report on opening day? Snowing hard, 3 inches new snow, compact snow and ice on the roadway.
• June 17, 2000,  Yakima Herald Republic.  Big headline:  Hottest Spring on Record!  Well, not here in the Pacific Northwest.  We are freezing.  Plus, if you read the whole article, it says that the world satellite readings are 0.7 degrees below normal.  Hardly global warming.
• Sept 2, 2000, Algore visited the Northwest on Friday and turned the thermostat down on us.  Sunday morning we set a new record low temperature for September 3, 38^o, only 6^o above freezing.  As a note to our honesty, we broke no high records all year.  It seems clear to me that if there is global warming that record high temperatures would be broken, not record low temperatures, but hey, what do I know other than it's getting colder not warmer.
• Sept. 22, 2000, a killing freeze hit the vineyards of Eastern Washington.  Vineyards not protected by heating or elevation were totally decimated.  The temperature hit 26^o in Yakima two nights in a row.  Before 'global warming' this event generally took place on or about October 14, three weeks later!  Shortening the growing season by 21 days in serious cooling, not warming.  Algore convinced his buddy William, the Impeached, to free oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in order to heat homes in New England.  So, Al, is it going to be a cold winter in New England?  I thought that was a thing of the past what with global warming.  I forgot, there is a lot of money in Federally funded junk science.
• December 24, 2000,  Yakima Herald Republic.  Great News, Washington State went for Algore, so he did us a favor by turning down the thermostat.  Heating degree days to date are 2608.  This is 22% ahead of the average of 2143.  This means that, thanks to Algore, we have used 22% more energy to heat our house than average, or in other words, it is 22% colder than normal.  Another way to look at it is that it has been, on the average, 5.5 degrees colder every day since October 1, 2000 than normal.  Junk scientists say that global warming may raise temperatures only 2 or 3 degrees.  Doesn't look very dangerous to me.
• Discover Magazine, February, 2001, Kudos to this magazine for publishing articles based on scientific merit, not because they are politically correct.  The basic assumption of this article is that warmer temperatures are a result of removing forests from the vicinity of weather stations or the paving of areas around weather stations.  Both will cause the station to report warmer temperatures.  These two conditions cause the same station to report warmer temperatures even though global temperatures may only be marginally warmer.  It brings up such PC ideas as "nuclear winter."  Remember when the pseudo-scientists were warning about just the opposite of "global warming?"  The article ends with the earliest frost  in history in Huntsville, AL.  Hardly global warming.
• The Wall Street Journal, January 19, 2001,  Big travel news!  Skiing Makes a Comeback.  What, you say, not Winter tanning on Lake Superior Beaches?  Why skiing and not sunbathing?  Well, according to the WSJ, "Mother Nature has had a lot to do with it.  This November and December were the coldest on record in the U.S.  Snowfalls have been enormous in some areas, and where there isn't precipitation, the temperatures have been low enough to allow resorts to make their own snow." 
• Yakima Herald Republic, March 3, 2001.  Spokane Sets Record for Snow on Ground.  For the past 114 globally heated days, Spokane has had an inch or more of snow on the ground breaking the all time record set in 1992-93.  What?  Two records for extreme cold broken during these steamy globally warmed days?  Tell me it isn't true.  My computer model said to plant date palms in Spokane since they need a hot desert climate.  I had better read on.  Let's see, the previous record must be about 100 years ago - before global warming.  Sorry, wrong again.  The previous record was set in the baked years of 1984-85.
• April 7, 2001.  The sun rose to the roar of wind machines and a heavy black smudge over the valley.  A new record low temperature for that date was set at 21^o.  This broke the previous record set in - get this, 1991.
• May 24, 2001.  We finally set a record high temperature for the date.  98^o.  When was the previous record set?  Who knows, the Yakima Hairball Repulsive doesn't give the old record anymore.
• May 29, 2001.  Just as I was starting to believe, I was awakened to wind machines protecting crops from frost (Usually something that you hear in March, maybe April).  We broke a record low.  29^o exceeding the old low of 30^o set in 1976.
• June 25, 2001.  Another one bites the dust.  A new record cold temperature was set this date.  36 ^o, beating the old record of 39^o set back in 1966 by 3 degrees. This so called global warming is freezing us to death!
• May 7, 2002.  Supporting a warming trend with data seems impossible.  A new record low was set last night of 29^o.  Grape buds were frosted in the colder spots of the vineyard.
• May 10, 12,000 BC.  Native American Liberal Drum.  Scientists warn that the use of fossil fuels such as firewood and buffalo chips are leading to global warming.  Burning these fuels to keep warm and cook food adds entrapped carbon dioxide back into the air where it is adding to the greenhouse effect.  They report that the ice sheet that covers most of North America is receding at an alarming rate.  At this time, there are only remnants left if California’s Yosemite Valley exposing ugly scarred rock walls where pristine white ice once lay.  The melting will lead to ecological disaster.  Ocean levels are predicted to rise 200 feet; covering the land bridge we all arrived on, making it impossible to visit relatives in the old country.  Cuba will be cut off from the mainland, which could lead to a communist takeover of the isolated island.  If the melting continues at the present rate, the white man will find the continent inhabitable and push the Indians on to reservations.  One scientist even predicted that by the year 2000 AD, people might actually live in North Dakota, although he added this dire prediction is highly unlikely.  These scientists recommend we have all tribal councils immediately sign a treaty drafted in Kyoto banning the use of fire for cooking and warmth.  “Eat your meat raw, it has more vitamins,” stated a noted environmentalist.  “Huddle together in the dark to keep warm,” he added, “our brothers  and sisters in Alaska do that all the time.”
