Groundhog Day came and went Feb. 2 without fanfare on Anna Maria Island.
Islanders who woke up to chilly temperatures Feb. 1 were confident that a warmer temperature would arrive with high noon’s sunshine.
“What do we care how long winter lasts?” one might ask the groundhog.
In fact, longer winters in the Northern Hemisphere mean more lucrative tourist seasons for island business owners.
But those who were caught in the lock of the polar vortex do care how much more winter weather they must endure.
For the record, the groundhog didn’t see its shadow, meaning an early spring.
And that’s about as scientific a statement as claiming severe snowstorms and subzero temperatures disprove global warming.
In late January, a series of snowstorms and record-breaking cold struck the Midwest, factoring in the deaths of more than 20 people, as well as punchlines for climate-change deniers who maintain that wintery weather is controvertible evidence in a global-warming debate.
For many in science and government, the time for debate passed long ago.
When the climate-change deniers’ tweets went viral in the vortex, scientists answered untruths and misinformation with basic lessons on the difference between “weather” and “climate.”
The difference between weather and climate is a measure of time, as weather is what conditions of the atmosphere are over a short period, and climate is how the atmosphere behaves over long periods.
On its climate webpage, NASA explains, “In short, climate is the description of the long-term pattern of weather in a particular area.”
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, seeking to inform and educate Jan. 29, circulated via Twitter a cartoon from its climate.gov, saying, “Winter storms don’t prove that global warming isn’t happening.”
NOAA, at climate.gov, also resurrected a 2015 explainer on winter weather and climate change.
Here’s one passage from the seven-page document: “Not only are severe snowstorms possible in a warming climate, there is some evidence that cold-season storms in the Northern Hemisphere have become more frequent and more intense since 1950.”
Another point made in the document: “While researchers sort out the science and overcome the challenges involved in making predictions, it’s certain that snowstorms will not be going away anytime soon. Earth has plenty of wiggle room before it warms so much that we will stop seeing snow anywhere in winter.”
What’s the risk of leaving misinformation unchallenged?
What’s the danger of climate-change denial?
Inaction, of course.
Every level of government must act to deal with climate change. Jan. 29, the day temperatures plummeted in the Midwest to minus 20 or more, our local government leaders gathered as the Manatee Council of Governments in the Bradenton Area Convention Center in Palmetto to address, among other topics, climate change and preparing for rising sea levels.
Thankfully, the discussion did not devolve into a debate over whether global warming is occurring and sea level rise a reality.
Manatee County School Board member Charlie Kennedy summed up where local officials must concentrate and determine their actions: “We’re focusing on the science.”
This column was published in The Islander newspaper.
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