Tokyo received 10 inches of snow Saturday morning, the largest amount of snowfall the city has seen since the global cooling scare of the early 1970s. According to Japanese media reports, the snowstorm caused 12 deaths and more than 1,500 injuries. The historic snowfall debunks global warming activists’ assertions that this year’s unusually fierce winter is merely a North American phenomenon.
Global temperature measurements show there has been no warming at all this century, refuting alarmist assertions that the planet continues to rapidly warm despite the bitterly cold North American winter. Moreover, heavy snow events and record snow cover dispute frequent alarmist assertions that global warming is causing an end to snow.
While human emissions of carbon dioxide may be assisting the natural warming that pulled the planet out of the Little Ice Age a little over a century ago, the warming continues to be gradual and modest. A warming of 1 degree Fahrenheit is not going to put an end to winter or snowfall.
To the extent that global warming may moderate winter extreme cold and snow events in the future, this would benefit rather than harm human health and welfare. Mortality statistics for the United States, the United Kingdom, and other nations show cold weather and a colder climate kill far more people than heat.
These facts are inconvenient for global warming alarmists, but a welcome dose of scientific truth for the rest of us.
See below some scenes from stormy Japan: