As New York Times science columnist John Tierney suggested on this page Tuesday, there is a tendency among what he calls "availability entrepreneurs" to take a social-science rather than a scientific approach to long-range weather trends. As a result, weather events like the warm temperatures we're had this week are cited as part of a major weather shift.

Every time there are unusual storms, floods, hurricanes, heat waves or cold snaps, you can count on a spate of gloomy forecasts by those who have one agenda or another to promote. To paraphrase those commercials of a few years back for margarine that supposedly tasted like butter: It's not nice to fool with Mother Nature.