Apparently Alaska is "baked" due to climate change. Or, maybe not. According to the story at Slate.com: Alaska's Kenai Peninsula, which Zappa calls home, has been practically tropical this winter. Rick Thoman, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Alaska, has been dumbfounded. "Homer, Alaska, keeps setting record after record, and I keep looking at the data like, Has the temperature sensor gone out or something?" Practically tropical on the Kenai Peninsula this winter? December was warm in the Homer area, setting a record for the warmest December on record at 37 F. That is hardly "tropical." But then came January 2015, which was 8 F colder than January 2014. Neither January nor February of this year came remotely close to being record warm in the Homer region. In fact, this winter in Homer averaged 29.8 F, which -- last I checked -- is below freezing, not tropical. The winter of 2014-2015 wasn't even the...(Read Full Post)