Via NEI Nuclear Notes, an interesting discussion about the role of nuclear power in the energy mix as Europe grapples with carbon emission reduction targets. Per capita/per GDP unit carbon emissions in France are already substantially lower than the UK and Germany. France generates 80 percent of its electricity from its nuke plants. The French seem to want to get some credit for that which they already have done:

At his swansong summit, the outgoing French president Jacques Chirac insisted that he would only agree to binding energy targets if nuclear power were included and proposed that 45% of the mix come from non-fossil fuel sources.

With El Niño fleeing the equatorial Pacific over the last month, and with La Niña apparently seizing the opportunity like Rush Limbaugh seeing Al Gore’s electric bill, it’s worth reflecting for a moment on the El Niño that was. From today’s Drought Monitor:

Los Angeles has seen their driest season to date on record, with cumulative rainfall of 2.42 inches (21 percent of normal) since July 1. The Sierra did see additional snowfall early in the week, but snow water content remained less than 60 percent of normal at many locations.

Conrad Lautenbacher, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has apparently been reading Roger Pielke Jr.:

The head of the nation’s weather and climate research agency says the biggest challenge facing the world is population growth and people’s desire to live in coastal areas where they can be endangered by storms.

“I believe that the population issue is huge,” Conrad Lautenbacher said Thursday. “And it’s not just the U.S., there are six billion … getting up to seven billion people on the Earth and they all want to live in coastal zones.”

We’re standing on the brink of what ENSO forecasters call the spring barrier, the time of year when forecasting coming El Niño/La Niña conditions is hardest. But federal forecasters stuck their neck out today:

In a weekly update, scientists at the NOAA Climate Prediction Center noted that as the 2006-2007 El Niño faded, surface and subsurface ocean temperatures have rapidly decreased. Recently, cooler-than-normal water temperatures have developed at the surface in the east-central equatorial Pacific, indicating a possible transition to La Niña conditions.

What’s interesting here is not necessarily the details. Folks in the community have been talking about this lately. What’s interesting is the significance of the overt act of issuing a news release with the NOAA administrator’s name attached.

Zippy:

Zippy: No overcoats in February. What’s up with that?
Zerbina: Global warming. I’m lovin’ it!