[gleeaikin]

Forty-two thousand years ago was the depths of the last Ice Age. Conditions are generally dryer during very cold weather. Some of our heavy snows have been caused by warmer weather. Another question, how do we know it was Neanderthal, and not CroMagnon?

[aruanan]

Forty-two thousand years ago was the depths of the last Ice Age.

We're currently in the Pliocene-Quarternary ice age; we're just in one of its interglacial periods (lasting about 10,000 to 12,000 thousand years, in some cases much longer). The current ice age has been going on for well over two and a half million years. Twenty thousand years ago we were still in the last glacial period (40,000 to 100,000 years in length, the more recent ones nearer 100,000). The frequency (and severity) of our storms is controlled more by El Nino and La Nina events and other multi-decadal oscillations than it is simply because of an overall warmer global temperature. Besides, there has been no warming since 1997 and the last decade has seen dramatic cooling.