by P Gosselin
We all remember how some scientists (David Viner and Mojib Latif, for example) boldly announced some 18 years ago that snow and ice at latitudes 40 – 55°N would become rare.
Yet looking at the latest data, we see that ironically it’s bare ground that has become “a thing of the past”. Spiegel science journalist Axel Bojanowski tweeted here.
The Spiegel journalist tweeted (emphasis added):
Because there has been some commotion due to the #Snow: No snow at our latitudes is currently the exception worldwide (white shading).”
With frigid temperatures and heavy snows gripping much of the Northern Hemisphere, this is a quite an embarrassment for climate experts who earlier confirdently claimed snow would become rare due to global warming. Furthermore not only has snow returned with a vengeance, also global surface temperatures over the past 20 years have risen insignificantly.
World and business leaders should be reminded of this as they head to a snow-buried Davos.
Another eyebrow-raising anecdote is found in Montreal, Canada, where the mighty St. Lawrence River may have a U.S. Navy ship trapped until spring: “due to icy waters.”
Though we do not find ourselves in an ice age, it sure feels like it across the northern hemisphere this winter.
