To the editor:

You may think that the bitter winter we have had would make global warming deniers out of all of this. But think twice.

Those of you of my generation may remember the song “Rainy Night in Georgia,” popularized by R&B vocalist Benton Brook in 1970. The lyrics go, in part, “A rainy night in Georgia, a rainy night in Georgia, It seems like it’s rainin’ all over the world.”

All over the world? Do you think our cold spell has been occurring all over the world?

Guess again. According to NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, January 2014 was the Fourth Warmest January on Record! (since record-keeping began in 1880) See www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/2014/1 for the details. Why? Because so many other places were a lot warmer than average, including Alaska, where it was up into the 50s at times as far north as the Arctic Circle.

Of course, one really warm month worldwide is not evidence for global warming, nor is our cold winter evidence that global warming is not happening. We need to look at trends, which show a warming TREND that is occasionally interrupted by colder periods.

Doug Welker

ALSTON