Japanese Tsunami Did Not Cause Warm Winter

It's definitely been a weird winter. Here in Southwestern Indiana, we had a record (yes, I'm being sarcastic) whopping, half-inch of show all season. Hardly worth tearing the house apart last October to find all the gloves. So what's causing the weather to be so, well, whacked?

There are theories. LOTS of theories. La Nina, global warming, just to name a few, but the one that's getting the most attention from meteorologists came from Accuweather.com .

On Tuesday, the website posted a blog by its severe weather expert Henry Margusity, stating that the warmer than normal winter was possibly caused by debris from the 2010 Japanese Tsunami. In it he said,

"The theory is that the debris floating in the Pacific caused a large area of warm water in the north Pacific, understanding that the ocean and atmosphere are coupled so if one changes the other changes; i.e. La Nina and El Nino's as perfect examples. So, if that area of the Pacific is warmed it will cause a natural boundary for storms to develop along."

Errr, yea.

He even put a picture with it to back up his theory.

Problem is, other meteorologists are debunking Margusity's theory with science. Weather Channel Meteorologist Stu Ostro wrote Thursday:

"In regard to this story which is getting attention and is about the theory that tsunami debris warmed a portion of the Pacific Ocean which in turn led to the warm winter in the U.S. and the recent extreme warmth ... That part of the Pacific was already warmer than average *before* the tsunami."

And then he also posted a picture to back up his facts.

So yes, this warm winter wasn't the greatest. It's now playing havoc on our sinuses (lots of pollen this year) and the fleas are going to be really bad (no hard frost to kill the eggs) and let's not even get into how bad the mosquitoes are going to be later this year, but the point is, it was warm. Whatever caused it, caused it. And we better get ready for a really warm summer.