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If it is so incredibly cold....
By
.... how can "warming" of any sort be an issue?* The latest snowfall and deepfreeze across the eastern US is a good occasion for mentioning a new paper on James Hansen's site at Columbia Univ. The paper is called, conveniently, "If It's That Warm, How Come It's So Darned Cold?" and is available in PDF here.
Read the whole thing, but Tweet-scale version of the answer is: Things are getting warmer, just not where most Americans/Europeans would notice this year.
For the world as a whole, 2009 was the second warmest year on record, and the 2000s were the warmest decade. (See NASA/ Goddard Institute for Space Studies report here.) As more and more people have heard, this winter's we-are-no-longer-amused cold siege in the middle latitudes of North America, Europe, and Asia (where most people live) is a result of a rare flip in the Arctic Oscillation. Explanation here. It's plenty hot elsewhere. NASA chart of the overall global trends.
Hansen's paper also quotes this comment on a site run by a climate scientist in Seattle:
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(*In case you're tempted to write in: Yes, I understand that the concept of "climate change" is different from "global warming"; I understand the difference between "weather" and "climate," etc.)
Read the whole thing, but Tweet-scale version of the answer is: Things are getting warmer, just not where most Americans/Europeans would notice this year.
For the world as a whole, 2009 was the second warmest year on record, and the 2000s were the warmest decade. (See NASA/ Goddard Institute for Space Studies report here.) As more and more people have heard, this winter's we-are-no-longer-amused cold siege in the middle latitudes of North America, Europe, and Asia (where most people live) is a result of a rare flip in the Arctic Oscillation. Explanation here. It's plenty hot elsewhere. NASA chart of the overall global trends.
Hansen's paper also quotes this comment on a site run by a climate scientist in Seattle:
"I wonder about the people who use cold weather to say that the globe is cooling. It forgets that global warming has a global component and that its a trend, not an everyday thing. I hear people down in the lower 48 say its really cold this winter. That ain't true so far up here in Alaska. Bethel, Alaska, had a brown Christmas. Here in Anchorage, the temperature today is 31. I can't say based on the fact Anchorage and Bethel are warm so far this winter that we have global warming. That would be a really dumb argument to think my weather pattern is being experienced even in the rest of the United States, much less globally."This knowledge, plus double Under Armour long underwear, should keep me warm as I head out soon.
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(*In case you're tempted to write in: Yes, I understand that the concept of "climate change" is different from "global warming"; I understand the difference between "weather" and "climate," etc.)
