Climate-change deniers are using Snowmageddon 2015, like every other storm, to further their anti-scientific trolling. But what they fail to miss, of course, is that global warming doesn’t mean that there will never be snow again. What it really means is that changing weather patterns may cause more snowstorms in certain places — and that they may be more serious.
As the National Climate Assessment states, climate change will raise average yearly temperatures, but individual weather events are a whole different story. In fact, precipitation extremes in the Northeast may actually get worse because of climate change, which means more blizzards and, potentially, more coastal flooding. The Washington Post is also quick to point out that this particular kind of winter storm — a nor’easter — is caused by the collision of cold currents from the Arctic and warm ones from the Gulf. This means that, if ocean temperatures continue to rise, our nor’easters may continue to grow stronger and more brutal, even if the snow they deliver will be quicker to melt.
Who would, after 2014 was confirmed to be the hottest year since records have been kept, still make that kind of argument? Well, there’s Fox News host Charles V. Payne, who takes a particularly flat perspective on what a changing climate is supposed to look like:
And the American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer, who thinks there’s nothing atypical about mega blizzards:
And radio host Vicki McKenna, who thinks Wisconsin weather belongs in New York, too:
RB Pundit thinks it’s just winter weather:
Breitbart writer John Hayward thinks scientists just can’t make up their minds about what climate change is:
