NOAA and Jeff Masters have unleashed a coup of stupidity upon the US, possibly unprecedented in the country’s history.
This year’s late winter heat wave over much of the United States, dubbed “March Madness,” has been cited as evidence that human-induced global warming is causing the climate system to stray far outside its normal range of variability. The thousands of all-time high temperature records shattered during last month’s climate rampage have been likened to home-run records shattered by a baseball player on steroids.
It is true that the signature of human-induced global warming is clearly apparent in the increasing number of new high temperature records, which are currently outnumbering low temperature records by a factor of about 3 to 1. Just as a rising tide lifts all ships, a rise in global mean temperature is bound to raise the levels of the highest temperatures.
In the absence of proof that the jet stream’s variability is human-induced, we must consider the possibility that the apparent weirdness of the weather in March isn’t all that weird if viewed in a larger historical context. In this respect, it’s noteworthy that large areas of the U.S. were just about as warm in March 1910 as they were in March 2012. With weather, weird things happen every now and again.
This afternoon, it is miserable with temps in the 30s and 40′s in places where beautiful 80s were common a month ago. Snow is expected in many places by tomorrow. So, Masters must be happy. The terrible spell of nice weather is now over.