I’m so old, I can remember when global warming caused droughts. Or, put another way, climate change was making the Earth–in particular, the Great Lakes–drier. Thus, as I noted here:

National Geographic: “Climate Change and Variability Drive Low Water Levels on the Great Lakes.” The National Resources Defense Council: “Climate change is lowering Great Lakes water levels.” It’s no secret that, partially due to climate change, the water levels in the Great Lakes are getting very low. The U.N’s IPCC: “[T]he following lake level declines could occur: Lake Superior -0.2 to -0.5 m.” Dick Durbin: “What we are seeing in global warming is the evaporation of our Great Lakes.” Minnesota Public Radio: Scientists at the Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [are] studying the interplay between low water levels, shrinking ice cover and warm water temperatures, Gronewold said. They have already concluded that climate change is playing a role in determining Great Lakes water levels.

Those quotes date from 2013, while my post was in 2017, when news reports indicated that Lake Superior was nearing a record high water level. Steve had already pointed out in 2014 that, in “a development that has startled scientists”–notwithstanding, apparently, the claim that the science is settled–Great Lakes water levels were rising rapidly.

What reminds me of this is today’s article in the Wall Street Journal headlined, “High Water Levels on Great Lakes Flood Towns, Shrink Beaches.”

Lakes Erie and Superior are among the Great Lakes expected to reach all-time highs this summer, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. And the levels of Lakes Michigan, Huron and Ontario are well above seasonal averages.

***

High water levels across the Great Lakes are being driven primarily by persistently wet conditions for the past five to six years, including heavy rains and a large snowpack…

Snowpack!

…said Keith Kompoltowicz, chief of watershed hydrology for the Army Corps in Detroit.

Anyone who knows anything about nature knows that it is cyclical. The Journal story includes graphics, including this one showing water levels in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron:

It got wetter in the 1990s: climate change! Then it got drier roughly from 2000 to 2013: more climate change! Then it got wetter again starting in 2014, and it continues to be wet: still more climate change! The case for climate change is irresistible, but we always knew that. The Earth’s climate has been changing for millions of years, and it will continue changing until the Earth or its atmosphere disappears.

Meanwhile, a theory that is consistent with everything, and therefore purportedly explains everything, in reality explains nothing.