Snow is falling across the Northeast, and millions of people are preparing for a massive blizzard. Due to the extreme winter conditions, my colleague at Climate Desk has issued the following advisory:
[tweet https://twitter.com/timmcdonnell/status/559559340252614656]
It may seem obvious to you that the existence of extreme winter weather doesn’t negate the scientific fact that humans are warming the planet. But that’s probably because you aren’t a climate change denier who’s contemplating a run for the GOP presidential nomination.
Last year, for example, Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) weighed in on the issue. “It is really freezing in D.C.,” Cruz said during a speech on energy policy, according to TPM. “I have to admit I was surprised. Al Gore told us this wouldn’t happen!” Cruz said the same thing a month earlier, according to Slate: “It’s cold! … Al Gore told me this wouldn’t happen.”
And here’s former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on his Fox News show, after a major blizzard back in December 2009:
[protected-iframe id=”a35547be3b77df57db98a154e17bafd0-5104299-30178935″ info=”https://archive.org/embed/FOXNEWS_20091221_010000_Huckabee?start=26.5&end=42.6″ width=”630″ height=”473″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=””]
Which brings us to a couple of Republicans who are probably not going to run for president but who have nevertheless generated headlines recently by suggesting they might. Here’s Donald Trump, during a cold snap last year:
[tweet https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/418542137899491328]
And here’s a 2012 Facebook post from former Gov. Sarah Palin, citing extremely cold winter temperatures in her home state of Alaska:
Click to embiggen.
If you’re a regular Climate Desk reader, you already know why all this is wrong. You understand the difference between individual weather events and long-term climate trends. You probably even know that according to the National Climate Assessment, winter precipitation is expected to increase in the northeastern United States as a result of climate change. But if you’re a Republican who wants to be president, please pay close attention to the following video:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0vj-0imOLw]
This story was produced as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
