The Cult of Climastrology just keeps trying
Deep freeze in the deep South | Why global warming is part of the conversation
This year started off cold. Very cold. And for the past couple of days, metro Atlanta and North Georgia have been covered in snow and ice with temperatures in the teens.
This winter has been an average of 13 degrees colder than last winter. Last season we only saw a trace of snow at the Atlanta airport where we keep the official records. According to our 11Alive StormTrackers, Atlanta has picked up 4.6†of snow so far this season.
Even though we had an early snow in December, the month averaged 1.5 degrees above average. So far in January, we are 7.6 degrees below average.
At times during this snow storm, Atlanta was colder than Anchorage, Alaska. These are extreme temperatures for the South. When we posted that information on the 11Alive Facebook page, many comments were about global warming.
Here we go
But it’s those extreme temperatures that point to the reality of climate change. That’s the better term according to the director of the atmospheric science program at the University of Georgia Dr. Marshall Shepherd.
He said “climate change is a better term because it illustrates all of the changes that are happening, perhaps more intense hurricanes, even greater heat waves, more intense rain storms that lead to flooding. Those are all symptomatic of climate change, global warming is just one aspect of climate change in the same way that running a fever is one aspect of the flu, and that’s how we have to try to convey this.”
There’s a reason I call it Hotcoldwetdry and them the Cult of Climastrology.
