It’s winter, and it’s cold, so you know what that means!
Our comment section troll of a president is joking about global warming, and a mix of federal agencies, scientists, children, and celebrities are all dunking on dear leader.
At this point in our Trumpian nightmare, his plea for global warming to “come back” during this cold snap is such a dumb and predictable line that folks had all sorts of cartoons and memes ready to go. But in case this is your first winter paying attention to climate change, here’s the basic rundown of how climate change, the jet stream and the polar vortex are all related.
Most obviously, climate change doesn’t mean no more cold weather anywhere, ever. And while cold swings still exist, there is also a clear consistent warming. The past four years have been the hottest on record for the globe, and there hasn’t been a cooler-than-average year in three decades. We’ve been experiencing almost twice as much record hot weather than record cold, and cold snaps in the Upper Midwest have become much less frequent.
As the recent National Climate Assessment explained, warmer winters are allowing pests to kill more trees (which leads to more wildfires); are already decreasing snowpack and costing the winter recreation industry money; and are allowing for the northward spread of Lyme disease and other illnesses.
That’s the big picture. More specifically, though, we may want to plan for an increase in these particular sorts of cold snaps, which are an extension of the polar vortex, because it may be a symptom of climate change. The work pioneered by climate scientist Jennifer Francis (formerly at Rutgers, now at Woods Hole) has been growing in the past years. Scientists are increasingly confident that Arctic amplification is leading to a wavier jet stream, which in turn allows cold Arctic air to “fall” down, bringing these frigid temperatures with it.
Or, as Sulu from Star Trek (AKA George Takei) tactfully summed up in his response to Trump: “The North Pole’s weather got pushed over us, stupid.”
Jokes aside, though, this is hardly a laughing matter. Temperatures like this are dangerous, particularly for vulnerable populations who lack adequate heating or shelter. The sad fact is that people will likely die from this cold weather. And instead of using his reach to encourage donations of coats or blankets to shelters, or god forbid, prompt a discussion about strengthening the social safety net to get people off the streets, the president is using it as an excuse to troll the libs.
Trump may score points with his base with this sort of immaturity and denial, but a new report from Brookings reaffirms the ironic fact that Trump’s base in so-called “red” states will be the hardest hit by warming’s impacts.
It’d be comedic, if it weren’t so tragic.
Top Climate and Clean Energy Stories: