Winter Wonderland
The winter weather this year has been very eventful, with record snowfalls and cold temperature anomalies. There are a couple main reasons we can see to be a cause: the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the Hot Arctic-Cold Continents Effect – two abnormal climate patterns affecting the US and Europe this winter (same with last year’s record-setting “snowpocalypse” and “snowmageddon” in the Eastern US). The active winter weather is not direct proof that global warming is or is not occurring. However, as meteorologist Dr. Jeff Masters and NOAA’s Dr. Overlong point out, the loss of Arctic sea ice and record warming of that region is being seen to significantly influence one of the oldest known climate oscillations, the NAO, which is bringing cold air down to the continents. As Masters puts it: “it’s like leaving the refrigerator door ajar–the refrigerator warms up, but all of the cold air spills out into the house.”
The Arctic is seeing the effects of global warming at a fast rate and is having real implications for climates in other parts of the globe. Last winter (2009-2010) saw the most extreme dip in the NAO since record-keeping began, which brought us unusual winter weather in North America. This is what accounted for the upside-down winter when Florida became chilly, but the Vancouver Olympics suffered from a lack of snow and cold. It is ironic that we on the East Coast and those in the UK should be getting colder, snowier weather right now with the phenomenon of global warming — which is a reason why I prefer the term climate change, or more particularly: climate chaos; while others say it’s global weirding. Dr. Joe Romm of Climate Progress calls it “Hell and High Water” because it is “more descriptive of what is to come”.
There have been some weird incidences of winter weather this year. Take the Minneapolis Metrodome roof that collapsed under the weight of heavy snow, or the lighthouse in Ohio that completely froze. While interesting, this has been nothing but fodder for skeptics and staunch deniers to doubt (and manufacture doubt) that global warming is occurring. It’s irking when someone takes these stories and runs with them, declaring the science as fraudulent. Never mind the difference to be made between climate and weather; nor the fact that when it gets warmer there’s more water absorbed and retained in the atmosphere, producing more precipitation. This strikes home for me when I see revered rock hero, Billy Corgan, use his Twitter to denounce global warming and “eco-fascists” by linking to these stories of harsh winter weather, with the logic that these events are all that’s needed to discredit the global warming evidence (and anyone that cares about it). Today, he’s complaining about an airport in London being closed due to heavy snow — put that in your pipe. While Billy’s blog he had on spirituality was great, he seems only interested now in expressing his cynical, dark side through his Twitter account (not to mention that he’s been duped by the anti-science crowd).
Climate shows us the interconnectedness of the Earth: like the rest of nature, it is complex and nonlinear. To call out the current abnormal winter weather in an effort to deny the risks we face, while decrying environmentalists, is simply ineffective and on the verge of losing touch with reality. It’s fine to question the research, but nothing is stopping deniers from doing their own before making overly opinionated statements and conspiracy theories. It’s also a mistake to so quickly forget that the decade of 2000-2009 has been the warmest on record, and that we just had quite an extreme year (remember July?) with fires in Russia and floods in Pakistan. There is a blog on WordPress that does nothing but tell stories of Winter weather, while denouncing the science. So, for fun, I posted the two images you see in this article over there in their comments section, because they get the point across so well visually.
PS- Corgan also tweeted this: “Funny, it’s gone from ‘global warming’ to ‘climate change’. Must be hard to admit it’s a scam.” See Romm’s awesome post on this, Debunking the dumbest denier myth: ‘Climate Change’ vs. ‘Global Warming’, and don’t miss the video at the bottom slamming that notion into the dust.
For more information:
1) Florida Shivers; Hot Arctic-Cold Continents Pattern is Back
2) Europe’s cold and snowy winter forecast to gradually ease
3) Forecast for the Winter of 2010-2011
4) Extreme warming in Arctic will cause colder winters–and political gridlock
5) Heavy snowfall in a warming world.
6) An amazing, though clearly little-known, scientific fact: We get more snow storms in warm years!
