EPA boss Gina McCarthy says that if nothing is done about global warming then the climate of Aspen will come to resemble that of Amarillo. Jeryl Bier of The Weekly Standard points out that this exceeds the direst predictions of the IPCC. But another thing jumped out at me: Aspen isn’t all that far from Amarillo. It is only about 600 miles away, and about 4 degrees latitude north, less the difference between Miami and Jacksonville. The two cities have different weather not because they are worlds away from one another but because of geography: Aspen is more than 4,000 feet higher in elevation than is Amarillo. Aspen is in the mountains, surrounded by forests; Amarillo is on the plains, surrounded by . . . more plains.

But she’s right about the skiing in Amarillo, unless a certain kind of obstacle-laden cross-country is your thing.