Climate activist Bill McKibben, who was key organizer of the NYC climate march in September 2014, wasted no time in blaming the massive blizzard bearing down on the Northeast on ‘global warming.’ McKibben tweeted on Monday:
McKibben: ‘5 0f 10 worst blizzards in NYC in last ten years, 0.2% chance that’s chance. Climate change at work’
Not to be outdone, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo joined in:
Scientists were not impressed. Prof. Roger Pielke Jr., an extreme weather expert, mocked Cuomo’s claim. “Uh-huh, sure there is,” Pielke Jr. tweeted in response to Cuomo’s claims.
Also wading into the blizzard and ‘climate change’ connection is Bill Nye, the Science Guy.” See: WATCH: BILL NYE ON MSNBC: BLAME CLIMATE CHANGE FOR BLIZZARD – NYE: ‘I just want to introduce the idea that this storm is connected to climate change.’ & Bill Nye on MSNBC Hits ‘Unglued’ Viewers Who Object to Blaming Blizzard on Climate Change
The decade of 2010s have seen record snowfall on the U.S. East Coast. See: Meteorologist: 2010s officially the snowiest decade in the east coast in the NOAA record – surpassing the 1960s
But what McKibben, Gov. Cuomo and Bill Nye left out was that less snowfalls were predicted to happen with ‘global warming’. The UN IPCC was very clear in its predictions: See: In 2001, the IPCC predicted milder winters and less snow. Experts are hoping no one remembers – UN IPCC 2001: ‘Milder winter temperatures will decrease heavy snowstorms’
UN IPCC Lead Author Michael Oppenheimer was also very clear in his predictions: See: NYT in 2000 quoted ‘Oppenheimer on the pathetic spectacle of the unused sled in his stairwell, symbol of a warming world: ‘I bought a sled in ’96 for my daughter,’ said Oppenheimer, a scientist at the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund. ‘It’s been sitting in the stairwell, and hasn’t been used. I used to go sledding all the time. It’s one of my most vivid and pleasant memories as a kid, hauling the sled out to Cunningham Park in Queens.’
Also in 2000, scientists in the UK boldly predicted the end of snow due to ‘global warming.’ See: Flashback 2000: ‘Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past’: According to Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia,within a few years winter snowfall will become ‘a very rare and exciting event. Children just aren’t going to know what snow is.’
But Viner’s predictions did not hold up.
Five Of The Six Snowiest Winters Have Occurred Since David Viner Declared The End Of Snow
Other media outlets are promoting the blizzard and climate change link as well. See: Washington Post’s Chris Mooney: Global warming could make blizzards worse: ‘Extreme snowfall may actually be enhanced by global warming. I know it sounds counterintuitive‘
Dr. Pielke Jr.: ‘How about 1948-2006? “No significant time-dependent trends were identified for precipitation or snowfall from ECWS’
Pielke offers ‘Pro tip for reporters’ – ‘Use peer reviewed science. Actual studies of East coast winter storms:
1 https://www.e-education.psu.edu/worldofweather/files/worldofweather/februaryecws.pdf
2 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/joc.2121/full
Repeating News Story: Global Warming To Make Blizzards Worse – Jan. 26, 2015 – Meteorologist R. Ryan Maue is quick to point out that just the opposite is likely the result—that the elevated sea surface temperatures actually act to make such storms tamer. Maue goes on to add that it is “easy to make case that global warming weakened this blizzard significantly due to warmer [sea surface temperatures].”
Snowfall on declining trend in NYC since 1869
Climatologists: ‘Don’t believe the hype’
2013: Climate Astrology: Blizzard blamed on global warming?! Is there any weather event that is inconsistent with global warming? — Climate Depot Round up – ‘No matter what the weather is like, it always turns out to be exactly the kind of weather we should expect if human activity were causing global temps to rise’
2013: Round Up: Meteorologists Slaps Down latest warmist claim of ‘Less snow = more blizzards’ — AP’s Seth Borenstein rebutted – Meteorologist Dr. Ryan Maue mocks: ‘Hint, if your theory or hypothesis involves contradictions, may be time to admit your original knowledge of subject was inadequate’
2013: Meteorologist Slaps Down latest warmist claim of ‘Less snow = more blizzards’ — ‘Whac-a-moling Seth Borenstein at AP over his erroneous extreme weather claims’ – By Dr. Richard Keen, Meteorologist Emeritus, University of Colorado, Boulder
Gore now claims ‘increased heavy snowfalls are completely consistent with… man-made global warming’
Watch Now: Flashback: Climate Depot’s Morano on Fox News Mocking ‘Climate Astrology’: ‘This is now akin to the predictions of Nostradamus or the Mayan calendar’ — Morano: ‘There is no way anyone can falsify the global warming theory now because any weather event that happens ‘proves’ their case…Man-made global warming has ceased to be a science, it is now the level of your daily horoscope’ — Gore [in 2006 film] did not warn us of extreme blizzards and record cold winters coming’
Flashback 2014 New York Times: ‘The End of Snow?’
Time Mag.: ‘D.C. Snowstorm: How Global Warming Makes Blizzards Worse’
Flashback 2000 New York Times: ‘Sledding and snowball fights are as out-of-date as hoop-rolling’ – Blame lack of snow on ‘global warming’ – NYT 2000: ‘Years of mild, rainy winters seem to be making New Yorkers hungry for the freezing winds and snow..’ – NYT in 2000: ‘But it does not take a scientist to size up the effects of snowless winters on the children too young to remember the record-setting blizzards of 1996. For them, the pleasures of sledding and snowball fights are as out-of-date as hoop-rolling, and the delight of a snow day off from school is unknown.’
Time Magazine Goes Both Ways On The Polar Vortex: ‘In 1974, Time Mag blamed the cold polar vortex on global cooling’ — In 2014: ‘Time Magazine blames the cold polar vortex on global warming’ (Via Real Science)
Wash Post Throws Cold Water on Idea that Global Warming Is Causing Record Cold: ‘It’s still heavily debated…Elizabeth Barnes of Colorado State disputed the link’ – ‘The UN IPCC in 2007 predicted that there was ‘likely to be a decline in the frequency of cold air outbreaks… in [N. Hemisphere] winter in most areas.’
