Expert dispels common misconception about winter season: 'We all see it right before our eyes'

Extreme cold snaps have blanketed the country this winter, and people are wondering how that relates to global warming, the phenomenon that describes rising temperatures all over Earth.

Just because record highs are becoming a new way of life does not mean record lows are not possible, meteorologist and environmental reporter Marina Jurica of KCAL and CBS News (@cbsnewsconfirmed) explained. In fact, the seemingly opposite weather events are related.

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The claim that global warming isn't real because it's cold reflects a misunderstanding of climate science. CBS News/KCAL meteorologist & environmental reporter Marina Jurica explains why.

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The TikTok debunked a common claim used to spread disinformation that undermines climate science. Jurica said she uses decades of data and not individual weather events to measure climate patterns.

"The long-term trend in global warming, which refers to the sustained rise in average global temperatures over decades, contributes to these extreme cold snaps," she said.

She explains that a huge area of cold air high above the Arctic, called the polar vortex, is being disrupted by the warming of the planet, which is caused by humans' burning of dirty fuels for energy. The Arctic is warming much faster than other regions at lower latitudes — called Arctic amplification, as NASA explained — weakening the temperature gradient between them.

"This can destabilize the jet stream, causing it to meander and allowing cold Arctic air to dip much further south," Jurica said.

She added that higher global temperatures are not the only consequence of our polluted atmosphere. Extreme and unusual weather patterns — cold snaps, heat waves, and more — increase in likelihood as well; weather is colder, warmer, wetter, or drier, Jurica said.

So, why does this misinformation persist if it has been repeatedly disproved?

"People tend to associate their immediate experiences with broader trends," Jurica said.

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While deadly heat waves are easily attributable to rising global temperatures, extreme cold, increasingly frequent floods, and more intense hurricanes are harder for human minds to link with the changing climate. Thankfully, scientists have worked to suss out explanations and create a path to a safer future, including with the Paris Agreement.

Individuals can help by, for example, changing shopping habits, though governments and businesses must do more to lead the way.

"Humans think consumerism is the only way and not courageous enough to live with less," one commenter wrote.

Someone else said: "Thank you for such a good explanation. We all see it right before our eyes only some of us recognize it for what it is. Hopefully that will change as the extremes get worse."

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