The war over 'Snowmageddon'
Global warming, huh? As record snow storms batter the East, skeptics are hammering climate-change supporters
If the planet really is getting warmer at a dangerous rate — as scientists and politicians would have us believe — then why are we suffering the coldest winter in recent memory? The "Snowmageddon" winter storms currently battering the east coast have given fresh ammunition to global warming skeptics such as Republican Senator Jim DeMint, who took to his computer, tweeting, “It’s going to keep snowing in D.C. until Al Gore cries ‘uncle.'" But proponents of man-made climate change say it's not as simple as that. Who to believe? (Watch an MSNBC report about the blizzard and climate change)
Doesn't seem like global warming to me: Let's have a look at the "cold, hard facts," says Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit. Washington D.C. is "closed down." The snowstorm "shatters local records" from Chicago to Baltimore. Yet still these "delusional statists" can't accept that "manmade global warming is a scam."
Unreal: Top Yahoo Headline - "Analysis: How Global Warming Makes Blizzards Worse"
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Look harder — climate change caused these storms: Global warming can actually make a storm worse, explains Bryan Walsh in Time. "Hotter air can hold more moisture," so when there is a storm we get "massive amounts of snow." That said, it's a mistake to draw simple conclusions from a single storm. "Weather is what will happen next weekend; climate is what will happen over the next decade and centuries."
"Snowstorm: East Coast Blizzard Tied to Climate Change"
Tell that to the public: "As neighborhood snowdrifts climb ever skyward," says The Washington Times in an editorial, the public's support for a massive cap-and-trade scheme to control carbon emissions is dwindling. Mother Nature is "undermining the case for global warming one flake at a time," and "those who value freedom should thank her." Even though we're tired of shoveling, "bring on the blizzard!"
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Skeptics need perspective: Focusing on the "East Coast cold snap" isn't helpful, says Geoff Mohan in the Los Angeles Times. The "doubters" need to look further afield. Right now, parts of Alaska are "unseasonably warm," and "globally," last month was "the warmest January on record." All this snowstorm really represents is an "opportunity" for skeptics to "trumpet" it as "proof positive that climate change is untrue."
"'Snowmageddon' in Washington spurs climate change doubters"
SEE MORE OF THE WEEK'S COVERAGE OF GLOBAL WARMING: