It’s winter in Seattle. That means it’s been dark and drizzly, grey and dreary–a bit depressing. This is the price we pay for our northern latitude (further north than half of Canadians or any part of Maine*), proximity to the ocean, and the reason for our beautifully green region.
Also as I write this–it’s over 60 degrees F (~16 deg C) and perfectly sunny.
As a climate-aware therapist, weird weather events always tingle my senses, and maybe yours too. Unusual warmth can trigger anxiety, as it can feel like a real-world demonstration of our helplessness against rising global temperature. It can trigger grief, as the realized or anticipated losses to our natural world mount. It can trigger anger about inaction or active deceit, and notably, in online communities it is common to express fury towards folks who are happy about sunny or warm weather when it “should” be cold. Fair enough–ignorance or denial about the ecological polycrisis is upsetting.
However, and this is the point: weather is not the same as climate.
This is a common refrain to remind those who deny climate change. However, it is not more rational to think that a single localized sunny day portends climate disaster than for that one uncle of yours to joke that we could “use a little global warming around here!” when the snow starts falling (you can tell your uncle that although January here in the US was pretty cold–it was the Earth’s warmest January on record**). You know this already, but of course climate change is reflected in the steady increase of temperature, not a single warm day. Said another way: a sunny day isn’t evidence of climate change. Climate change is found in measurements of temperature, CO2 concentration, AMOC slowing, species loss, permafrost loss, and coral reef bleaching.These, however, tend to inspire less feeling than living through an unusual weather day.
So, as a thinking/feeling person on a warming planet, what do we do with unnaturally nice weather?
Like so many other things, we can hold two things at once. A warm sunny day in the dead of winter can remind us of the climate tragedy and thus be a reason to grieve.*** Yet it can also be a respite from subjectively difficult conditions, and thus be a source of joy.
Ultimately, I don’t want Seattle to be warm and sunny all that often during February. But you better believe I enjoyed a walk outside in the sun, and I encourage you to allow yourself the same joy. We all need it.
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*While fact-checking this article, I also learned that the southernmost tip of Canada is actually further south than the northern tip of…California.
***This is where the two sides of “weather is not climate” are not equivalent. It is more rational to feel anxiety/anger/grief about global warming that’s triggered by unusually warm weather than it is to be relieved by unusually cold weather, because these reactions are in response to a real catastrophe, rather than a denial of the evidence.