Having read Kathryn Skelton’s front page article, “Feeling the Heat,” as well as a related editorial, both of which appeared in the Sun Journal on Sept. 19, I think the time has come for a reality check on claims of global warming and global climate change.

When I attended school a number of years ago, there was a difference between the science of climate (climatology) and the science of weather (meteorology). The defining elements of climate used to be average mean monthly temperature and average monthly precipitation over time as these two factors might be affected by latitude, altitude, ocean currents, proximity to oceans or distance therefrom, mountain ranges and wind. These factors combined to create a certain identifiable climate type. Typically, 30-year temperature and precipitation data was used in defining climate type and for the purpose of trend analysis.

It would be enlightening if the Sun Journal would publish 30-year mean average monthly temperature data and 30-year average monthly precipitation data for the climate and weather stations at Caribou and Portland.

Meanwhile, climate data gleaned from the “Weather Report Page” which appears weekly in the regional edition of The New York Sunday Times (Jan. 4) reveals that the average mean temperature for the city of Boston in 2003 was below the 30-year norm and that 2003 was the coldest year in Boston since 1992. Precipitation was slightly above normal. Boston had its eighth snowiest winter on record in 2003.

John D. Stowell, Farmington