And just think, in the time of Dickens, the Thames and canals in London could freeze over hard enough to skate on.  That's what?  barely 150 years distant.  Heck, locally, in the mid 80's home owners on Lake Michigan were worried at how fast the water was eroding their shore because it was so full.  Now, it's so low it's down 11 feet from it's traditional "normal" state.  This has big shippers ticked, because every foot lost is millions of dollars in cargo they can't ship because the draft of the ships gets too shallow. 

mdb