Cape Cod's cold, damp weather, with a sprinkling of warmer, sunnier days, recollect trips to Down East (Maine) and Montreal, Canada when I was a child. The water temperature prohibited our swimming off the coast in Augusta (summer, 1972) and we welcomed the Underground during April snowy days in Montreal. Yet, during that last trip to Montreal (1971) we had occasional warmth making it possible to take a carriage ride, top down, along the cobbled streets of the Old Town. More so, in those days, my father would often pine about traveling to Nova Scotia, but he and my mother eventually elected to go to Old Scotland (the Hebrides) instead.
As some readers/followers know, I live on Cape Cod, home of the four seasons, I mean the three seasons, excuse me two seasons. . .rain and cold; heat and humidity. Wait! Am I writing about weather? No, I'm writing about climate which has changed, a lot.
In the beginning, when my parents used to drive up to Cape Cod for summer vacations or off seasons to stay with friends, we expected the unexpected, especially if we came in June. Rain for days and one or sunny days where we'd traipse off to the beach. July brought more predictable weather. However, since I started living here eight years ago, the weather patterns have changed significantly. Informed residents have little doubt that climate change is the cause.
Still, we have our naysayers. It may be that older generations, for example, recall a Cape Cod that reminded them of the Old World, especially England, Ireland, Scotland or other notorious cold and rainy countries. Since 2007, the onset of winter has been delayed and the welcoming of spring has stretched out to June. Last year, spring came and went like a sudden gale as we all looked around wondering if we'd had a warming at all.
Moreover, the Old World countries like Great Britain and Ireland have had their share of record warm temps as well.
As with other places with historic record-breaking weather events, Boston, and parts of Cape Cod had snowfall totals beyond memory this year. Moreover, the summers no longer sway back and forth between dry, hot days with cool evenings or rainy, damp days and nights. No, increasing humidity has mold growing in places some didn't believe possible. Where's a dehumidifier when you need one?
Sadly, only misery gets attention. Local fish is getting more expensive and limited.The amount of fresh fish, especially cod (cod, as in Cape Cod for landlubbers) is disappearing at such a rapid rate--not just overfishing but also the warming waters--that commercial fishermen have found an alternative dogfish that they are exporting to other countries, but that market has become saturated and the percentage return is low.
For the first time in weeks, we finally had a sunny day, today, a high of @48 degrees. One fellow I met wore shorts, a t-shirt and flip-flops. The forecast for tonight? Rain, changing to snow. And, with the holidays coming, I'm not holding my breath that we'll have a significant shift in temperature, conditions.
For climate change-deniers, I wouldn't hold your breath that the world's major climate shift, including the one we've seen in the U.S., will go away--otherwise you may turn blue, even die of oxygen depletion. Oh, without trees, with increasing carbon dioxide gas and a slow reaction to reducing pollution, you may actually succumb to asphyxiation.
Okay, at the moment we're breathing (please read my earlier blog on "Health, Pollution and Climate Change."), cough, cough, and the prospects for cleaner air on Cape Cod are hopeful, but the Cape I and others grew up with, a living organism that changes with the wind (including the peninsula's distinctive elbow shape) may well become a figment of our collective imagination if we don't face reality.
