Which reminds me of the George Carlin bit about a freak accident on the 405. Three freaks in a Volkswagen hit two freaks in a Ford. Freak accident.

Nevertheless… my father used to always comment when he saw in the paper that it was warmer in Alaska on a given day than in Miami Beach (why he was always looking at the weather in Alaska and Miami I could not tell you). But he’d always point it out and I’d have to say “Dad, it’s weather, it happens.”

But is it weather or climate when a freak storm at the North Poll raises temperatures 50 degrees F in the winter?

A powerful winter cyclone — the same storm that led to two tornado outbreaks in the United States and disastrous river flooding — has driven the North Pole to the freezing point this week, 50 degrees above average for this time of year.

Freaky!