Global Warming needs a new brand name. Global makes it feel too remote. And Warming is a too easily refuted misnomer. Instead, the man-made destruction of a stable atmosphere through excess carbon gas with impact in specific places should be renamed Glocalized Atmospheric Terrorism.
3
I know you are calling it the Raleigh-Durham AREA but please stop. That's not a place. They are two cities with separate downtown areas that are over 24 miles apart. Please choose one of the other to highlight in your stories.
4
Been there, done that. Even worked in the Road Salt industry. When something like this comes along, long hours and c-c-cold work.
I'm now living in San Diego, pass me another Fish Taco and refresh my Margareta, please.
3
Everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it...
3
I hope they have extra shelters open for the homeless. Anyone who can open their doors, should - as in churches, synagogues, mosques.
6
somebody messing around...just look up
Smug comments aside, there are homeless in the path of this storm. Stop talking, and DO something to help...
7
It's called a winter storm. Happens every year. Bundle up and don't drive like an idiot.
2
Cyclones spin clockwise and only occur south of the equator. Hurricanes spin counterclockwise and only occurs north of the equator.
Would the media please give the dictionary back since they won't use it intelligently? Not the NYTimes but whomever created Bomb Cyclone when clearly this Nor'easter hurricane is rare but so are serious journalists. Thank you NY Times, it's a good read but please tell Snoop Dogg he can't be a weatherman.
2
Why would y'all show a picture of a homeless person in Houston when that city is completely unaffected by this particular storm?
1
“Global warming” to “climate change” has got to be the most successful rebranding in history.
With “climate change” you can never be wrong.
2
The way the climate is changing for two centuries now, is such that the average global temperature is going up. And going up fast.
Temperatures going up is called "warming".
And when that's the case globally, it's called "global warming".
What's so difficult to understand here ... ?
The only people that "rebrand" global warming are the people that reject the science of AGW.
Read Wallace Broecker's 1975 paper..it is titled: "Climate Change: are We on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming?"
Or read Hansen's 1981 paper "Climate Impact of Increasing Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide." which uses both terms as well.
So, no rebranding by the science community...and both those papers are still reasonably accurate as to their projections of what is happening today to the climate.
So much for "global warming."
Because if you take a shower during the winter and as a consequence your bathroom is heating up, you'll also claim that you're entire house is now steaming and hot, won't you ... ? ;-)
Rational thought isn't as difficult as you seem to think. You should try it out once in a while.
4
"Bomb cyclone" formerly known as "snow"? Who is it that profits from this sensationalizing of something that, overall, happens regularly? I hate the play up of this sort of reporting. Is it designed to strike fear and panic and weaken us for some other force to take advantage of us? Well, now that sounds crazy, almost as crazy as a bomb cyclone.
1
In New York it's Grayson v. Grayson. Mega Storm Bomb v. Chief Edward Grayson Director of Cleaning and Collection. Snowplow Alert! Who will win?
1
Hah! I love that it's cold and snowing in the coastal North Carolina. My republican relatives fled to that state to (or so they thought) avoid winter, convinced that they would be wearing shorts in January while it would be business as usual on Long Island, gloating that they got rid of their winter clothing. Awww too bad Pookie, looks like climate change is for real after all.
5
Keep it in Florida Please!
2
Schadenfreude Holiday
1
To all of those who are calling us wimps or saying its just winter, etc. You do realize that millions of people may be losing their power tomorrow and their homes will plummet to freezing cold in a matter of hours because it is going to be only minus 10 or 20 degrees with 75 MPH wind gusts (where I live). Please have some compassion or empathy. This is a dead serious, impacting storm.
We have been at sub zero for the last 10 days! It is breaking a hundred year old record for cold. It IS REALLY COLD! Add snow and hurricane force winds and power outages, cars dying, pipes bursting, etc.
If you're not experiencing this unbelievable cold please be quiet. Judgement is not necessary right now. We have had people dying from the cold already.
5
Nature is trying her best to get rid of the pesky humans . But the humans are humming the tune, "I will survive". Well that's Mother Nature, a hard Mother. I think we could do with some more fossil fuel burning and heat it up. Just don't blame Trump for it. The World is changing as usual, but few can see how. Plato would be scratching his beard on this one too.
Changing as usual? On what planet are you living?
The climate is changing indeed, but not "as usual", quite on the contrary: the average global temperature has NEVER increased so fast as it did did during the last two centuries, and you have to go back 4 million years (= before humans or human-like creatures even existed) to have a situation where atmospheric CO2 levels were this high.
That being said, I don't blame you for being ignorant. Nobody can know what science has proven before you go and read some scientific studies.
I do blame you, however, for imagining that all you have to do to know whether "we could do with some more fossil fuel burning" or not is to just sit and "think" a bit. That's a totally irrational attitude, remember (if not, time to re-read Plato)? Just sitting and thinking for a moment should at least have allowed you to understand THAT ...
Finally, nobody is blaming Trump for climate change. The world blames Trump for doing what you're doing here: deciding to behave irrationally - in his case simply because it fires up part of his base so it allows him to stay in power a bit longer, and that's it.
1
I love winter snow, blizzards, & snow shoveling.. the Cold, refreshing clean-air especially in big cities . Chicago is notorious for turbulent winters❄; last winter was incredibly mild & nill snow. Indeed soo in my glory this winter; weight/inches roll-off , more focused, and on-the-go during "winter wonderland" months. ;-)
ON the other hand- I know colder months is a hindrance for many ; those without heat or decent shelter, have a physical /mental impairment , getting to work (if weather inclement is an inexcusable absence) & the welfare of your family/pets -worry of the ability to stock up on food , toiletries, emergency kits, extra blankets & batteries for smoke/C02 detectors & radio for news . Plus All emergency & medical care specialists are prone to work around the clock with limited restbreaks (thank you!).
it is important to keep an eye out for people with disadvantages , children whom don't have appropriate winterwear , animals that are homeless or recklessly left outside during freeze spells.
