It’s no surprise that Senator Inhofe (Republican, of course) is nourishing and steering his grandchildren’s development as shortsighted and ignorant members of society. Certainly, if Senator Inhofe appreciated objectivity and embraced knowledge, he could differentiate between weather and climate. Meanwhile, if the Inhofe clan want to play games, then they should consider that Vancouver is trucking in snow for the Winter Olympics. Also, parts of the United States have had a mild winter. January was the warmest on record for Seattle—blamed on El Nino—and globally, “satellite data report that this has been the warmest January in 32 years and is 3rd warmest month overall.” More via the Los Angeles Times:

So, is the massive dumping of snow from the Mid-Atlantic to New England proof positive that climate change is untrue, as doubters such as Sen. James Imhofe (R-Okla.) have taken the opportunity to trumpet? (His family built an igloo, declared it Al Gore’s new home and put up signs asking people to honk if they liked global warming).

Not if you read the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report carefully.

First, the cold weather spells in the East have been linked with an “El Nino” year and a shift in the arctic oscillation that sent a jet of cold air down into the Eastern United States and elsewhere, all cyclically occurring events regardless of the overall trend in average planetary temperature, as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration pointed out recently.

Lost in the hype over the East Coast cold snap around the Christmas holidays was the fact that at the same time, parts of Alaska were unseasonably warm. And the record cold that descended as far south as Florida in January? Globally, January 2010 was the warmest January on record, based on satellite data that date to 1979, according to AccuWeather.com.

As for East Coast getting snow in February, the IPCC scientists, citing peer-reviewed studies, concluded that the severity of precipitation events (and snow is one of them) would increase in a warming global climate.

As climate change disbelievers cynically spin snowmageddon, the Earth’s climate, landscapes, and oceans continue to change due to anthropogenic climate change. For example, these data and observations point to a warming earth: (1) the earth continues to warm as CO₂ rises, resulting in a greenhouse effect—in fact “the decade of the 2000s will end as the warmest ever on global temperature charts;” (2) the Arctic continues to warm and Arctic sea ice continues to melt and set records, as the U.S. Coast Guard is forced to patrol further north and the region is closed to fishing (consequently, observations are prompting policy decisions); (3) for people living in the Arctic region, such as the Inuit, coastal erosion is claiming villages and livelihoods as (4) sea levels continue to rise; (5) the Greenland Ice Sheet continues to melt faster than expected; (6) the Arctic tree line continues to advance north as the Earth warms; (7) tundra melting is increasing and consequently, the tundra is becoming greener, but a dangerous feedback loop is also occurring; (8) upward migrations of alpine species are observable, as are latitudinal migrations of animals such as birds and mammals; (9) glacial melting continues to increase; (10) oceans are becoming more acidic with time as atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide increase (in fact, “the oceans have absorbed about 50% of the carbon dioxide (CO₂) released from the burning of fossil fuels, resulting in chemical reactions that lower ocean pH”); (11) ocean acidification has negative impacts on calcifying organisms, thus ocean food chains; and (12) desertification is expanding as the Earth warms. Given the wealth of empirical data, cynics and politicians like Jim Inhofe continue to immerse themselves in willful ignorance by citing a snowstorm as evidence against global warming while ignoring a smorgasbord of facts.

Meanwhile, Rachel Maddow again called out Senator Inhofe for his blatant hypocrisy. Nationally, Senator Inhofe trashed the stimulus while simultaneously praising projects funded in his district. Perhaps, if Senator Jim Inhofe were more concerned with details, he wouldn’t go around making such tremendous gaffes. But, I’m sure he doesn’t care.

Via Facebook, “Senator Jim Inhofe’s Photos – Inhofe Family Pokes Fun at Al Gore, Global Warming During DC Feb Blizzard”:

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