People on the East Coast may have finally dug out from last week's blizzard, but the Republicans' selective ignorance on climate science is just getting warmed up. So, we should get used to saying these next words: snow in winter does not disprove global warming.
In fact, extreme weather like blizzards is actually made worse because of our changing climate. Warmer oceans actually contribute to record-breaking snow fall from winter storms.
In an interview with The Think Progress Blog, one of our nation's top climate scientists explained that when you mix excess moisture in the atmosphere with “a cold Arctic outbreak, you get huge amounts of energy and moisture, and monster snowfalls.” And, that's exactly what the East Coast experienced with the recent blizzard.
As Joe Romm explained in that Think Progress article, “Like a baseball player on steroids, our climate system is breaking records at an unnatural pace.” And, just as you wouldn't ask if one particular home run was caused only by a baseball player being on steroids, you can't say one particular weather event is caused only by global warming.
No one can dispute that when water gets hot enough it evaporates, and all of that vapor needs to go somewhere. When our atmosphere is saturated with moisture because of all that extra evaporation, it means storms will release more moisture in the form of snow, rain, and sleet.
However, what seems like common sense to most of us is conveniently misunderstood by Congress people who are funded by Big Oil. And, it's in their best financial interest to misinform the public and pretend like there is still any real debate about our climate crisis.
It's winter time and we're probably going to have more snow storms, so let's get ready to refute the storm of deceptive anti-science talking points that are likely to rain down from our Republican lawmakers.
