Apr 10, 2007 11:55 pm US/Central
Good Question: Why Is It Cold If Globe Is Warmer?
by Ben Tracy
(WCCO)
A majority of scientific reports and climate experts say that our planet is warming. However, that can be a tough sell when it's snowing in April. All the signs out our window sure don't look like global warming.
"It's just freakish weather," said one woman in the Twin Cities.
The wacky weather has some people saying: "So much for this global warming thing."
"I think they kind of exaggerate it a little bit to scare us," said a woman in Minneapolis. "It's overblown."
"Don't confuse weather with climate," said WCCO's Chief Meteorologist Paul Douglas. "Weather is a snapshot, climate is a long term trend."
In other words, weather is what happens at any given moment in the atmosphere while climate is how the atmosphere behaves over decades and centuries.
Paul said the term global warming can be misleading.
"I think a better description is probably climate change because there are going to be regional variations across the globe," he said.
We need to keep a global perspective in mind because while the United States is experience record cold, some of Europe and Asia are seeing record warmth.
"Don't look out the window and make assumptions about long-term climate," said Paul. "But that goes both ways. In the summertime on the hot humid days we can't beat our chest and say this is global warming."
Paul said we need to look at long-term trends, such as the fact that 19 of the 20 warmest years worldwide have occurred since 1985.
"This is either the greatest scientific hoax perpetrated on us or it's true," said Paul.
In a recent poll by Yale's Center for Environmental Law and Policy, more than 80 percent of Americans said they consider global warming a serious problem. More than 60 percent said environmental change threatens our country as much as terrorism.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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