Two Headlines

From AP science writer Seth Borenstein: Obama left with little time to curb global warming

WASHINGTON – When Bill Clinton took office in 1993, global warming was a slow-moving environmental problem that was easy to ignore. Now it is a ticking time bomb that President-elect Barack Obama can't avoid.
Since Clinton's inauguration, summer Arctic sea ice has lost the equivalent of Alaska, California and Texas. The 10 hottest years on record have occurred since Clinton's second inauguration. Global warming is accelerating. Time is close to running out, and Obama knows it.
"The time for delay is over; the time for denial is over," he said on Tuesday after meeting with former Vice President Al Gore, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work on global warming. "We all believe what the scientists have been telling us for years now that this is a matter of urgency and national security and it has to be dealt with in a serious way."

From Kevin Roth, Lead Meteorologist, the Weather Channel: Bitter Cold Grips Much of the Country

An arctic cold front plows eastward through the Great Lakes, Ohio Valley and middle Mississippi Valley Monday.
Relatively warm temperatures ahead of the cold front in the 30s and 40s allow the precipitation to fall as rain. However, once the cold front pushes through temperatures take a dramatic tumble into the 20s changing the rain to freezing rain, sleet and snow. Thankfully there should not be too much moisture left once the cold air is rushing in so any wintry precipitation should be light with only spotty accumulations of an inch or less anticipated.
Bitter arctic air combined with blustery winds behind the front should produce wind chill readings in the -30 to -50 degree category Monday morning. The winds should diminish as the day progresses, but temperatures will have a very tough time climbing. High temperatures should remain below zero across all of North Dakota and South Dakota and over all but southeast Minnesota.

Hmmmmmmm......