I Blame Global Warming

It is really cold in Connecticut today, and we are expecting snow tomorrow.  The weather is more like the normal for January rather than the tail end of Fall.  Nevertheless, it is not so out of the ordinary.  The contrary, however, is true in the Middle East.  It snowed overnight in Cairo, the capital of Egypt for the first time in 100 years.  Jerusalem is blanketed with significant snow upwards of six inches, and a second storm is on the way which is estimated to dump another 20 inches on the ancient city tomorrow.  Motorists who have not seen snow in years are stuck on the highways.  Large numbers of people have lost power.  It is truly freaky.  In Syria and Lebanon, conditions are also dramatic.  The cold is intense and the storm that hit Israel also hit these areas.  Millions of people who have fled the fighting in Syria are now stuck in tent cities in the midst of a severe winter storm.

It is worth noting that there are no articles in the mainstream media blaming either the Middle East's storm or the American cold snap on global warming.  That is clearly logical; warming does not produce colder temperatures than usual.  Also, a long term climate change cannot be tied to specific storms or events like these.  Of course, that's the point.  When we have a storm like hurricane Katrina or Sandy, the media falls all over itself blaming the storm on global warming even though there is no connection between the two.  Thus, when we have crazy cold weather, it is worth noting that there is no connection.