Warmest January on record?

And food doesn't grow where water doesn't flow

With high temperatures in the 50s this week and the same forecast for next week, along with clear and sunny skies, January is shaping up to be Central Oregon's warmest such month in history.

Of course, our history only goes back about 100 years. Still, this should be the warmest and driest January since at least 1976.

This is not good news for Mt. Bachelor Ski Resort which already was reeling from a non-existent holiday ski season all the way back to Thanksgiving.

Cities in the region, along with ODOT, though, are saving on snow-removal costs.

My aching back is grateful that I haven't had to shovel the full driveway in 2014.

Unlike California, which formally declared a drought today, Oregon doesn't need to worry so much about water, yet.

The aquifer under Central Oregon is so large it has yet to be fully quantified.

But, if we can be the Saudi Arabia of water to California's thirsty citizens, I'd welcome the fiscal windfall.

Let's see, would $100 a barrel be too much for Cascade cool-ade?

As they're learning in the Great Plains, water is the dominant issue in the west so far this millennium.

The southwest, particularly, is poorly prepared to deal with this looming catastrophe.

Of course, as the climate change naysayers say, this is all part of the normal weather cycle of the planet.

Humans, even though they've expanded in numbers from 1 billion 160 years ago to more than 7 billion today, have had absolutely no effect on the climate of the world, the global warming critics claim.

Okay.

Those in California, Arizona and Nevada that like to dismiss all those who live in the Northwest as rain masochists, well, your pain is just beginning.

You have our sympathy.

But not much else.