D. THE CONCLUSION OF THE ARGUMENT IS THAT WE SHOULD EXPECT AN UNUS...

48. d. The conclusion of the argument is that we should expect an unusually cold winter because we arein the twelfth year of a cycle in which every twelfth year is unusually cold. Although the 12-year cyclemight indeed have existed for the last 36 years, it goes against our understanding of weather that sucha pattern will continue. In all likelihood, the fact that the twelfth year has been unusually cold for thelast 36 years is coincidence, not a set meteorological pattern. Thus, the information that would moststrengthen the argument is predictions from the National Weather Center, which uses advanced fore-casting technology and analysis of existing weather patterns to predict the weather and could estimatethe general tenor of the approaching season. The charts in choices athrough cwould be useful inproving that such a pattern has existed the last 36 years, but they do not provide strong evidence of theweather to come. A discussion of weather patterns (choice e) would be informative, but it would notstrengthen the argument about the approaching winter weather.