Polar vortex and global warming
I've had several people to use the current cold weather in the US as "proof" that global warming isn't happening. Unfortunately for those arguments, they're pure bunk. First, the Eastern US and Canada do not represent the entire planet. The December 2013 global map of average temperature anomalies show this: While the eastern US and Canada are cold, the rest of the planet is relatively warm, with only a few areas (e.g. the Middle East) colder than the 1951-1980 average. This same pattern has been in place since November 2013 and I expect that the January 2014 map won't change much. [As expected, it did not. Here's the January 2014 map:] Again, the Eastern US was far below average whereas the rest of the planet, especially much of the Arctic was far above average.] This demonstrates the importance of looking at the global temperature data, rather than just the weather in your backyard when contemplating global warming. Second, th...