Energy

FORECAST: Expect ‘January Thaw’ To Be Blamed On Global Warming

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Michael Bastasch DCNF Managing Editor
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Veteran meteorologist Roy Spencer has a prediction about the upcoming “thaw” in temperatures along the U.S. East Coast — it’ll be spun to hype man-made global warming.

Forecasts show temperatures along the U.S. eastern seaboard warming up later in the week, with temperatures reaching the high 50s. Nashville is expected to hit 63 degrees Fahrenheit on Thursday, forecasters predict.

The “January thaw” comes after most of the eastern U.S. experienced one of the coldest starts to the new year on record. Some scientists have blamed the cold snap on global warming, and Spencer thinks that could spill over into the upcoming “thaw.”

“And before you believe that warmth in January is unusual, ‘January thaws’ are a routine phenomenon, too, which is why the term was coined,” Spencer wrote on his personal blog.

Indeed, “January thaws” are nothing new. Spencer pointed to the Glossary of Meteorology, which says:

The daily temperature averages at Boston, computed for the years 1873 to 1952, show a well- marked peak on 20-23 January; the same peak occurs in the daily temperatures of Washington, D.C., and New York City. Statistical tests show a high probability that it is a real singularity. The January thaw is associated with the frequent occurrence on the above-mentioned dates of southerly winds on the back side of an anticyclone off the southeastern United States.

The recent cold snap and “bomb cyclone” reignited the global warming debate. Many media outlets and scientists pushed “explainer” pieces about how cold winter weather did not disprove man-made global warming.

Others went even further to argue the cold weather and winter storms are a product of global warming, though there’s no agreement among scientists that warming is behind cold snaps.

“Such claims make no sense and are inconsistent with observations and the best science,” said University of Washington climatologist Cliff Mass. “The frequency of cold waves have decreased during the past fifty years, not increased. That alone shows that such claims are baseless.”

Spencer thinks the upcoming “January thaw” will be no different. He said those sounding the alarm on global warming would argue it’s “unusual” for January to be that warm — it is winter after all!

“Nevertheless, the weird-weather-is-climate-change narrative will continue until the populace finally agrees with the warmongers that we can control our weather through taxation and regulation,” Spencer wrote.

Regardless, the upcoming “thaw” isn’t expect to last very long. Weather models show the “thaw” will give way to colder temperatures by Friday, bringing the East Coast back in line with usual winter weather by next Monday.

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