Taking a page out of Ed Driscoll‘s book, let’s juxtapose some news stories, past and present. Ed has posted on a couple of these, but not a couple more, so I’ll take it upon myself to do it.

On the one hand, we have this headline from 2000: Snowfalls Are Now Just A Thing Of The Past.

Sledges, snowmen, snowballs and the excitement of waking to find that the stuff has settled outside are all a rapidly diminishing part of Britain’s culture, as warmer winters – which scientists are attributing to global climate change – produce not only fewer white Christmases, but fewer white Januaries and Februaries.

And then, there’s the recent lefty letter to Santa Claus, warning him that he might have to move:

Dear Santa Claus,

I am writing out of concern, because you may have to move from the North Pole due to the dramatic melting of Arctic sea ice. The Navy’s chief oceanographer says that by the summer of 2020 the North Pole may not have summer ice and other scientists project that an ice-free Arctic is possible as soon as 2012!

Scientists overwhelmingly agree that polar ice is melting because of greenhouse gas pollution and I am working hard to reduce these emissions. But there is probably nothing we can do in time to save the North Pole. I am worried about your safety and your ability to deliver billions of Christmas gifts if the ice cap on the North Pole no longer stays frozen all year. What will happen to your house, your workshop, the elves’ houses and your reindeer barns?

On the other hand, we have Atlanta’s first snowfall since 1882 (that’s over 100 years ago, for the math-challenged), and Columbia, SC having their first snowfall since at least 1887, which is when they started keeping records.

The white Christmas in the South was one for the record books. Columbia,S.C., had its first significant Christmas snow since weather records were first kept in 1887. Atlanta had just over an inch of snow—the first measurable accumulation on Christmas Day since the 1880s.

Snowfalls a thing of the past? Oh, really?