For years many scientists have been warning that the massive amounts of carbon dioxide put into the air by our extensive burning of fossil fuels has been exaggerating the "greenhouse effect" (in which atmospheric carbon dioxide, water vapor, and ozone trap the Earth's heat that would otherwise be radiated into space).

I wonder if this artificially thick carbon dioxide "blanket" could somehow be in part responsible for the unusual warming of the tropical waters of El Niño, which has pulled the atmosphere's jet stream southward, pummeling the United States with unusually inclement weather.