GLOBAL WEATHER REPORT: UNUSUALLY WARM HERE; UNUSUALLY COLD THERE. GO FIGURE.

And Brisbane, Australia, where I live, is having an unusually cool summer. So what does it all prove? Precisely nothing. The European news below:

"Traditional scenes of pristine snow and ice have given way to rain and muddy grass from Reykjavik to Moscow as unseasonably warm weather puts a damper on festivities. Russians normally revel in the bitter harshness of their winters, but the warmest December since 1879, when records began, has left Muscovites despairing about a lack of snow to see in the new year. Staff at the Yakhroma Park resort, 30 miles north of Moscow, have turned to artificial snow machines to try to open at least one ski run in what should be the peak season. Natalia Silinskaya, the park's commercial director, said that attendance was down 70 per cent on last year. Skiing has been possible on only two weekends so far this winter....

Moscow experienced a record winter high last Friday of 9.3C (48.8F), far above the average of -5C. The city received a light dusting of snow yesterday for the first time this month, but it was not expected to stay on the ground for long. Temperatures are predicted to rise above freezing again before the weekend.

This winter is in stark contrast to last year, when temperatures in the capital plunged to -40C in the coldest winter since 1940. In St Petersburg, where the temperature set a new record of 10.7C last week, organisers of an ice sculpture festival had to create a refrigerated enclosure to prevent the artwork melting. [Umph aded.]

Update: And it's unusually cool elsewhere in Australia too. How amazing that weather is changeable!

Update 2: A reader writes: "Well, it might be warm in Northern Europe but it's f**king cold here in NorCal. We seem to be experiencing early cold weather with lots of snow predicted for the Sierras and Snow in WA, OR, and even in Vancouver (where we are heading for Christmas).

[Post above crossposted from Greenie Watch]

UPDATE #3: Tim Blair notes that his part of Australia might very well HAVE A WHITE CHRISTMAS!