(Newser)
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Climate change skeptics are having a chilly field day with the snow strewn across the East Coast, even as climate scientists say it is, if anything, evidence of global warming. James Inhofe’s family built a 6-foot-tall igloo on Capitol Hill adorned with a sign reading “Al Gore’s New Home,” while Virginia’s Republican Party put up a web ad reading “12 inches of Global Warming,” telling voters to ask Virginia Democratic reps to help them shovel.
But climate scientists say no one weather event is particularly significant when discussing climate trends, which manifest over decades and centuries, the New York Times notes. In fact, studies show that increases in temperature tend to increase the likelihood of severe storms, because warm air carries more moisture. “One can ‘load the dice’ in favor of events that used to be rare if the climate is changing,” one meteorologist wrote.