• May 28,2002.  Snowslide Closes N. Cascades Highway.  The North Cascades Highway opened to traffic May 7, in one of the latest openings in the scenic routes 30 year history.  Folks, we are looking for a 'warming trend.'  I just can't see that trend in these data.
• June 6, 2002.  New record low temperature in Yakima. 35^o.
• July 14, 2002.  Ah, global warming after all.  According to the National Weather Service, we finally broke two record high temperatures.  104^o on Friday broke the record set in 1990 and 105^o on Saturday broke the record set in 1961.  But wait, Ken Kohagen, a climatologically observer for the weather service, who has records dating back to 1909, says that the 105^o temperature Saturday only matches the record high set in 1935 and the Friday "record" doesn't even come close to the real record of 108^o set in 1926!  Could global warming be just the fact that the US Weather Service doesn't have good enough records?
• August 7, 2002.  Yakima Herald Republic.  "Think it's Been Chilly?  Try a record low of 38."  We broke the old record set in pre-global warming 1969 by 5 whole degrees!  The weather is expected to stay colder than normal for at least a week.
• October 30, 2002.  No need to visit Canada.  New record low temp of 9^o, breaking the old record by 2 degrees.  Have you noticed that the junk scientists are not using the term 'global warming' any more.  It has been replaced by 'climactic change.'  Seems 'global warming' was a political agenda supported by computer modeling.  All the empirical evidence, like this web page uses, points to something a little colder.  By the way, the normal low this time of year is 30^o.
• October 31, 2002.  Last night the record low temperature of 16^o was shattered by 12^o!  The overnight low reached a paltry 4^o.  When was the previous record set? 1930?  No way.  It was set in the Algore year of 1995.  October, 2002 was the coldest on record since 1971.  Can you say 'climactic change?'  Sure you can.  I like the way you don't say 'global warming' anymore.
• November 1, 2002.  Record low temperature of 6^o, breaking previous record by 12^o.
• November 2, 2002.  Global Warming ends.  Climactic change kick in.  Record low in Yakima is 4^o.
• November 3, 2002.  Global Warming at last.  Record low temperature last nigh of 7^o.  Only 21^o below normal.  We'll take any kind of warming; global or local.
• January 3, 2003 Associated Press.  Wow, the Antarctic ice sheet is melting and could disappear in 7000 years, raising sea levels by 16 feet.  Did it start 20 years ago at the height of the Industrial Revolution? or maybe 150 years ago at the start of the Industrial Revolution?  No.  Sorry.  It started 10,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age.  Is man causing it?  No.  Is 'global warming' accelerating it?  Scientists can't really say.  Our data would suggest it may be reversing soon.
• May 17, 2003  Record cold last night, 29^o.  Don't know when the old record was set because of the way the local rag reports the data.  If you still believe in global warming after reading this far, pull out one of your teeth and put it under your pillow tonight.  You might be surprised in the morning.
• October 20, 2003  Good news!  We tied the old high temperature of 77 ^o .  That record was set in the sweltering global warming year of 1927.
• October 21, 2003  Maybe its going to happen!  Let's not get too excited.  Broke the record high of 79^o set in 1927 with a new high of 83^o .  This year we planted our Bougainvillea, next year it's olive trees, and if this keeps up, a palm tree in 2005!  Be sure to vote against any candidate who wants to stop global warming.  No more Ice Ages!
• November 26, 2003 The Washington Post.  Research: Global Warming helps Boost Wine Quality.  Something we've known for a long time.  Scientist checking scoring of wines back to  1950 find that warm years are better years. DUH!  Global warming will improve quality except in climates that parallel Baghdad.
• December 6, 2003  Milan, Italy.  This is a hoot.  " Western Europe might get colder as a result of global warming, (So it's not global after all, just regional.) because the melting Arctic ice cap is cooling off the warm ocean current responsible for Europe's mild weather , scientists said."  The article goes on with some really junk science.  "Bamber said that in the next five years, Europe could expect more hazardous conditions in the Alps.  Last summer was the first summer that the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc closed for fear of rocks loosened by melted ice and snow."  Help me understand.  Europe is getting colder  but the rocks were loosened by melting ice and snow during an extreme hot spell.  Is it getting colder or warmer?  Can we expect these extreme hot spells to continue as Europe gets colder?  How long will it get hotter as it gets colder?  I guess it doesn't matter with junk science.  Just say something off the wall and the liberal media will print it without questioning the logic.  If you want to see how Mr. Bamber stays warm check out  http://www.ggy.bris.ac.uk/research/glaciology/personalpp/bamber/jlbhome.htm
• January 5, 2004  Last night the temperature dipped to 14^o below zero in Yakima breaking the old record set in 1982.  I cancelled my order for olive trees.  They die at about 15^o above.  A note for those who claim I am just reporting the weather:  Weather over time is climate.  This is our 7th year of reporting how much colder it is getting.  If the climate were getting warmer we would be reporting record highs, not record lows.  I'm sorry the data doesn't support your feelings.  Get over it.  And don't write me and tell me that the more 'global warming' there is, the colder it is going to be!
• May, 2004 Discover Magazine, page 14.  "What causes ice ages?"  Well, it is a combination of the Earth's orbit and orientation.  I guess global warming theorists forgot to put these data in their program.  The article ends, "The last ice age ended 11,000 years ago.  Most interglacial periods have persisted for 10,000 to 15,000 years, so it seems likely that a new ice age will begin, but perhaps not for thousands of years.  Human-caused global warming may prevent or stall the next ice age, although no one knows how much of a factor this will be."  In other words, you had better hope global warming is real, because if it is not, it will get ugly.

As the evidence accumulates, we will keep you informed. Count on Bonair Winery for the truth. If you have any pertinent information, please E-mail it to the address below. Be sure to include the date, the source, and an excerpt of the article. Or you may send the whole article and we will summarize it.

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