Climate Denial Crock of the Week

It’s about that time of year again, as winter snowstorms provoke the inevitable “Whatever happened to Global Warming” jokes and news stories, to be reminded of the powerfully persuasive evidence that made Stu Ostro, senior Meteorologist at the Weather Channel, belatedly wake up to the case for climate change.

I used Stu’s explanation of 2009’s deceptive warmth in one of my most popular videos, which was made to calm the brouhaha after the eastern US was slammed by several extreme snow storms last winter – snow storms that, in fact, were completely consistent with the increased moisture from a warmer climate, coupled with a negative Arctic Oscillation.

5 day composite Temp anomaly - 11/24/10 to 11/28/10

With the UK shivering again from an unusual cold wave, even as some polar areas feel unseasonal warmth, it might be in order to review what happened last year, and remember that just because winters are shorter, and warmer on the whole, we can still get hit with record chills and heavy snows.