Best & Happy New Year , keep safe, and hopefully the "kids home from school" can make it a school day at home !
1
"Savannah, a city that normally swelters" you say. Well, you are correct in August, but not in winter. Two days before Christmas I was sailing on the Wilmington River in beautiful sunshine at 65 F. Yesterday's coating of ice on the tree branches and the inch of snow made for an amusing walk with our Scottish Terrier, who had never seen either in her 5 years living here. So bring on the snow occasionally, but we'd like to skip the next hurricane season after Matthew and Irma. Note to New York and New England relatives: we have extra bedrooms for you and probably more sailing than snow the rest of the winter. Stay warm!
My weather scientist friend tells me this phenomenon is not new or unusual. She even wrote a paper on it as an undergrad. Nevertheless Mother Nature is fascinating, even though deadly at times.
It's -22F (-30C) where I live right now , so I guess all I can say to my American friends is is this - my God that's cold.
It is winter, cold weather is to be expected. It is good to warn people about the possibility of extreme cold and snow but lets skip the nonsense of calling it a bomb cyclone. It is a strong winter coastal storm. It seems to me the meteorologists are getting carried away with the names ever since the Weather Channel came to be.
Our 110 degrees-plus summer days are forgotten here in Scottsdale, when the temperature plunges 35 degrees to a mid-70s "winter" day, as it did today....anything below 80 degrees is cool to me, so I was forced to wear a long-sleeve T-shirt with my running shorts for my morning jog, and then jeans mid-day... with my flip-flops.
Just another day in The Big Apple. When I was growing up NYC never closed the schools for snow and now a few inches brings panic? Maybe city kids back in the day had more True Grit. It is the winter!
1
Remember that snow has become a thing of the past.
My favorite school closing event took place a very long time ago, in 1961. I was in elementary school and I pleaded with my mother to let me stay home to watch the Kennedy inauguration. She said no, but the weather said yes.
When I was teaching in NYC I showed the event to my students so that they could hear his powerful speech, which I still remember clearly. But I realized that it looked so different today because I had seen it in black and white!
As a native of Los Angeles, I can’t even begin to comprehend any of this.
13
Imagine an earthquake, except cold, slick, and fluffy. And rather than the ground moving, nothing is moving.
1
If I could only afford it, I'd trade places in a heartbeat.
Kind of like we can't comprehend wild fires that destroy everything you own in minutes and daily traffic that makes you wish you owned a helicopter?
Formerly known as: weather.
22
Snow and cold are not a competition. I worry about the elderly who live all alone or who are poor, have trouble heating old units. Saw this doing Meals on Wheels. And the homeless. Our city is opening more shelters. And so on, we all have internet, wifi, heat, blankets, hot water ... so far. Peace
16
State of emergency! Its winter, snow falls, it gets cold, even in the south. WE ARE A COUNTRY OF WIMPS
19
And when will population control be examined along with climate issues? It's not too many butterflies creating climate change,we have met the enemy and it is us!
27
Fortunately we have global warming or these blizzards would be much more common!
4
It's the other way around. Even these storms are in part due to the extra heat in the atmosphere and the oceans. The jet streams have changed shape/weakened. Imagine a world at 4 degrees C above baseline. It'll just get wackier.
1
Global warming is putting 10% more moisture up into the atmosphere, thus heavier snowfalls.
1
"Bomb cyclone" events happen every year.
Snow in the south is rare, yes. But these kind of storms are not at all.
Let's get the details correct.
5
In most parts of Canada we call this event Thursday.
91
Last I checked-it’s still winter.
Please Lord -Colorado needs snow.
13
"Ms. Garcia encouraged New Yorkers to avoid driving and use mass transit instead."
Based on what I've been reading about the subways, that's funny. And I guess the buses are going to have skis attached to them.
10
"My side of the ship is 500 feet in the air, what do you mean we're sinking?"
...every climate change deniers argument when the hear about unusual cold weather. (My favorite was Rupert Murdoch tweeting about ice fields from a plane while his home burned from wildfires in California.)
It's the apocalypse, and on a geological timescale it's happening blindingly fast. Unfortunately, on a human timescale it's still pretty slow, and it's also too late. It's gonna be stormy and tropical a lot further north in the next 50 years. There's no stopping global warming now...
...unless we get a nuclear winter. Say what you will about Trump, but he's still the only President with a plan for global cooling ;)
17
Except climate change used to be called "global warming", iced coffee anybody?
2
We don't need no education
Oh, it’s winter, get over it! NYC is closing the schools already?! What has become of the stout hearted men, women, and children of the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s?! In those days, we’d have occasional blizzards, and snow on the ground, from the end of November till April! While there was that period in the late 70’s where schools had to be closed because of a couple of ferocious blizzards, schools were open! I feel for parents today, who all have to work, and tomorrow it will be, what to do with the kids?! Before even this year’s Armeggedon begins? Above all, in what really counts, be kind to your neighbors!!!
13
I think the real news was that Florida was getting snow. That's a rare sight to behold.
7
Even the 90s and early 00s! When my sons were in elementary school, I would listen to the news *hoping* for a snow day for my boys. Fun! But no, while every parochial, private, and suburban school district shut down when a blizzard hit, NYC schools remained opened. I let them stay home anyway (I worked at home).
6
I love the stories about how people are getting weaker every year, less resilient, wimpy. Been hearing these stories since the late 40's (I'm old).
If I can believe my elders of the day, during the Great Depression, a crust of bread was all one had to tromp miles through the horrible blizzards to get to school and back home wearing shoes with holes in the soles and rags for clothing. They said we kids in the 50's were wimps given we needed warm coats and snow pants and boots and a good breakfast before walking to school in the blowing snow.
