BUZZ
‘We can expect extreme cold […] even record cold even as the planet continues to warm dramatically’
The northeastern U.S. got socked by its biggest snowstorm in about a decade last weekend, with the Philadelphia area getting between 9 and 10 inches.
Over the last couple of decades the public has seen apocalyptic headlines such as “Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past” with the quotes “Children just aren’t going to know what snow is,” (The Independent in 2000), and cautions about “snowless scenarios” within the next several decades (High Country News, 2021).
Keeping with this, the University of Pennsylvania student paper The Daily Pennsylvanian decided to go to Earth and Environmental Sciences Professor Michael Mann, who said the recent snow makes “clear” the “impact of human-caused warming.”
“In regions that experience these stronger storms, we can expect extreme cold — and indeed, in some places, even record cold — even as the planet continues to warm dramatically,” Mann said.
Mann emphasized “decarbonization” efforts, claiming the “warming of Earth’s surface will stop” once carbon emissions reach zero.
Mann’s colleague Leigh Stearns said “a lot of evidence” points to future worsening of “extreme climatic events,” noting a “warmer ocean and a warmer atmosphere” make more powerful storms.
Stearns added that a “diversified power grid mainly supplied by renewables [the costs and effectiveness of which she “hoped” would go down and become more efficient, respectively] could offer a solution for future storm preparation.”
In 2024, Mann told CNN a pre-summer heatwave was a climate change-induced “glimpse of not only what our future will look like, but in fact, it will look quite a bit worse than this.”
Last year, Mann had his years-long libel lawsuit award of $1 million reduced to just $5,000 and was ordered to pay over half a million dollars in legal fees to defendant National Review.
A couple of weeks before to that decision, Mann indicated a Second Amendment solution might be needed if President Trump did not comply with a judge’s order regarding the Dept. of Education. He subsequently complained that those calling his remark a threat were “very dishonest.”
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