Climate Mama wRAP: January 15, 2010, its Cold Out There!

In much of the Northern Hemisphere, it has been really, really cold this January. So cold, that this has become the daily headline and a major news story. Temperatures have plummeted in cities all over the United States, destroying agricultural crops in Florida and bringing freezing temperatures to most of the country. In New York, London, Paris, Berlin and Madrid, major North American and European cities have been gripped by cold spells, not experienced in many years. Does this mean the demise of global warming? Lets get this straight, WEATHER happens. It happens on a daily basis, that is what weather is and what weather does.

Record temperatures, high or low, are just that, record temperatures for any given day, or maybe even any given week or more. These types of events are not out of the norm, as we track “weather events” through recorded history. What is out of the norm is the changing CLIMATE we are seeing around the globe, long term swings in the average annual amount of precipitation, increasing droughts and in other areas floods, hot and cold extremes and the increase in the annual average surface temperature of our planet, as well as the warming of our oceans. These changes are complex, and scientists are working to figure out why these changes are occurring so quickly; all fingers continue to point to humans!

Check out In the News for an update on new electric car technology from the Detroit International Auto Show, and in Climate Mama News we look at how “quickly” time passes on Earth and if we humans can have a lasting impact on the face and future of our planet!