NOAA image showing northern hemisphere temperature anomolies for December 2009
We all know that it was much colder than normal across much of the United States in December into January, and the above image shows December temperature anomalies across the northern hemisphere compared to the years 2000-2008. (Note: Blue indicates colder than normal; red indicates warmer than normal.)
Clearly, it was cold in many areas of the northern hemisphere, but what does it say about global warming?
Means Nothing about Global Warming
To me, it says nothing because the sample is way too small upon which to make any determination, which I wrote about on sphere.com (It’s Cold Outside, but the Globe Is Still Warming). The season is just one, and the years it’s being compared to are just 9. When looking at that in the scope of the amount of data needed to accumulate an accurate climate picture, this is like the proverbial drop in the bucket.
Cold Weather and Global Warming
There are a few lines of thought related to the cold weather and global warming, however, and I wrote about these in a recent sphere.com article, Global Warming Debate Won’t Cool Down.
–Paul Yeager