Supposedly kids have gotten wimpier every decade since. NOT.
The reality is that back in the early 50s, people would stop and give kids a ride when it got really cold. A workman's truck would show up at school with half a dozen kids he'd collected along the way. At least that's how it worked in my town. Parents looked out for kids even if not their own, and we weren't paranoid about accepting a ride from someone when we could, even if we didn't really know them. Heck, we traveled the country in the early 60's with just our thumb and it was mostly great.
Kids have it way harder now.
I left Switzerland on Christmas Eve to visit my parents outside of Charleston, S.C., and already I've seen more ice and snow here in coastal South Carolina than I had this year in Switzerland.
16
A storm like this always has a silver lining. Alternate side parking suspended tomorrow.
15
The way it works is;in winter we get cold weather,that's it period.In the summer,when its hot,or a hurricane forms...,now its apocalyptic-global-
warming-climate-change!
8
Comments linking this cold spell to the issue of climate change are off-base. Most of us have seen below-zero temperatures as well as balmy 55-degree days in our Januarys past. Short-term swings, even extreme ones, are just not that unusual. When someone tries to buttress their argument with the experience of two weeks, well, that is not enough data. That is not science.
In that vein, we can also admit that climate change, while likely occurring, is not a metaphysical certainty. Most of us do not have the data or even the analytical framework to analyze it.
What we should all agree on is a more modest approach: Considering the substantial risk that climate change is indeed happening -- it seems logical that the fuels that pollute also impacting our atmosphere more broadly-- we should take action to prevent and mitigate it.
All of us buy insurance for one problem or another. We need to consider spending money on insurance for our planet now, and not wait to see whether a substantial risk becomes catastrophic certainty.
11
It's not a question with a binary answer, whether climate change is happening or not, that is really the more important one. It's the degree to which it is affecting us on a daily basis. That can be semi-quantified.
But I agree, reducing pollution makes sense in a variety of ways.
The question is how much speculative legislation, regulation, and cost is warranted for "mitigation" of whatever the harm is. Insurance is predictably priced thanks to actuarial science. We lack that kind of data in this realm of global cooling/warming/change science. I'd say put the bucks for now wholly into quality research, not partisan histrionics.
A Baltimore Oriole has taken up on our deck in Atlanta to weather the cold. I have never seen one around here before, in winter. Jan 3 2018
8
Well at least it isn't the entore team.
1
Stay safe down there - bundle up and check on elderly neighbors. I see from the National Weather Service* that there's another night or two of hard freeze expected from SE Texas into Georgia and Florida. Lots of homes down there aren't insulated too well.
7
I call it climate chaos, resulting in more extreme weather: colder winters and hotter summers; bigger, stronger, and more damaging storms; more and longer droughts, more severe flooding. Climate chaos is caused by global warming. "Climate change" just doesn't do justice to what is happening now, and will be happening in the future.
30
Exactly. Saying "global warming" makes most people think "oh, it's going to get really hot all the time". Heat is just a form of energy, and more energy doesn't necessarily mean "hot everywhere". Warmer oceans means more evaporation, a greater difference in temp between the oceans and atmosphere means more violent storms, etc. Eventually, the entire climate will get warmer...while moving towards a new equilibrium we will see far more chaos like this.
Many "deniers" say "It's been this cold here before", or "oh, we've had tornadoes here before", "we've had hurricanes in Ireland before" etc. True, but the frequency of these once-rare events is is picking up. What would happen once every 30-50 years is now happening in 1/4 that time...and it's just going to get faster.
15
The Penn State climate scientist Michael Mann made some recent observations about the state of climate since the last IPCC report 3 years ago. The news is not good:
"Uncertainty is not our friend here," said Penn State climate scientist Michael Mann. "We are seeing increases in extreme weather events that go well beyond what has been predicted or projected in the past. We're learning that there are factors we were not previously aware of that may be magnifying the impacts of human-caused climate change." Among those are "subtle mechanisms involving the behavior of the jet stream that may be involved in explaining the dramatic increase we've seen in floods, droughts, heat waves and wildfires," he said.
"Increasingly, the science suggests that many of the impacts are occurring earlier and with greater amplitude than was predicted," Mann said, after considering new research since the milestone of the IPCC's Fifth Assessment, which served as the scientific basis for the Paris Agreement.
"We have literally, in the space of a year, doubled our assessment of the potential sea level rise we could see by the end of this century. That is simply remarkable. And it is sobering," he said.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26122017/climate-change-science-2017-...
48
Maybe its because they have no understanding at all and its all hogwash. They haven't been able to predict anything. Floods are happening more due to urban development causing subsidence. Go read how much the Houston area has dropped since the 80's. There are papers that show 2in of compaction per year since 1974 and its worse in other areas. That means that if the exact same storm happened 20 years apart the would cause vastly different damage 20 years later. Wildfire area happening more, because people are developing areas that are arid in climate and when you prop up plant life that shouldn't be there it isn't able to cope with the arid environment it dries up and becomes kindling. California doesn't get rain because it never really did. That's why a majority of their water comes from far away to the West. It's not sustainable and will never be in the long term. I think heat waves have a lot more to do with ground temperature being hotter due to concrete/asphalt. Which was brought up in a paper talking about heat waves, but was quickly debunked because many of the measurements were taken over 20 years, but didn't account for the devices measuring the temperature being located in areas where urban development had occurred during the 20 year period, which caused temperatures to be skewed on the high side.
8
97% of the bridge inspectors certify the bridge is unsafe. 3% argue they're being hysterical. Will you drive your family across the bridge?
1
Don't let facts get in the way of your opinions.
The article contains this assertion -- "It was the coldest it has been in Raleigh-Durham in more than 130 years. A temperature of 9 degrees at the area’s airport tied a record low set in 1887, the National Weather Service said."
That is incorrect.
Actually, it was much colder in Raleigh just 25 years ago.
