My roommate - who is into this kind of thing - said that that is true... that warming doesn't necessarily mean noticeably warmer temps (because we're only talking about a degree or three) - but it does mean weirder weather as patterns and systems change

I'll assume you were joking about the Al Gore thing - as the fact of global warming (and the accepted 90% likelihood that humans are a significant contributor to it) is pretty overwhelmingly accepted now