The Washington Times | David Deming | Dec. 19, 2007
Al Gore says global warming is a planetary emergency. It is difficult to see how this can be so when record low temperatures are being set all over the world. In 2007, hundreds of people died, not from global warming, but from cold weather hazards.
Since the mid-19th century, the mean global temperature has increased by 0.7 degrees Celsius. This slight warming is not unusual, and lies well within the range of natural variation. Carbon dioxide continues to build in the atmosphere, but the mean planetary temperature hasn’t increased significantly for nearly nine years. Antarctica is getting colder. Neither the intensity nor the frequency of hurricanes has increased. The 2007 season was the third-quietest since 1966. In 2006 not a single hurricane made landfall in the U.S.
South America this year experienced one of its coldest winters in decades. In Buenos Aires, snow fell for the first time since the year 1918. Dozens of homeless people died from exposure. In Peru, 200 people died from the cold and thousands more became infected with respiratory diseases. Crops failed, livestock perished, and the Peruvian government declared a state of emergency.
Unexpected bitter cold swept the entire Southern Hemisphere in 2007. Johannesburg, South Africa, had the first significant snowfall in 26 years. Australia experienced the coldest June ever. In northeastern Australia, the city of Townsville underwent the longest period of continuously cold weather since 1941. In New Zealand, the weather turned so cold that vineyards were endangered.
Last January, $1.42 billion worth of California produce was lost to a devastating five-day freeze. Thousands of agricultural employees were thrown out of work. At the supermarket, citrus prices soared. In the wake of the freeze, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked President Bush to issue a disaster declaration for affected counties. A few months earlier, Mr. Schwarzenegger had enthusiastically signed the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, a law designed to cool the climate. California Sen. Barbara Boxer continues to push for similar legislation in the U.S. Senate.
In April, a killing freeze destroyed 95 percent of South Carolina’s peach crop, and 90 percent of North Carolina’s apple harvest. At Charlotte, N.C., a record low temperature of 21 degrees Fahrenheit on April 8 was the coldest ever recorded for April, breaking a record set in 1923. On June 8, Denver recorded a new low of 31 degrees Fahrenheit. Denver’s temperature records extend back to 1872.
Recent weeks have seen the return of unusually cold conditions to the Northern Hemisphere. On Dec. 7, St. Cloud, Minn., set a new record low of minus 15 degrees Fahrenheit. On the same date, record low temperatures were also recorded in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Extreme cold weather is occurring worldwide. On Dec. 4, in Seoul, Korea, the temperature was a record minus 5 degrees Celsius. Nov. 24, in Meacham, Ore., the minimum temperature was 12 degrees Fahrenheit colder than the previous record low set in 1952. The Canadian government warns that this winter is likely to be the coldest in 15 years.
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If you think any of the preceding facts can falsify global warming, you’re hopelessly naive. Nothing creates cognitive dissonance in the mind of a true believer. In 2005, a Canadian Greenpeace representative explained “global warming can mean colder, it can mean drier, it can mean wetter.” In other words, all weather variations are evidence for global warming. I can’t make this stuff up.
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To quote a blog comment I read recently:
“While the information you present is compelling and presented in a logical manner, it disagrees with what my High Priest Al Gore says, and since he is more famous, better looking, and really got cheated out of the Presidency he so richly deserved,…… and you don’t have any pictures of happy smiling polar bears and penguins clinging to newly formed and growing icebergs to support your contentions,…..you MUST be wrong.”
Please to recall that this was quoted with tongue placed firmly in cheek.
Elzabet, I don’t know about the “better looking” comment… Have you seen recent pictures of AlGore, not pretty! His neck seems to have completely dissappeared. 🙂
No no not pretty at all! Oh dear…
Clearly, his carbon footprint has balooned. Must be all that trapped hot air and BS generating too much methane gas. 😉
Actually to some the “isolated” colder temperatures are further proof of global warming. I forget the mechanism the propose, but its out there.
Yes, we’re all familiar with that mechanism, is called “cult thinking”. Warming, cooling, droughts, floods, too many hurricanes, too little hurricanes, too many/too little storms, too much snow, too little snow, slower/faster ocean currents, too much/not enough clear skies, warmer oceans, cooler oceans, all are the fault of American citizens, their brazen belief in unfettered freedom, their capitalistic economy and their selfish CO2 output. We are all guilty, guilty I tell you! :-O
Thank you Jonathan Edwards.