On January 19, 1994, Raleigh-Durham recorded a low of 1 degree. (https://goo.gl/iVoQKm)
In the 1970s, Raleigh-Durham dropped below 9 degrees practically every winter. In January 1970, for example, Raleigh-Durham hit 1 degree twice (on the 9th and the 22nd - https://goo.gl/M5pYdo)
This year, Raleigh-Durham simply tied its record low for January 3rd. It's had plenty of colder days over the last 130 years on other dates in January.
This cold may be a bit unusual for RDU - particularly over the past couple of decades - but it's not a once-in-a-century event by a long shot.
15
Does anyone else find it a bit odd that Trump keeps getting lucky like this?
First it was winning the election, against the odds. Then we had two highly inopportune terror attacks, none of which killed any Americans, both of which were perpetrated by immigrants.
Add this curious weather which only allows Trump to mock global warming even more.
It may sound crazy, but weather pattern control was once studied by the KGB, at a time when Putin was a senior officer. If it's not too much to wonder if the Russians helped Trump win the election, perhaps we and the Mueller investigation should be looking into Trump and Russia's manipulation of the weather. You know it's a possibility! If the Russians have this technology, does anyone seriously doubt that Trump would find a way to exploit it?
10
The article does explain how warming oceans actually contribute to these severe weather events. But Trump doesn't pay attention to science, and he's not the first Republican to say that cold weather shows there is no global warming.
6
Well, it only works to The Great Dotard's advantage when people don't understand that these extreme weather events will become even more regular as the climate warms, and that it's not just a simplistic case of "hotter weather". That's most of his base, I guess. And, apparently, the man himself. And his good buddies. Sad. Very sad.
7
Dude. I mean, I know the X-Files reunion is on and all but...
3
Contrarians often emphasize uncertainty as a reason to forestall action on global warming.
But uncertainty cuts against us in climate science because the uncertainty distribution is mostly on the bad side.
Things could be a little better than we think, a little worse, or a lot worse. There’s no a lot better.
As the glaciologist Richard Alley said recently regarding one such impact, if we don’t change our ways we’re expecting something like 3 feet of sea level rise over the next century, and it could be 2 and it could be 4 and it could be 20.
So when you say “you’re not sure”, there’s a chance of really bad things.
21
And there’s a chance it won’t happen.
2
john, a much smaller chance.
There is no chance of it not happening .... because it is already happening
1
Gee, the global warming crowd seems awful quiet lately.... Where are you Al? Keep your mitts on!!
10
@Johnny Faith: Don't believe the ACTUAL fake news. The effects of human-caused climate change include weather extremes like those we're experiencing now.
8
It is global warming causing a huge loss of the arctic sea ice causing the polar vertex to drift south. Here's an article https://insideclimatenews.org/news/27092017/polar-vortex-cold-snap-arcti... and a peer-review paper http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/BAMS-D-16-0259.1 for your reference.
3
Hey there, have some faith in modern science, Johnny.
Its been called "climate change" for the past decade or two, meaning that as the level of CO2 rises, the Earth's climate alters dramatically and unpredictably.
OK?
3
Global warming is a hoax, right? The Reality TV Star President said it was.
10
It was closer to 484,000 customers who lost power in the October 2017 storm!
http://www.pressherald.com/2017/10/30/more-than-74000-without-power-as-s...
5
The only good thing about this cold spell is the tick population in the North East, which has shown a dramatic increase, will go down.
42
It is all a Chinese Hoax, erroneously reported on by the fake and failing media with made up reporting, photos and videos.
All is good. Just ask the Puerto Ricans enjoying themselves as they languorously lean on their paper towel cushions by the candle lights every evening, taking tiny sips of delicious, vintage bottled water from that alien, distant land called America. They are so lucky! Thanks to our Great Leader With The Big Button, they have been doing this for months on end now!
Who says Orwell is dead?
86
I'm confused by picture of a man trying to stay warm by a fire so you take his pic and show his suffering but you couldn't put him up in hotel a few days out of the cold that's just wrong
13
Proof of Global Warming for sure!
"...but those kinds of storms are not exceedingly rare..."
Oh darn. Well, regardless of what the weather is, you can count on Times readers to smugly claim it "proves" Global Warming.
6
Hey, sorry to be Mr. Doom and Gloom, but we have brought down the destruction of our species on ourselves, and sooner rather than later. The planet, however, will recover and eventually thrive again after the elimination of the virus called homo sapiens that now infects it.
26
Yep, we will be gone, but we are taking down multitudes of species with us, and our pollution: chemical, nuclear, plastics, co2, will linger and cause damage to all biological life. Worse case scenario the planet loses it's miraculous atmosphere and becomes just another rocky orb in space.
2
you give us way too much credit we can't begin to impact the environment of this planet all of the carbon emissions of all the cars that we have can't impact the environment equivalent to a volcano. the Earth's temperature is cyclical and goes up and down over time and the sorry people who are trying to actually destroy us normal people of this planet use their influence through media 2 trick everyone into false perceptions of Doom. don't be like the rats following the Pied Piper
Anyone remember a program that was on the Discovery Channel a few years ago? It was called Life After People, and it posed the question: What would happen to the earth if humans just suddenly disappeared one day? Every single human just disappears at the exact same moment. It took about 10,000 years for the earth to completely regenerate itself, as though there had never been any human beings. Come on, human disappearance... CAN'T COME SOON ENOUGH FOR ME!
3
Where on earth did the prediction of over a foot of snow for Middlesex County NJ come from? That's 25+ miles west of NY City, the storm is expected to be at its worst East of NY City.
2
And I was complaining, thinking it was just my own place blowing in cold air, leaking in from everywhere, and with air escaping. Cold as Mars, I've said to my dog, as though I will ever get up there, but the moon last night was a pure glory and be it a small thing for the record books my sleeveless royal blue puffy vest fits my dog well.
