You Might Be Cold Right Now, But Your Planet Isn't

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http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2014/01/climate-temperature-records-leon-cold


Snow in Georgia from Winter Storm Leon. Georgia National Guard/Flickr

This week, the central, southern, and eastern US have all experienced yet another bout of frigid cold and snow, one that left motorists in the Atlanta area stranded in their cars overnight. Freezing air from the Arctic has been an all too frequent visitor this month, and with this latest arrival we've seen record-low daily temperatures for Detroit (-9 degrees), Grand Rapids, Mich., (-9 degrees) and Lubbock, Texas, (7 degrees) among other locations, according to Weather Underground.

There's no denying that it's cold out; and once again, that's prompting anecdotal claims that somehow, global warming is in question. Yet it's important to bear in mind that just because you're freezing—or even have seen a new daily record-low temperature in the particular place where you live—that doesn't mean that what's happening to you accurately reflects what's happening to the planet overall, or even to the United States.

In other words, don't be the white-capped guy in this XKCD comic:



So how do you avoid this particularly annoying kind of weather-induced cluelessness? Rather than thinking with your gut about cold temperatures, try thinking with your (or, science's) statistics.

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1. Video from NASA backing your post

This shows 6 decades of the current warming trend in 15 sec.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/shareitnow/la-sh-nasa-6-decades-global-warming-20140122,0,7725117.story#axzz2ro3Bpzn9