LETTER: Trust science: cold snap doesn’t mean global warming is hoax

To Ozaukee Press:

The recent wintry weather we have experienced in southeast Wisconsin has spawned a series of misleading and generally unfortunate comments online and elsewhere suggesting that it proves that global warming cannot be happening.

It is important to remember that weather is not equal to climate. Climate is like a sports season, whereas weather is an individual game in the season. No one thought that the Bucks were a bad team when they lost to the worst team in the NBA, the Phoenix Suns, at home in November.

The same is true for a cold snap and climate. Southeast Wisconsin was slightly above normal for temperatures in December through February, and temperatures in the rest of the world were above to well above normal when ours were coldest.

Just like the Bucks have been adding pieces in recent years, the atmosphere has been adding gases that keep heat from being lost to outer space at night. There are serious disagreements on what should be done in the policy arena in response, but the basic science is irrefutable.

Sadly, all too often those policy disagreements turn into straw-man arguments against the science and those who practice it. Society can do better.

There are many scientists here in Ozaukee County whose work directly or indirectly relates to climate. There’s no slush fund supporting our work. We’re middle class. We’re just trying to ensure a better world for our children. We put our trust in the expertise of people qualified in other areas of knowledge. We respectfully hope that people will do the same for ours.

Clark Evans
Grafton