18
Did the person in charge of fountains in Atlanta not get the memo? Water freezes at 32 degrees just as he/she learned in middle school. I shudder to think of the repair costs when all those pipes burst. Oops.
6
Good Heavens, get those children off the pond! There is no way that the ice is 6" thick in this short period of cold.
10
Climate change at it's best. Super cold air colliding with a tremendous amount of water vapor from a warming ocean. Snow Snow Snow in the Northeast. Can't wait to go cross country skiing. Hope 2018 is another 2015.
6
My chicken is confused. She started molting December 15 and has moved into the basement either until she grows some feathers and or it warms up.
18
Best comment ever.
35 degrees in Jacksonville, Florida? I'm up in Iowa and I would kill for 35 degrees right now. It's been below zero FOR THE HIGH for the last week. -21 at night. That said, I do love to see the south shiver in temps that we consider warm weather in winter.
16
I do not, because the flora and fauna of the South suffer, and the humans lack the kinds of weather defenses we have farther north where such is expected.
In the 1980s, when I was living in Nashville, where winter weather is not completely unheard of, people would abandon their vehicles in the street at a couple of inches of snow. They didn't have practice driving in it, their cars weren't equipped for it (a friend of mine had a "Florida car" that didn't have a working heater), and it wasn't cost effective for the city to spend millions on rarely used road maintenance equipment and provisions.
Let's be a little more understanding: near freezing in Jacksonville and Atlanta has similar consequences to zero in Indiana.
22
The coldest temperature at the Raleigh-Durham airport was -9 F on January 21, 1965. My Alaskan Malamute loved it. Your report should note that the record temperatures for the dates, not overall. Also, note the Raleigh-Durham is an airport not a city or county - in fact Durham and Raleigh are separate MSAs.
14
I recall that we hit the -9 degree mark in January 1985, not '65. But I was only 10 in '65, so maybe they were both really cold. I agree with everything else you just posted; seems like it was the record for the day, not all-time, and nobody here lives in "Raleigh-Durham"!
Let’s hope that ice shown in the first part of this article is at least 4” thick. Very bad move on the part of the children or their parents.
21
Here in Alhambra, Southern California, it's 68F and hasn't rained all winter yet. Call it what you want, but temperature, weather, and rainfall are all behaving differently than we're used to in the past.
37
So your short observations of weather for less than 50years is the telling sign of climate change, even though Earth has existed for far longer?
The forecast for daytime highs on Saturday is -4. I love where I live and farm, and this makes my life more difficult in many ways: tractor won't start, barn valve freezes, and the animals all need more to eat. Climate change does not mean change to some new normal, it means change, change, and more change. The weather, whatever it is, will be extreme. How extreme, and whether we can adapt remains to be seen.
I appreciate knowing ahead of time what to expect, even if it's only a few days' notice, so I can make preparations for this extreme. I have no idea what to expect farther than ten days out, and that is troublesome.
74
Some things change slowly due to inertia in the system. Global surface temperatures, when averaged over several years, have gone up fairly linearly over the last 45 years.
Locally and regionally you get abrupt events which are the ones affecting people most. These events grow in frequency and severity as the planet warms.
Ice sheet loss and sea level rise are also extremely nonlinear and will lead to big changes over the next several decades.
21
I appreciate the coverage.
23
Here's all the evidence we need to see that Trump ("I-Alone") has solved global warming.
30
Please stop using "Raleigh-Durham." There is a Raleigh and there is a Durham. I understand there is a metro area that includes both cities, but as a someone from there, we NEVER say "Raleigh-Durham."
12
I agree with our President- This is conclusive proof that global warming does not exist. We might actually be entering a new ice-age.
2
Is this satire? Seriously, I can't tell anymore.
Please people, science is not based on gut instincts, wish fulfillment, and ideology. It is based on best inferences from the facts. You can't "conclude" a complex event that spans the entire globe (and predicts all kinds of weather instability, including cold weather events) does not exist based on a single event in a single location that actually is not even disconfirmatory.
15
We ARE in an ice age. For 120 million years already.
An ice age isn't defined by one or the other severe winter weather, but by the fact that both poles are permanently (= winter and summer) covered with ice.
So no, we're not "entering a new ice-age", we're already IN an ice age, you see?
And this is the sixth ice age that the planet has known. Ice ages typically last hundreds of million of years, so if everything were normal, then our ice age would be intensifying today.
It isn't, though. To know whether an ice age intensifies or not, you have to look at the evolution, day after day, in the average global temperature.
So if it's extremely cold in Georgia but at the same time extremely warm in Australia, then overall, the global temperature is the same as when it's normally cold in Georgia and simultaneously normally (= for their summer season) warm in Australia.
Extreme weather in itself is never an indication of where the global temperature is going.
But all models studying the current, unprecedentedly rapid increase in the AVERAGE global temperature (= since more than a century), show that such a rapid climate change cannot but produce much more extreme weather. And that includes, of course, more extreme winters and summers. It's the INSTABILITY of local weather that says something about the climate, not the fact THAT all of a sudden we have some days that are colder than they were during the previous decades.
Conclusion: Trump's hypothesis has been proven wrong.
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Thank you for this reply. I am stunned at how much evidence would have to be overlooked to believe that these unusually cold conditions disprove global warming.
10
Prepare to pay more for oranges and grapefruits.
And if the cold can be tied, in any way, to the price of gas that'll go up too.
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For sure, the fossil fuel money grabbers will find a way to link higher prices to it somehow.
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No that would be colder temps in Florida where we get a lot of oranges and grapefruits. You are half correct seeing how we would have to import from other countries a lot of fossil fuel would burned up in shipping.
Most of our oranges, especially the delicious eating navels, come from California! You are referring to orange juice, and not that I want to burst your bubble, but most of our drinking orange juice, these past twenty years or so comes from Brazil and Mexico, but especially Brazil!
