What’s causing all this bizarre weather? The answer, at least on my side of the Atlantic, seems to be: “Someone or something I happen not to like.”

Britain, like the U.S. and, indeed, much of the world, had an unusual December. Balmy weather brought daffodils freakishly into flower where I live; a neighbor saw cherry trees in blossom. Further north, the unseasonable warmth was accompanied by floods, driving hundreds of people from their homes.