Unexpected weather and drawing conclusions

It was snowing this morning as I drove in from work. It snowed yesterday morning. It snowed on Saturday, and on Friday it snowed enough that the ground was lightly covered for hours. Last Wednesday the weather prediction was for unexpected snowy, turbulent weather. My step-daughter ended up in a serious fender bender when a snow squall turned dry pavement to slick slush. There are places in the world where this description would evoke a yawn, but here in PDX I can't recall a year, ever, with a week of this kind of weather. The snow didn't last. But the fact that it snowed, hard and frequently, the last week in March was very strange. On Saturday, a woman at Marco's Coffee looked at the falling flakes, snorted, and said "So much for that global warming". I smiled, realizing that many people find this confusing. "That's the thing about global warming," I said, "it tricks you. It doesn't mean that everything gets warmer all the time. It means that things overall get warmer. But one of the predictions is that "change" will bring us more unpredictable weather. Like snow at the end of March." She looked thoughtful. "Oh, that is confusing," she said, agreeably. I took my coffee and went out to the car. Big wet flakes settled on the back of my neck. It also probably means things like a 'never before' toronado through downtown Atlanta, I thought to myself. I wonder if this complex confusing issue is going to be well-enough understood that we'll get out from under it in time. I wonder. Sure is pretty to see all those white flakes coming down. Tomorrow is April Fools Day.