Alarmists Dump IPCC, Now Claim Global Warming Causes Cold

Published January 10, 2014

Climate Change Weekly #114

Faced with the embarrassment of historically cold temperatures gripping most of the nation this week, global warming alarmists claimed the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was wrong in predicting fewer cold outbreaks. Instead, the alarmists now assert, global warming causes extreme winter cold.

Here are some of the latest headlines along that narrative:

“How frigid ‘polar vortex’ could be result of global warming” – Christian Science Monitor
“Polar Vortex: Climate Change Could Be the Cause of Record Cold” – Time
“US polar vortex may be example of global warming” – The Guardian
“Thank Global Warming for Freezing You Right Now” – The Daily Beast
“Cold as Hell: The Chilling Effect of Global Warming” – Huffington Post

If global warming alarmists really had predicted global warming would cause more frequent and severe cold outbreaks (via runaway polar vortexes or whatever), we should see such predictions throughout the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports. The problem is such predictions are not there.

Here is what the IPCC has to say on the topic of global warming and winter cold outbreaks. In IPCC’s “Working Group II: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability,” we are told there will be “warmer winters and fewer cold spells, because of climate change.”

This is the IPCC. The alarmists constantly preach that the IPCC is the unified position – the settled science – of nearly all the world’s scientists. And IPCC says exactly the opposite of what global warming alarmists now tell us they “always predicted” about global warming and winter cold outbreaks.

So, is this week’s climate alarmism demonstrably false, or is the IPCC’s settled science demonstrably false? It must be one or the other.

SOURCE: Forbes.com


IN THIS ISSUE

Chicago River, Great Lakes freeze over … Alarmists’ dark money, overall funding dwarf skeptics … 2013: The least extreme weather year ever? … Polar sea ice extent was well above average in 2013 … ‘Lukewarmist’ Curry: IPCC’s new report undermines alarmism … Al Gore running out of time on 10-year doom prediction


CHICAGO RIVER, GREAT LAKES FREEZE OVER

The Chicago River surface was mostly frozen this week as historically cold temperatures hammered most of the nation. Chicago’s O’Hare International airport reported temperatures 16 degrees below zero Monday morning, a temperature 5 degrees colder than the South Pole. Portions of the Great Lake experienced their earliest surface freeze in recorded history.

SOURCE: Environment & Climate News


ALARMISTS’ DARK MONEY, OVERALL FUNDING DWARF SKEPTICS

Global warming activists claim in a new “study” and related media reports that vast amounts of untraceable special-interest money fund global warming skeptics and give skeptics an unfair advantage in the global warming debate. The truth is global warming alarmists raise and spend far more money – including far more untraceable special-interest “dark money” – than global warming skeptics. Two global warming activist groups by themselves raise and spend more dark money and more total money than all 91 “skeptic” groups analyzed in the study. Moreover, much of the asserted skeptic funding actually supports groups promoting a global warming crisis and costly programs to address the asserted crisis.

SOURCE: Forbes.com


2013: THE LEAST EXTREME WEATHER YEAR EVER?

Despite alarmist claims that global warming is causing more extreme weather events, objective data show remarkably few extreme weather events in 2013. Climate Depot posted an article documenting tornadoes and forest fires were at or near all-time lows. Also, no hurricanes struck the United States mainland in 2013, and the U.S. mainland is currently experiencing its longest period in recorded history without a Category 3 or higher hurricane strike.

SOURCE: Climate Depot


POLAR SEA ICE EXTENT WAS WELL ABOVE AVERAGE IN 2013

Polar sea ice was well above the long-term average in 2013, NASA/NOAA satellite data show. Satellites launched in 1979 provide scientists with highly accurate measurements of polar sea ice during the past 34 years. For 2013, Arctic sea ice was its most extensive in several years and Antarctic sea ice was substantially above the 34-year average. Combined, polar sea ice was its most extensive in more than a decade, despite carbon dioxide emissions during the past decade rising faster than United Nations projections.

SOURCE: Cryosphere Today


‘LUKEWARMIST’ CURRY: IPCC’S NEW REPORT UNDERMINES ALARMISM

Evidence presented by the IPCC in its newest report weakens the case for anthropogenic factors dominating climate change during the past 100 years, ‘lukewarmist’ climate scientist Judith Curry reports. Curry notes the IPCC says it has growing confidence that human factors are dominating climate change. Nevertheless, Curry observes, “This increase in confidence in the main conclusions in the AR5 SPM seems unwarranted based on the text, figures and analyses in the main WG1 Report, and also in comparison with the conclusions from the AR4. Several key elements of the report point to a weakening of the case for attributing the warming of human influences.” Curry presents those elements in the full text of her article.

SOURCE: Climate Etc.


AL GORE RUNNING OUT OF TIME ON 10-YEAR DOOM PREDICTION

There has been no statistically significant global warming since Al Gore warned us eight years ago that humans had only 10 years left to save the planet from global warming, climate scientist Roy Spencer reports. “In the grand tradition of prophets of doom, his prognostication is not shaping up too well … still no statistically significant warming,” Spencer writes, while presenting the raw temperature data.

SOURCE: Dr. Roy Spencer: Global Warming