Tired of the cold? Let's go weather surfing

Al Roker just celebrated his 30th anniversary on the Today Show. In and of itself, that's impressive, but it is even more impressive if you consider that his journey to national weather fame took him through Cleveland. Yes, from 1978 to 1983 Roker stood before an old-fashioned weather map and prognosticated northern Ohio's forecasts. To say that "at the time" Cleveland might have been his dream job would be fair enough, but the fact is that as he climbed the ladder of meteorological success, and even now as he commands a national audience, he still speaks fondly of Cleveland. Like all national forecasters, Roker gets to talk about all of the country's weather. Moreover, he even gets to broadcast the weather live from places like Orlando, Phoenix and Seattle. Imagine that! If he doesn't like the weather where he's at, he can … with a minimal amount of corporate approval … leave. Doesn't that sound like a great perk? Wouldn't you like to have that kind of leeway? And with Northeast Ohio locked in some sort of massive and brutally evil freezer, the question is: If you could, where would you go? Orlando was mentioned … you know, the land of Disney and Universal theme parks. Unlike Cedar Point, these places stay open all year. Why? Because it is so warm down there … except for now. The forecast for Orlando predicts a high of 66 degrees and a low of 44. Wind from the northeast will gust to 10 mph, thus creating a wind chill of less than 38 degrees. Sounds like a good day to pass on the water rides! How about Vegas baby? It's basically the same as Orlando (except, when people return from Vegas, they don't talk about the weather) (or anything else that might have or might not have taken place there.) How about Phoenix? Today's high will be 76 degrees with an overnight low of 47. Just south in Tucson it will be cooler with a high of just 70 and a low of 42. (I have had to scrape ice off my rental car's windshield in February in Tucson, and without a windshield scraper, I found a credit card did the trick.) I have a son in Nashville. Now, here's a place you don't want to go right now. The past weekend's snowstorm was initially predicted to put down a couple of feet of snow in the Country Music Capital. As storm tracks sometimes do, this one wobbled to the north. While it all started out as snow, it quickly turned to rain. Unfortunately, the temperature near the ground never got the memo to warm up. It stayed below freezing and allowed the rain to coat everything with ice. Everything in Nashville came to a stop, including the electricity. The prediction from the power companies' states that full power throughout greater Nashville won't be achieved until sometime next week. Sadly … or just ironically … the frozen landscape of Nashville is stunningly beautiful. So, let's zip off to a city known for its winter weather. Let's go to Denver. Well, today in Denver the high will reach 48 degrees. What the heck? Just 96 miles away in Vail it will be 30 today. But, a warming trend will put the highs in the 40s for the weekend. The 40s! That's twice as warm as we are here! OK, let's go big! Let's fly off to Anchorage, Alaska! It has to be really cold there, right? Today's forecast for Anchorage sees a high of 33 degrees with snow changing over to rain. Rain? In Anchorage? Come on now! Let's make the seven-hour drive up to Fairbanks. Gonna be cold there for sure! Yep, cold with a high of 8 degrees and a wind chill of -13. The forecast in Cleveland is actually a slight bit cooler than Fairbanks. (I have always wondered why I see so many Alaska license plates around here in winter.) With Arctic air oozing down into eastern North America, one might wonder if other parts of the Northern Hemisphere that part of the Earth that is currently experiencing winter might also be cold. As it turns out, yes and no. Siberia will be sweltering tomorrow with a high of 6 degrees Fahrenheit, and a low of -5. Kinda sound like here. Wait, we are as cold as Siberia! That's doesn't seem fair or right or, again, fair. But, as it turns out, we have little justification to complain. That right goes to the people of Turkey (aka Turkiye). Right now, they are the coldest place on Earth. In fact, they are at that magical temperature where Celsius and Fahrenheit match. They are at -40 degrees … and I'm sure, not happy about it. So, what about Antarctica? Remember, it is summer down there, so daytime temperatures are a bit milder which is a great sentence because daytime is nearly all day there right now, and milder is really subjective. The fact is, Antarctica is going to see highs in the -18 range. But, speaking of summer, Australia is experiencing record-breaking warmth. Some parts of the country are currently topping 120 degrees and that's high enough to make a kangaroo hop! So, while it might be hard for us to believe, there is enough warmth on the Earth to level out our well-below average winter here. In fact, there is actually a slight bit more warmth than cold, and that's called climate change. Sometimes climate change becomes a debated issue when ultra-cold periods happen, but over time, small increases can make a giant difference. Here's a subtle, and timely, example: The Winter Olympics will take place in Milano Cortina area of Italy starting next week. On average, the winter temperature there has increased almost 5 degrees since the Olympics were last held at this location some 70 years ago. This means they must now "make" snow, and some events outdoors may be delayed or cancelled. Wow! But maybe they should just host the Olympics here. We are not supposed to warm up any time soon. Stay warm everyone! And thanks, Al Roker! January 100 Update My quest really stalled this week. As of Thursday morning, I stand at 88 species. Winter has locked away most all of the "water" birds, so "land" birds will be my emphasis to the finish line.