Arctic Blast and Global Warming

An Arctic blast hit town yesterday. This morning’s temperature in my central Virginia city was 17°F. The weather people said it felt like 2°F (minus 17°C). It has been colder here. I’ve seen nights (not this winter) where the actual temperature—not the “feels-like” temperature—has been 2°. Tonight’s low is supposed to be 13°. I’m burning the crap out of dead dinosaurs—or whatever the heck number 2 fuel oil is made of.

Donald Trump, who is apparently now a climatologist in addition to businessman and president, says this cold weather proves global warming isn’t real. To people who think similar thoughts, I would point out that in the southern hemisphere it is the middle of summer. Australia is experiencing a searing heat wave. They’ve recently recorded 5 of the 10 hottest days ever recorded there. A town in Australia just recorded the highest nighttime “low” temperature ever recorded on that continent. I read a headline this morning that announced massive animal deaths and melting roads in Australia.

When self-appointed climatologists use the weather to “disprove” global warming, they always conveniently ignore global temperatures and focus on the weather in North America, as if two things—North America and planet Earth—were synonymous.

Cold winter weather occurs on a regular basis in most of North America. It always has, as have sweltering summers. Do we have to wait until the ice caps are gone and our coastal cities are under water before we conclude that maybe the climatologists are onto something? Years ago, I visited Glacier National Park in Montana. In the mid-19th century there were an estimated 150 glaciers in the park. In 2010 there were 25 active glaciers. Scientists studying the park’s glaciers say that by 2030 no active glaciers will remain in the park.

Climate change deniers remind me of the character Sgt. Schultz on the old TV series “Hogan’s Heroes”. Whenever he was confronted by something he didn’t want to deal with, his go-to position was “I see nothing!” That stance might make us feel better in the short term, but in the long term it’s only going to make the problem more intractable—possibly irreversibly so. We’ve only got one planet. We have science and and logic and thousands of hard-working climatologists on our side. Let’s use those resources. There is no need to roll the dice on the future of our world.