Watching network television news, you’d think the entire Earth had entered an Ice Age just because it’s been cold in Manhattan.
While February was unusually cold in the Northeast and Midwest, what’s not being mentioned on TV is that records have been falling on the high end of the temperature scale for the entire winter across a broad swath of the West and Pacific Northwest:
- Weather.com reports that more than 20 cities out west, including San Francisco, Sacramento and Las Vegas had their warmest winters on record, adding, “In case you’re wondering, few if any cities in the East will have their coldest winters on record despite a series of high-profile blizzards and record cold waves – mainly because December was relatively mild.”
- KOMOnews.com reports Seattle had its warmest winter on record, “obliterating” the old record by 1.4 degrees. In neighboring Oregon, Portland broke its winter warmth record and Salem topped 50 degrees every day in February, the first time that’s ever happened.
- And The Salt Lake Tribune reports Salt Lake City had both its warmest and least snowy winter on record, the latter being the bigger concern as the West heads towards fire season. “Things are much more dry and, frankly, more ready to burn … than in [recent] memory,” Jason Curry, spokesman for the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, told the Tribune.
What do all of these articles have in common? Not one mentions climate change. It’s just the latest example of media deliberately not connecting obvious climate dots for their audience.
Sometimes you have to wonder: If our media were actively trying to stifle public knowledge of climate change impacts and suppress support for climate action, how would that be different from what we have now?
Originally posted at The Green Miles…
Miles Grant is a progressive blogger and environmental communicator, writing about everything from global warming to smart growth to organic beer. Read more at TheGreenMiles.com and follow him on Twitter at: @MilesGrant. Miles lives with his wife and daughter in Fairhaven, MA.
I can personally vouch for the weather report in Salt Lake. Today was the first snow storm we’ve had. The one on Christmas day didn’t even qualify as a snow storm.
I took a walk this morning and passed by two others who were freezing their buts off, but we were all smiling widely.
It’s been really nice because the temperature inversions have been absent for weeks and the air isn’t competing with or surpassing Beijing, China in the contest for the worst air quality on earth, but we really need a break from spring right now.
I can vouch for the weather in Seattle, Brad. It’s been the mildest winter on record. We are in the middle of an early spring with cherry blossoms all blooming in mid-February. The crocus in my yard are practically OVER now. Here is the latest US weather map:
https://twitter.com/4earth/stat...76459192107009
Well said Miles!
@4earth… I’m in Marysville, our cherry blossom’s are beautiful, and a good two weeks early, you beat me to it. Also, I hear the Skagit Valley Tulip festival will be a few weeks early.
I’m in Calgary, Alberta, and I don’t know whether we broke any records in February or not, but I have buds and at least one new green shoot coming out on a Mayday tree in front of my house as of last week – normally no trees bud out here before mid-April at the earliest, and cherry-family trees not usually until early May. However, we had weeks of weather in January and most of February where temps rarely dropped below freezing, or only slightly below – average overnight lows are in the range of -14C in Jan-Feb, or low single digits Fahrenheit. We’ve had a couple of more seasonally cold days over the weekend, but by tomorrow, we’re expecting to be back in the double digits (C) – not uncommon here on any given winter day, but very unusual for such long stretches anywhere from Nov. through March.
Brad,
Here is a Summer of 2015 headline that I don’t have to be clairvoyant to write…Oregon is burning. Our snow pack is at historic lows and I predict SUBURBAN wildfires that will burn down tens of millions of homes ala the Oakland hills fires of the early 90’s.
Maaaaybe then the Manhattan media will pay attention maaaaaybe.
StumptownHero said @ 6:
Doubt it. Now, when Manhattan floods again, then we’ll have a story about global warming. Until the waters recede anyway.
Yes the weather changes , yes records are set, yes the climate changes, so what , Its funny to watch people go bananas over the normal process of our world. History Book in 2154 ” in the later part of the 21st and beginning of the 22nd century may people were told that humans were changing the climate …… it turned out that the shifting climate was a natural process …
Greg,
You have not ben paying attention to the SCIENCE and the historical record. The amount of carbon in the air has not ben at these levels for hundreds of millions of years. While long and short term weather cycles have always existed in MAN will have created one of the wildest and fastest swings in the history of the planet.
Stick your head in the sand but without immediate and meaningful changes the oceans are going to displace 50+ % of the worlds population and wipe out an equal value of the worlds total real estate. I guess you think that is unavoidable because China or India are not going to participate in the solution but you are talking about not even trying. You should also know that even the mildest models show that fresh water for another 50% of the worlds populations will be eliminates.
Greg @ 8 was duped or paid to say:
Heheh. Got any evidence to support that contention? Cause so far, legitimate scientists who once might have agreed with that theory — including the Koch-funded scientist Richard Muller, as seen below — completely disagree with you. But I’ll look forward to your scientific evidence to support your assertion, in any event. Thanks in advance!
It is almost a given, at this point, that every article published by The BRAD BLOG that addresses the science of climate change will attract at least one inane comment from someone, like Greg @8, who has been thoroughly brainwashed by or is a paid troll for the fossil fuel industry.
In most instances, theirs is a hit-and-run rant. They don’t return to see comment-after-comment in which their rants are demolished. In a few instances, they return to repeat some other fact free fossil fuel industry canard. In those instances, they are either too brainwashed or too dishonest to concede the reality of human caused global climate change even in the face of mountains of scientific evidence.
No doubt, one day, after a misinformed comment is thoroughly debunked, the person who posted the particular piece of fossil fuel industry propaganda will have the integrity to admit error and thank the many at this site who tried to steer him or her to the hard scientific facts. Sadly, that day has yet to arrive.
I live at in the premier ski resort on the West coast of North America and while there was snow on the tops of the mountains, there was none, absolutely zero, in the village. I actually went walking with my wife while in shirt sleeves in the middle of February. This is beyond an anomaly, it is a portent of more to come. It is unbelievable but it is occurring right now.
Brad –
Thanks for the Dr. Muller clip. I have absolute respect for those scientists who have mastered and then utilized their knowledge of statistical analysis – very impressive fella, he just lets the facts speak for themselves.
The radio ran a story today on a documentary called “Merchants of Doubt.” If you haven’t heard about it, it links the current climate change “debate” to the whole professional debunking industry, which cut its teeth on tobacco (so to speak). They’re mostly the same people, using the same dirty tricks, to convince the gullible that cigarettes don’t cause cancer.
Ralph Crown –
Yup. See this from 2013: https://bradblog.com/?p=10404
And then go see Merchants of Doubt. (Which I’m very much looking forward to myself!)