The Obama administration is pushing back against skeptics who claim this week’s “polar vortex” of cold weather is proof global warming is a myth, saying weather patterns such as these are actually a result of climate change.
In a post on the official White House blog Wednesday, the administration starts by saying no single weather event proves or disproves climate change.
“If you’ve been hearing that extreme cold spells, like the one we’re having in the United States now, disproves global warming, don’t believe it,” Dr. John Holdren, President Obama’s science adviser, says in a video included in the blog post.
However, the White House says extreme cold spells can actually be attributed to global warming, and that such weather patterns will likely appear with more frequency as climate change continues.
“…This week’s cold spell is of a type there’s reason to believe may become more frequent in a world that’s getting warmer, on average, because of greenhouse-gas pollution,” the blog states.
Some Republican commentators and lawmakers have raised questions about the veracity of global warming amid the bitter blast of cold temperatures that rocked most of the U.S.
Sen. Jim Inhofe, a member of the Senate Environmental Committee, said Tuesday weather events such as the polar vortex prove global warming is a “hoax.”
“First of all global warming is not taking place it’s kind of laughable right now with all the records that are being set,” Inhofe, R-Okla., told Fox 23.
The White House is also planning to hold a Google+ hangout on Friday to discuss “what we know about extreme weather events in the context of a changing climate.” The hangout will feature climate scientists and meteorologists and will be moderated by Cristin Dorgelo and Brendan Kelly from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
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