Wednesday, February 9, 2011

We Freeze Because It's Too Warm?

Oh, I see, professor. The climate is becoming more 'dynamic' because of manmade greenhouse gases. But what about when your climatology brothers said that future snows would be a 'rare and exciting event'? You guys want it both ways; and we're all just NOT that dumb.

But before we write off our current cold snap as the British weather playing its usual tricks, we still need to explain why the Arctic high pressure has strayed so far south. And here, says Prof Maslin, is the more likely, and more subtle, link with climate change. "For me," he says, "this shows that the climate is becoming more dynamic, and thus large shifts in the wind patterns are possible – in this case, sub-tropical air being trapped further south than usual."

In other words, we need to remember that while the average temperature is rising, climate change also delivers more extreme weather, from chills to heatwaves. Today, we're stocking up on snowshoes – but best to invest in some air-conditioning as well.

[From Are we freezing because of global warming? - Telegraph]