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What a deadly combination "real" weather extremes and "climate denying" extremists who believe science is "fake." How many hurricanes in the East, fires in the West, and now ice and snow storms in the South will it take before they abandon their wacky ideas and admit that it's the weather that's wacky and we need to do something about it.
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Winter temperatures in Oymyakon, Russia, average minus 50 C ( minus 58 F). The remote village is generally considered the coldest inhabited area on Earth. Oymyakon is a two-day drive from Yakutsk, the regional capital which has the lowest winter temperatures of any city in the world.
Can you do something about that?
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Yes @Ron, we should send Scott Pruitt and Donald Trump there to make sure it's not "fake news."
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I'd suggest send Scott Pruitt and Donald Trump there.
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Someone needs to warn those kids in Memphis. That ice looks mighty thin!
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I just wrote the same comment! It makes me nauseous just to look at the innocents in such peril.
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Their parents should have enough common sense to warn them....
Conservative: Global warming is a myth!! God created everything and the world is getting colder!!
Host: What is your tax plan?
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Liberal: Every immigrant is lovely and wonderful and will vote for us (despite 50% of all newborns being paid for by Medicaid). See, 2 can play at your game!
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Seriously? You compare the social effects of immigration to what will happen when the global food supply collapses because of Climate Change? Drought and abnormal freezing is affecting food production NOW in the US. Think I am being alarmist? This deep freeze will contribute to, as cold winters of the past decade have, the decimation of tree fruit orchards across the NE and Canada. Etc etc...and you are concerned about paying for prenatal care for immigrants? My whole family immigrated and yours did too. I do worry about crime, but the criminals I worry about are the uneducated Americans whose can't understand science and think some old bearded guy in the sky loves them.
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Weather volatility comes with climate change, AKA global warming. Can someone please inform the President?
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Weather volatility is not climate change. Can someone please inform Raymond that his intellect is less than that of the POTUS?
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inform the President? Pointless
Snow in Florida and hurricanes in New York. Yep, the climate is just fine - everything is perfectly normal! Republicans are correct. Nothing to see here...
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Just to let you know it does snow in Florida and Hawaii.
It is the first snow in November in the state since 1912. February 3, 2007: Very light snow flurries are reported in the northeastern panhandle, lasting less than an hour. January 3, 2008: Light snow flurries are reported near Daytona Beach.
It's late in the fall, but mountains on the island of Hawaii, known as the Big Island, are already dusted with snow. (And, yes, it snows in the island state of Hawaii.)
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I stop reading when I encounter the term "wind chill," which is meaningless except for TV weather hype. Just give me the actual temperature, please, with the wind velocity if applicable.
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There are no "Wind Chill Deniers" here in Minnesota.
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If you skin is exposed to the elements, "wind chill" is very real and relevant to include in a forecast, esp to people who work outdoors, as it can lead to hypothermia and frostbite.
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TV news has started to only show wind chill numbers, which are useful, but they don't tell me if there will be a chance that ice will form on the roads or that pipes will burst. Show the wind chill but show us the actual temperatures too!!
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To all our southern brothers and sisters, who voted for Trump, who deny the science of global climate change, who enthusiastically took government emergency relief aid, who opposed aid to Puerto Rico with pinched-heart zealousness, I wish you well.
But please don't ask me to help anymore. I pay lots of taxes - too much actually - and don't want to subsidize stupidity and small-mindedness.
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Tain’t me in Florida.You and I will be paying more in taxes which will be sent to those Red states who refuse to take care of their own. As in the travel bans the tax bill is highly partisan and is being challenged by Blue states for being unconstitutional.
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2819534 fellow New Yorkers voted for Trump
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For the umpteenth time: not all southerners voted for Trump. Not all southerners are science deniers. Lumping all southerners together, while satisfying for you, does not reflect reality. Please give it a rest.
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That ice on that Memphis pond probably isn't thick and strong enough for those kids. I hope it's not a deep pond.
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Here in Aspen, CO., we have NO snow! It's warm. Not fun, since I live here for skiing.
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Ha. I predict you will get 10 to 15 cm of snow Saturday and it will be below freezing. If you don't believe me, check a weather site. Focus on real problems.
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Ilya Prigogene, "Order Out of Chaos"----when we're at an interface of great change there will be wild extremes until the new pattern settles in. And that new pattern will be progresive global warming and all that comes with it. Robert Frost questioned if the world would end in fire or ice. We may now have an answer.
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The elephant in the room is not mentioned in this article and the omission is glaring: no reference to President’s Trump’s recent tweet about the east being in need of some "global warming.”
Is this the start of an ice age? It’s a fair question, which the segment of the climate change movement who didactically prophesy that the world can only get hotter, should endeavor to answer.
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Please repeat after me: "Weather" is not the same as "global warming"....! Visit South Florida where you can witness first hand the encroaching Atlantic Ocean, and Miami Beach has already installed huge water pumps to forestall that city being under water by the end of this century, and are elevating roads that will stay dry ABOVE the first floors of existing buildings as the sea level rises. This is not going to go away, folks! Just google "seal-level rise"...
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An "ice age" is a period where both poles are permanently (= winter and summer) covered in ice. That has been the case for 120 million years now, that's why the planet is currently in its 6th ice age, called "Quaterny Ice Age".
Ice ages typically last hundreds of millions of years, so theoretically (= following the pattern of the other ice ages the planet has known) the planet should be cooling, as we're still in the phase of the ice age where it intensifies.
What has been happening since 2 centuries, however, is the exact opposite: all of a sudden, the average global temperature is systematically going up, and going up faster than it has ever done before. That is now also making the ice at the poles melt at unprecedented speed, making it entirely possible that within some decades/centuries, there will be no ice at the poles anymore, so the ice age will abruptly end.
