What happened to the Spring?

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I don't know if it is officially summer or not yet, but if it is what happened to the Spring? I'd had visions of a long warm spring in Central Europe, sitting out drinking beers in the warm evenings. Out in the forests in my shorts and t-shirt enjoying weather that England couldn't rival. Well this spring has been the worst in living memory, tempratures are about 10 degrees lower than normal and it rains most days. It reminds me of home. Now is this global warming?
Are the changes in climate we are seeing are due to the vast amounts of carbon dioxide released since the industrial revolution? A few things occur to me:

We only have detailed climate records for just a few hundred years.
The Thames last froze over in 1814, in the 17th and 18th centuries it was a regular occurance - with "Frost Fairs" on the river in the winter.
The Romans grew grapes in Britain - the climate must have been more suitable then.
What am I trying to say with this? Climate change is incredibly complex, todays weather forcasts aren't accurate for much more than a few days. What we're doing by releasing huge amounts of greenhouse gases into our atmosphere is to play with a huge unknown. What this will do to our climate, globally is unknown, tip us into an ice age, or result in warmer longer summers, rising sea levels and flooding, all are possible. To blame the weather of one day or even year on global warming is like blaming a butterfly in the amazon for a hurricane. http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/
So because I haven't been walking in the mountains this past week due to the heavy rain and the butterfly in the amazon, I've updated this website a lot. Please send me feed back, what you like and don't like, things that would make it easier to use or encourage you to join.
The only other news is that in theory (if Sara finds out about her visas) I'll be travelling for two months in Central America, the plan is to fly into San Jose, Costa Rica and then travel up to Mexico where Sara will work in a hospital, in either Puebla or Guadaljara. I can't wait. I get to see all the places that I missed on my last trip plus revisit some favourites.

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Photos

Butterfly
I blame this particular one for the lousy spring weather.

Lots of Rain
Lots of chance to practice slow shutter water shots, on my Nikon D70.

Iris's in the garden
Ok so it hasn't all been rain, and the gardens in Hungary are lush and healthy, the country really needed the rain.

Comments

[Home and Away]

Great observations in 2004 about climate change...
in 2013 the average global temperature hasn't increased in 16 years, and the IPPC has fallen into disrepute...about to release version 5 of their reports.

[Ali]

not quite the point I was making...
Best explanation I've heard was in Cosmos - a man walking a dog on a beach, on a leash in a straight line, the dog will run all over the place, the man will walk towards a destination. The weather, day to day, year to year is like the dog, the climate is the man, it may take decades to the pattern there. There is little controversy about global warming now among scientists, it's happening and will cause turmoil for the weather and climate.

[Home and Away]

I like your analogy...
and agree with your point about weather vs climate. A couple of years ago I thought I would become better informed on the subject of global warming or climate change. I'm an engineer so can usually get to the bottom of things. As an engineer I was responsible for implementing Sustainable Development principles for U.S. Navy installations. I helped develop LEED, the U.S. green building criteria, with a Navy dorm being the first to be certified. I also worked for the White House's Office of the Federal Environmental Executive writing Greening the Government Executive Orders. So I wasn't starting from zero knowledge. I like to look at the facts and hear both sides. Of all the books I've read, the one that significantly formed my opinions was "The Hockey Stick Illusion" by A.W. Montford. The subsequent release of the Climategate emails confirmed my views of the current state of climate "science." Science that selectively picks data that supports a preconceived view is not science. Not making the data available to other scientists so they can replicate the experiment is not science. Only seeking peer reviews from those who agree with you is not science. Preventing the publication of contradicting research and seeking to banish such researchers from academia is not science. Any science that depends upon "the science is settled" appeal to authority argument is not science. Furthermore, Michael Mann, the leader of this group of true believer climate scientists, apparently has only an elementary knowledge of statistics that was easily challenged when real statisticians got involved. As for the majority of scientist agreeing to man's negative impact on warming, most of the purported scientists who show up at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change meetings are hangers on...more political wonks...enjoying the free ride to nice destinations. Climate science has become a religion, with sceptics (not "deniers") subject to ad hominem attacks rather than their arguments debated. I agree that there is global warming, but not that man has had a significant impact. That's why Mann and company tried so hard to hide the Medieval Warming Period when there was very little CO2 produced by humans. His graph of temperature showed only the last few years having significant warming...the shape of a hockey stick. Average global temperatures have not increased since 1997. The recent NOAA report stating that the last year was the warmest in history identified the ocean temperatures as being the highest, not due to man made CO2 but due to ocean mechanisms. Temperatures over land were cooler. These natural cycles which are ultimately driven by the sun, have much more to do with temperature swings. I agree that we shouldn't pollute or waste resources and should consume less energy, but I do not agree that investing trillions of dollars to stop or reverse warming is the best use of limited resources when there are so many more uses for those resources that have an immediate benefit to humans...like providing pure water to the vast majority who do not have it. I hope you and Michelle had a merry Christmas, and have a happy New Year! I would love to visit with you the next time you come this way...this time it's my treat!