Ice Cold? Global Warming?


The brutal cold has reached us here in the Northeast.  (After a wild snow squall that hit yesterday afternoon just as my kid was walking home!)
I know it's been beyond brutal in the Midwest for what seems like an eternity.  We may not be able to agree on much, but I think we all would agree; it's COLD.  Maybe it's only -1 here this morning (or it was when I started writing this) and its -19 where you are.  Or maybe you're lucky and you live in Florida where it is in the 40s.  (But for them that's COLD.)

Before I go any further I want to send a big THANK YOU to my garbage men (I could say sanitation workers, but I won't).  When it was -1 (without the wind chill) and dark this morning they came down the street to pick up the garbage.  There wasn't much out there.  (With the wind whipping around all night who wanted to put out a garbage can.  Not me!  I figured it would blow over and then I'D be out there this morning in the dark and subzero weather picking it up.  DID NOT want to do that.)  But they were there.  The driver and the guy who rides on the outside of the truck, rain or shine.  Thank you for being out there today.  I hope you are compensated well.  Your job is usually rough, but you handle it with a smile (when I am looking and when the temperatures are warmer and I am out walking you always wave and say hi).  Thank you.
 
Moving on.  It's COLD!  

In some parts of the USA it's colder than it is in the Arctic.  How can this be?  Can we talk global warming/global climate change?  How can it be warming if it's so darned cold?  While I'm no Neil Tyson Degrasse or even Bill Nye the Science Guy here's kind of how I understand it.  (True scientists are free to correct me.  Those who only play scientists on tv are not!)

Here's my scenario.  I take an ice cube.  It's cold.  I fill a glass with UNREFRIGERATED Coke Zero. (Because that's my current beverage of choice...I get no kick back from Coke, but if they want to give me a kick back, I'm not above it!)  I put the cube of ice in my glass with the Coke Zero.  If I take a sip, my beverage is not yet cold.  But if I wait, the ice, no longer in the freezer where temperatures keep it in a frozen state, melts and my beverage tastes refreshingly cool.  BUT once the ice has completely melted and the Coke Zero sits around, it doesn't just go flat it gets warmer UNLESS I add another ice cube.  

If we think of the North (or South) Pole as the ice cube, as the earth gets warmer, the ice there starts to melt.  All of that cold melts down into Coke Zero (and in this scenario that would be us).  We get frigid temperatures.  If it stays warm, then the melted ice is not replaced or refrozen.  Hence in the summer there is no ice to put in our Coke Zero and it gets (and stays) HOT.  As this process continues we will see colder winters and warmer summers.  That is until there is no ice left.  Then we're royally...well you get the idea.

Yes, this is overly simplified.  Yes, this is not completely accurate.  NO, I am NOT a scientist.  (Nor do I play one on tv or anywhere else.)  But it's a reasonable analogy.  (At least I think it is...scientists feel free to chime in.)

So we can thank global warming for our frozen hands and feet. We can think about what this might mean.  Maybe we can even start to act like this matters.  (I REALLY think it does.)  And maybe we can work together to do something about it...just maybe...right?

In the meantime:  stay safe, be kind and I promise in the future to keep the science stuff to the scientists.

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