Of course, that won't end the earth's seasons, because those have to do with the fact that the its axis is tilted. And of course, during winter, temperatures will always go down, in that hemisphere.
To know whether a more severe winter in one place (in this case the US) means that the average GLOBAL temperature is going down, you have to compare with temperatures elsewhere in the northern hemisphere, and in the south. If you do, you cannot but observe that overall, for the moment the earth is actually almost 1 degree warmer.
And very fast climate change means more extreme weather ...
23
The Atlantic encroaching has more to do with human development along coast line than it does with global warming. When you build and build, and build massive structures along a coast do you think that weight doesn't drop the level of the land? Do you think that water running down to the shore along all the paved roads and sidewalks doesn't allow for more erosion since it now isn't able to soak into the ground? Do you think when you pump all the freshwater out of the ground that it doesn't shrink and/or allow for sea water to infiltrate further in land causing sinkholes due to dissolution, which in turn causes the land level to drop more, causing relative sea level rise. There are many reasons for sea level rise and "global warming" isn't the main reason. It's arrogant humans thinking you can control nature and build cities where they shouldn't be. Main problem we have is moronic populace blaming plant food on "extreme" weather. It's literally what plants use for food. Look into how beneficial higher amounts of CO2 are for the production of food from crops. Which is better for us all.
Somebody get some hats and gloves on those kids laying on the ice!
I often see those walking around where I live that don't know how to dress correctly for cold weather. Some I am guessing came here from warmer climates. But it is really important to cover up skin, wear layers, wool is beneficial, not synthetics. Put on proper boots, no sneakers, is also important.
I fear for the homeless population in our country right now. Feed, clothe and shelter all who may need it.
BTW, absolutely amazing photo of women warming herself in front of fire.
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Look for "The Guardian" article on the 88 Million Homeless in America, researched and reported by a UN reporter. Are there any papers in the US that picked up the story? Are there any Republicans ashamed of the tax scam that gave massive tax cuts to themselves, because all GOP Congress are at least millionaires, their 1% donor overlords, trump&all his family&businesses knowing they will make insurance unaffordable and could care less about the 88 Million American Homeless;find the article, we rank lower than most countries on supply clean water to citizens;Alabama is the worst, as you can imagine from the likes of roy moore & jeff sessions.
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Thanks Mom.
Darn that global warming, setting cold records all over the place. Or is it Trump that is causing global warming? Or gassy cows? I am sure there will be a new theory any day now that indisputably links Trump, gassy cows and global warming to the extremes of cold and wet weather being experienced at various locations on the planet. Oops, I forgot, global warming is passe, the "in" term is climate change.
For those who slept through--or flunked, or skipped--science classes, it is well documented that the planet has for eons had its own historical and geological cycles of hot and cold, wet and dry. Of course humans, particularly after the Industrial Revolution, have impacted the planet and its climate. However, it is presumptuous to suggest that we have a deep understanding of these processes--we can't even predict local weather--or hurricanes--very well, much less global weather trends.
Politicizing climate and weather, as so many in the media and politics have tried and continue to try to do, probably contributes as much to "climate change" as gassy cows.
6
I remember a scientist forecasting Extreme weather nearly 25 years ago. It's already happening it appears. Major climate change on the way.
19
Make your jokes. It's not funny, but keep making your jokes if it somehow makes you feel better. (The Earth doesn't have a sense of humor, FYI...)
3
Climate science uses paleoclimate evidence, ongoing observations and models to be highly predictive. For example, the following is from a 1981 paper by James Hansen that at the time hit the front page of the NY Times, all the predictions in it have either come to pass or are well underway.
"Potential effects on climate in the 21st century include the creation of drought-prone regions in North America and central Asia as part of a shifting of climatic zones, erosion of the West Antarctic ice sheet with a consequent worldwide rise in sea level, and opening of the fabled Northwest Passage."
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/22/us/study-finds-warming-trend-that-coul...
6
The northern polar jet stream has been changing, perhaps due to arctic ice decline, getting stuck in wavy patterns bleeding heat north and cold south.
It is cold now in parts of the US, but ice is melting all over the planet because the world is above average in temperature. The N hemisphere is above average, the S hemisphere is above average, the Arctic is way above average, the tropics are above average, the Antarctic is above average.
We have thermometers analyzed by NASA, NOAA, the British Met Office, the Japanese, the Berkeley group.
If you throw away every thermometer in the city, temperatures in the country show warming.
Thermometers in the ground show warming, thermometers in the ocean show the ocean is warming, thermometers in balloons show warming, looking down from satellites they show warming.
Warmer air contains more moisture, so some areas are seeing storms with heavier than usual snowfall, such as Boston in some of the last few years.
But if you look at the snow and ice that care about temperature the most, we have less river ice than we used to, less lake ice, less seasonal snow cover, less seasonally frozen ground, less perennially frozen ground, we have smaller glaciers, we have shrinking ice sheets, we have loss of sea ice.
All the big pieces of snow and ice which care about temperature are shrinking.
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Here in Germany we have temperatures in the low forties in some areas, heavy rain, even thunderstorms. No doubt we'll have drought conditions in summer, and, I nearly forgot about spring: it comes roughly two or three weeks earlier now, and, if we are out of luck, there'll be frost in May, when all of the fruit trees wil be blossoming, so that our fruit crops will be ruined. No climate change? I've been watching it change for the past 40 years, which is how long I've been interested in that phenomenon.
The president's dismissive remark of "a hoax" regarding climate change is directly contradicted by the winter storm now threatening Southern states that are facing Arctic chill, icy roads and snow, perhaps for the first time ever. Airline cancellations, school and business closings and empty supermarket shelves will be a new reality and not a hoax in Southern communities this winter.
28
Let's all go to Mar a Lago!
3
It's humorous watching folks who have lived in the northeast for decades panic whenever a snowstorm is coming. They raid the store shelves like they'll be stuck in their house for a week instead of an afternoon. I suppose their lives are so boring they love the drama of it all.
