Seth Borenstein, AP science writer, has just published a much tweeted story about the recent “Polar Vortex” and our extreme reaction thereto. Governors declared weather emergencies, superintendents closed schools and workers stayed home in droves.
“We have become weather wimps, ” says Borenstein.
His analysis of the weather data “shows that cold extremes have happened about once every four years since 1900.
Until recently…
Between 1970 and 1989, a dozen such events occurred, but there were only two in the 1990s and then none until Monday.”
Some have opined that the deep freeze across the country is proof that there is no global warming. On January 6, 2014 Rush Limbaugh’s headline read:
Left Creates “Polar Vortex” to Make You Think Winter is Caused by Global Warming
This lack of recent deep freezes is, according to Borenstein, proof of global warming, not proof of a liberal conspiracy.
Greg Carbin, warning meteorologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration avers, “These types of events have actually become more infrequent than they were in the past…This is why there was such a big buzz because people have such short memories.”
Do you remember Jack Frost at the window? Or climbing over snow banks to get to the school bus? Or throwing snowballs at the snowplow trucks?
Are you a “weather wimp?