Admit it, the weather has been outstanding. No one can claim our high-rentian bargain of getting spectacular September weather has not been delivered in full. The beaches, parks, trails and sidewalks are the place to be weekend after weekend this month. The Love Parade was lovely and the Folsom Street Fair was crotchless chapirific. Some nights has even been warm enough to remove the long sleeves and leave the windows open overnight while the mornings have been great for swimmers, surfers, runners and sleeper-inners.

What we want to point out is that even our traditional calendar summer was much more temperate than average. There's something about human societal relationship with the weather that causes people to complain as soon as the weather is as bad as normal or worse, though you almost never hear anyone say something like, "it's not as bad as it normally is." July, for example, had the fewest fog-enshrouding days we can remember. August was typical, with more cold foggy days than not, but nothing worse than typical.

Exceptions must be offered for our extreme coastal denizens (Yo Outer Sunset! What up Pacifica?) but city-wide the last three months has been a quarter we should really cherish, or at least not forget on the chance winter rains arrive in November or snow fall are below normal in the Sierras. We will say that'll all be a lot easier if October continues this Septembers' trend of great weather, but let's not be greedy, we all saw what irrational exuberance did to this city before ;>

So all this crazy weather recently-- the heat followed by fog, rain followed by sun, wind popping up out of nowhere-- Global Warming? Nope, it's El Nino. It looks like we're in the beginnings of another El Nino Winter.

El Nino is a weather pattern that occurs every so often, in which temperatures in parts of the Pacific warm up and change weather patterns. In California, it'll usually means more rain, the same as in the Southeast and Texas. But at least when it rains, it'll be warmer because El Nino brings warm winters, the same for the North East. There is also the potential for drought and wildfires in Australia and parts of Central America but who cares about places that aren't us?

We've been through a bunch of these El Nino Winters' so we can vouch for the fact El Nino usually means lots and lots of rain followed by more rain and then more rain again. In other words, pretty dreary. This year, however, scientists are saying that were in the midst of a baby El Nino (El Ninnette?) and it might not be so bad.

But wait, say you? What about Global Warming? Didn't Al say all the weird weather is caused by Global Warming? Was he lying? Does this mean weather patterns get thrown off naturally and not due to carbon dioxide? Are the Republicans right? Should we sell the Hybrid and buy that SUV we've secretly always wanted? Have no fear, Global Warming alarmists, there's another study out saying the ice in theArctic Sea is melting faster than usual. In other words, we're still doomed.