8
Obviously, you've never been stuck in the house for a week without power after a winter storm. I assure you that it is nothing close to humorous and my life is anything but boring. Fortunately, as a lifetime native of the northeast I know that all Bostonians are not amused by the misfortunes of others.
1
I to think it is Trump's fault.
Other than that I am not sure pictures of kids on thin ice was a good idea. And Trump can blame the homeless people for burning stuff.
1
Yes, records are being set in a few places, but certainly not everywhere. Sometimes the records are in places that didn't keep records until more recently. I'm in the Midwest, where ponds and small lakes are frozen over. My mom, who grew up in southwest Arkansas, could remember ponds freezing over when she was kid. The news isn't that this is happening, it is that it is not happening with the regularity it used to happen.
9
In 1958 in Jacksonville Beach, they let us out of elementary school mid-day when snowflakes started falling. Fun. No accumulation, but it was first time any of us had seen snow.
About 1975-ish, my friends in Miami sent me photos -- of their names written on their car windshields, where about half inch of snow had collected.
Any older person from Florida knows what a "smudge pot" is, and what they were used for (by the orange growers). Which makes me wonder how today's citrus growers are handling the cold. They have had it very rough in recent years with trees killed and weakened by the terrible citrus blight.
14
Yup, I remember the snow in Miami in the mid 70's. Always thought I brought it with me when I moved there from Buffalo.
10
By the way NYT,
Trump has declared "huge success", "greatest response in the history of the country" and "mission accomplished" after the last Hurricane that hit Texas, Florida, other areas of the south coast and Puerto Rico.
We know that months later, approximately 50% of American citizens in PR are still without electricity, basic healthcare services and food.
Texas and southern Florida were and are still awash in toxic water and waste from chemical and petroleum sites last time I read a NYT article on the subject. Of course the toxic water and waste has now leached in to the ground water table, where you can't see it, but it's there, and heading for the drinking water sooner or later.
Where did that story go?
Please write an article on the current level of success and rebuilding in these effected areas, Texas, Florida and PR and the predicted cost to taxpayers and long term health consequences.
Then we will have a clear reference point for the next natural disaster.
210
Are these the same "citizens" who voted against statehood for Puerto Rico because it would compel them to pay federal income taxes on their earnings? Why should the other 50 states who do pay their fair share bail out the people of Puerto Rico who refused to do the same?
1
Puerto Ricans do already pay federal income taxes, although it's true not all the same taxes as they would if Puerto Rico was a state. However, in June 2017 they held a vote on becoming a state, and 97% of voters voted "Yes". It's not even the first time they have voted to become a state, but Congress won't have it. You owe Puerto Rico an apology.
43
And suggest that every fossil fuel company that operates in and around Houston, TX give $1billion to the City through Mayor Turner & Judge Emmett. This is pocket change for fossil fuel who have disregarded proximity to residential areas, pumped toxic fumes into the air with virtual no penalty especially under airhead&former governer Rick Perry, the "oops guy", and collected corporate welfare for decades.
6
Scientists believe that phytoplankton contribute between 50 to 85 percent of the oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere.
Probably the greatest threat to HUMANS is total disregard for what the oceans mean to life here on Earth for us. The ocean is full of PHYTOPLANKTON which is responsible for more than 50% of our oxygen...poison the ocean with oil, plastic and waste and that's like turning off the oxygen supply to the patient who is already sick...WAKE UP AMERICA WAKE UP WORLD this storm is nothing compared to what's to come!!!
In the process of photosynthesis, phytoplankton release oxygen into the water. Half of the world's oxygen is produced via phytoplankton photosynthesis. The other half is produced via photosynthesis on land by trees, shrubs, grasses, and other plants.
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I suppose that story the other day about freezing sharks really got you bummed as well.
2
You do realize some plankton are able to eat oil, right?
Don't worry all you southern states. There is no climate change.
192
Just remember all you deniers, it's climate change, not global warming and it's coming for us all ! Read Ashely Dawson's book Extreme Cities for a wider perspective on this foretaste of how dramatically things are changing, and how vulnerable the world's coastal cities are in particular. Happy New Year...
93
While there is virtually no doubt that climate change is real, it cannot be connected to this particular arctic outbreak. After all, as severe as this outbreak is, it does not really hold a candle to the outbreak that started on February 10, 1899, long before human-caused climate change. The 1899 outbreak resulted in sub-zero (Fahrenheit) temperatures as far south as Tallahassee, FL and even brought a killing frost to Cuba (which had a US weather bureau station at the time). This outbreak dies not pose any threat to Cuba or anywhere else that is in the tropics.
1
Every coastal city is vulnerable....because they live on the coast. If it wasn't a hurricane a tsunami would destroy it...and those have nothing to do with climate change. Climate change is real...been happening every day for some odd billions of years. Hate to tell you all but weather existed previous of you lifetime, and you know what...it changed too.
1
It's not "global warming" any more because that was debunked, so the pundits came up with the fudge phrase "climate change," which covers anything and everything: too much hot weather, too much cold, too much rain, too little rain, etc. Not the remotest understanding of the mechanisms that could cause such a wide range of changes since the changes are so varied and unpredictable; how convenient to have a concept or term that covers virtually every eventuality. Let's see if it's possible to separate politics from science; melding the two seems to generate a lot of hot air that almost certainly contributes to climate change/global warming.
No worries; President Trump will be there with paper towels.
345
Just spit out my coffee! Thank you!
11
“Select-a-size” I hope. Don’t want to waste too much at one time. They may need them again in the spring.
9
He will also be handing out "Covfefe" for the victims...
7
Stay safe and warm, everyone. And don't let the cold make you crazy enough to wish for "Global Warming". You're better off with snug clothes and a space heater.
The weird weather IS Climate Change.
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