The wild swings that have been taking place on the various stock markets in the past few months have been going on for much longer in the climate area, however. The extremes of El Niño and La Niña in the Pacific have had a major impact on climate. The heavy rainfall that flooded parts of the midwest last spring were due to the latter type oscillation.

The theory proposed about the weather effects on oak fruit production is quite plausible. It’s unremarkable tho that from year to year acorn production varies dramatically. Some years yield many grocery bags full per suburban plot of mature oaks for the purpose of acorn-throwing battles, but almost none at all in other years.