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I'm with Neil. The last two months here have been very rainy (much wetter than the previous few years, but no records so far). Before the heatwave started two weeks ago the weatherman in the news said something like "Another cold and rainy week coming up, and what's all this about global warming?". Maybe he was trying to be funny, but many people will take that at face value. They think that global warming = Sahara desert, when that's not true. No place is going to suddenly become tens of degrees hotter. In fact, many places will become cooler, like Europe, which won't be getting the rush of warm, moist air from the Atlantic. In most places the average temperature won't change by much, but the temperature variations may be greater. The average rainfall may not change, but there will be more dry spells followed by sudden and very powerful storms.
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Same here. Michigan summers have always been short, but they used to be nice for the most part while they were here. Now the quality just keeps going down the tubes. Warm sunny days are becoming few and far between. Overcast and rain and highs of about 50F is the norm around here. It keeps reminding me of the way people describe Seattle or Oregon. Every week I get hopeful then I see another 7 day forecast of crap. Memorial day used to be a nice opening to summer. Several recent years including this one I have had to keep a fire in the woodstove till mid June.
Another thing I (as well as many others I have talked to) is the wind gets stronger here every year. It was never like this when I was younger. Even in the late 90s it was still enjoyable to take my trailer out even though the wind was stronger, but anymore it is just a battle, getting whipped all over the highway. High winds were occassional before, now just about every single time I go out on the highway it is high wind. We get a lot of rain but everything is always dry and fire danger is moderate to high. I think it is because the increasing wind constantly wicks the moisture out of the land, like clothes on a clothesline. We are also getting a lot more wind from the South. A breeze west off the lake used to be the norm.
I would consider it more of a climate shift than warming. I see it's not just here that is getting colder. Obviously the poles are getting warmer. The south USA must be getting colder too. Where I work we have finally made low-temperature equipment our standard. Almost 30 years in the business, but in recent years we have needed to send out low-temp replacement parts to places like Georgia, Alabama, etc., places that have always been fine before.
I did watch that show on History Channel awhile back. I do understand how the ocean current keeps New England and Europe warmer than what it normally be at that latitude. Don't see how it would be affecting Michigan though. If anything, it seems inland areas like us should be getting hotter and drier.
I think climate change has to do more with the sun and natural causes than anything we can control. The renaissance era, and time of the Dinosaurs, were very warm too. None of that can be blamed on burning of fossil fuels. And the little ice age started in something like a few years to a decade, it came on very quick. On one of those global warming shows on History Channel, first they were talking about how volcanic activity caused warming. In the same sentence they said sulfur would cause warming, where CO2 would NOT. Then later on in the show they started talking about the last 100years and then started saying CO2 WOULD cause warming.