Reference: Cold snap not end of global warming, Bangkok Post, January 8, 2010

It is strange irony to see the warmists acknowledge the natural variability of climate (Cold snap not end of global warming, Bangkok Post, January 8, 2010) stating that the coldest northern winter in 40 years " does not disprove global warming" because the bitter winter weather is simply a short term "blip" and a manifestation of "the natural variability of climate". Of course, had it been the warmest winter in 40 years they would be singing a different tune.

That tune is the one they sang for the 2003 heat wave in Europe and the 2007 summer melt of Arctic ice; as well as for Hurricane Katrina, Cyclones Sidr and Aila, recent floods and droughts in China, and droughts in southern Africa, and Australia. In all of these cases, short term weather events and the effects of known regional weather patterns were presented not as "blips" nor as "the natural variability of climate" but as the consequence of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels.

In the very same article they slip back to this old tune and present the deceptive statistic that "2009 will rank among the 10 warmest years since 1880" implying that these data indicate a warming trend even though the cited statistic could be produced by the natural variability of climate without a warming trend. In any case, the issue is not the alleged warming trend itself but whether it represents a natural variation or whether it is caused by fossil fuels.

The science of the warmists depends on the unscientific notion that data that support their hypothesis are good data and should be retained while those that do not are blips and outliers that must be discarded; as well as the attitude that they already know the answer and need data only to convince the masses. That attitude renders research methods into propaganda methods and encourages climate scientists to use statistics only as a marketing tool.

Cha-am Jamal
Thailand