The Upside of E1 Ni–o

The President recently declared much of California a major disaster area due to massive storms that have caused roughly $300 million worth of damage to more than 20 counties; Western ski resorts are suffering from a lack of snow and the Northeast is experiencing one of its most pleasant winters in recent memory (today's Nor'Easter notwithstanding). If El Ni–o could be explained and understood, it would be possible to blame or praise it; nonetheless, most meteorologists in the country as well as most civilians are using El Ni–o as their justification for current trends in the weather and anything else--wherever or whatever they happen to be.

"Perhaps your weather is unusually sunny and warm. Or maybe the cloud hanging over your head is derived from a massive storm system that is dumping unusually large amounts of rain or snow on your region. Whatever the case," notes the CNN Interactive weather website, "you can likely blame El Ni–o."

What shall Cantabrigians do? Who or what shall we "blame" for the unseasonably warm weather we have enjoyed this winter? There has barely been any snow in and around Harvard this winter, and days with temperatures of 45 or 50 degrees have not been irregular.

Just two years ago, when El Ni–o was just a Spanish expression, the Boston area was perpetually under a heavy white blanket of snow, including a large storm in mid-April that put the total snow accumulation for Boston at its highest level in 100 years.

This winter has admittedly been less fun than most insofar as children and students have not been able to enjoy the advantages snow brings with it-sledding, skiing and canceled classes.

But life has on the whole been more pleasant. The sun has been visible on most days and generally people can feel their fingers.

So if El Ni–o is a genuine meteorological phenomenon or just a meaningless foreign expression that anyone can use to explain the incongruencies in the weather across America, it still seems only right to say "gracias!"