FLL has made a great observation.
I have noticed my own outdoor plants have grown noticeably since the giant rain-dump we had on the 22nd. Plants, shrubs, and trees respond to nutrients by using them up. Surround a person with all-you-can-eat buffet lines, and that person will become huge. Plants do the same, but without suffering from diabetes and heart disease. A recent study by sattelite found that the earth's biosphere is more productive than ever recorded, which has been attributed to increased CO2 in the atmosphere - it's airborne fertilizer. The plants want it. We gave it to them unintentionally, and they have shown that they're using it because it's there.
The observation of increased tree growth means those trees got more of something they wanted - in this case, water. The last couple summers we got a LOT of thunderstorms. This is key, because they water plants without shutting off the sunlight for long periods of time, and plants also love sunlight.
The plants also benefit from water absorbed into the soil from winter snow.
On a bigger scale, FLL is onto something. The climate is currently showing much greater signs of cooling than warming. The biggest driver is the fact that the sun has been stuck at minimum output for the last year or so. It goes in cycles lasting 11.1 years (first measured and recorded in the early 1600's.) At solar max, the earth gets more heat. At solar min, the opposite. Usually one cycle transitions easily to the next. It's identified by the presence of sunspots, a sign of increased activity in the sun. Each cycle has its own style and position of sunspots. Right now the sun is "stuck between gears" when the new cycle should be well underway. In the late 1600s, it stayed like this for decades, coinciding with a global, abnormal cold known as "The Little Ice Age." Every day we go without seeing sunspots that aren't just sputters from the old cycle, the greater our chances of seeing a second "Little Ice Age" in modern times.
The Pacific Ocean is also a climate driver. Its warm and cold pools, when they develop (El Nino and La Nina) affect us here. In Dec-Jan 06/07, we had a strong El Nino (warm pool) that made it more like spring around here. This past winter we've had La Nina, and it's still affecting North American weather. Most recently it was reported that the entire Pacific Ocean went into cold phase, which is good for 10-25 years. That's like a giant, ongoing La Nina.
The crazy weather we've been seeing across North America this spring and summer has been cold-oriented. Many meteorologists have been calling this North American weather pattern "Winter like" or "more typical of April." One of my friends out in the Rockies called it "June-uary" when it was snowing earlier this month.
Storms may be heat machines, but that's like saying your car is a gasoline machine. It needs something else (air intake) to make the reaction happen in the cylinders. Same with storms. They're a reaction between heat and cold. Taking the cold air out of the equation is like stuffing a towel into your car's air intake. In weather, heat always exists because the sun is always on, even if it is ever-so-slightly dimmer than it was a couple years ago.
So the weather favors the movement of cold right now. When cold air makes its moves, interesting things happen when it uses up the warm air during the cooling-off process. It's like super-oxygenating an engine.
We may also notice things like, "it's been cool and rainy this summer." We've had a cool/unsettled pattern (springlike) more often than not this year, and this weekend it's showing signs that it wants to repeat.
Interesting web sites:
www.spaceweather.com (sunspots and more)
www.icecap.us
http://wattsupwiththat.wordpress.com (weather/climate blog)