Baby, It's Cold Outside

Donald Trump and the Republicans are yet again claiming that climate change is a hoax because, Baby, it's cold outside.

Yes, it's cold outside. That's the difference between weather and climate.

On a day-to-day basis, we have weather. Today, it's cold, tomorrow it's warm, it rains on Tuesday, it snows on Wednesday.

On a decade-to-decade and century-to-century basis we have climate. Hundreds of millions of years ago we had drastically higher seas, and a much warmer climate. Twelve thousand years ago we had an ice age. Two hundred years ago our "normal" climate had been established. But then we started burning coal and oil -- carbon which had been stored underground over billions of years -- in the span of two centuries, and the CO2 released has quickly warmed the climate. Faster than any time in history.

To understand climate you have to look at the whole planet. While it's been cold in the eastern half of the US for the last week or so, it's hot in the rest of the world.

In particular, it has been extremely warm in Alaska. For example, at 1:00 PM Central time today we had the following readings:

Nome, AK: 26
Anchorage, AK: 21
Juneau, AK: 35 and rain
Barrow, AK: -2
New York City, NY: 15
Washington DC: 19
Minneapolis, MN: 1

Yes, it's colder in Washington than it is in all the major cities of Alaska, and Minnesota is just barely warmer than one of the coldest places humans normally inhabit.

The planet has warmed so much that the jet stream has been affected. Essentially, hot air from the south has pushed its way into Alaska, forcing cold air into the lower 48.

The snow and cold in Florida are a direct result of extremely high temperatures in the western US and arctic regions. That is, the severity of the blizzard and cold in the east are a direct result of climate change.

This has been happening regularly for the past several years, so it's nothing new. But Republican shills for the oil and gas industry keep repeating the lie that the planet isn't warming, and even if it is, it's not their fault.

So, as long as they keep lying about climate change, I'll keep posting weather reports from Alaska to show how ridiculously warm the earth is getting.