'Xynthia'

THIS NAME MAY not mean much to you unless you life in western Europe. Xinthia was a huge storm that swept across France last weekend and has so far killed more than 50 people. Others have died in Spain and Germany due to massive flooding and hurricane-force winds. Because of the earthquake in Chile and the Tsunami threats all across the pacific, this storm received relatively little attention. Here's a link with video to a story from France 24.

It sure has been an unusual winter in terms of weather -- and not just because we got nearly 30 centimeters of snow here on the Cote d'Azur. With the snow in Washington, and the wind storms throughout Europe, the rain in parts of central Europe, and record heat places in Australia, the meteorologists have been busy.

(But I won't dare say it might be related to climate change).