Mr. President, What This Winter Is Telling Us About Climate Change

يناير 30, 2026

12:22 م

Across much of the United States this week, winter has asserted itself with force. Temperatures plunged well below seasonal norms. Wind chills reached dangerous levels. Schools closed, flights were canceled, and energy systems were pushed to their limits as Arctic air swept deep into the country.

It was against this backdrop of widespread disruption that President Donald Trump weighed in, posting on social media: “Record Cold Wave expected to hit 40 States. Rarely seen anything like it before. Could the Environmental Insurrectionists please explain — WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GLOBAL WARMING???”

The question is familiar. It resurfaces almost every winter, whenever cold becomes impossible to ignore. And it reflects a misunderstanding that is both common and consequential.

Weather Is What We Experience. Climate Is What We Measure.

The first distinction climate scientists make is also the most important: weather and climate are not the same thing.

Weather describes short-term conditions. It is today’s temperature, this week’s storm, this winter’s cold snap. Climate describes long-term patterns, measured over decades, across regions and across the planet.

A single cold wave tells us about the weather. Climate science asks how often such events occur, how intense they become, and whether their frequency and severity are changing over time.

Confusing the two is easy. But it leads to the wrong conclusions.

Why “Global Warming” Gave Way to “Climate Change”

The term “global warming” was coined to describe a clear and measurable rise in average global temperatures, a trend that continues unabated. Over time, however, scientists recognized that temperature alone did not capture the full scope of what was happening.

As the planet warms, it does not do so evenly. Oceans absorb vast amounts of heat. Ice melts unevenly. Atmospheric circulation patterns shift. Rainfall changes. Extremes intensify.

“Climate change” became the more accurate term because it reflects these systemic effects. It encompasses warming, cooling in specific regions, altered precipitation, and growing variability across seasons. The language changed not to soften the science, but to describe it more precisely.

How a Warming Planet Can Produce Severe Cold

One of the most counterintuitive aspects of climate change involves the Arctic, which is warming several times faster than the global average. As polar temperatures rise and sea ice retreats, the temperature contrast between the Arctic and mid-latitudes weakens.

That contrast helps drive the jet stream, the high-altitude wind current that usually keeps cold air confined near the poles. When it weakens, the jet stream can become more erratic, dipping south and allowing Arctic air to spill into the United States.

The result can be periods of intense cold, even as the planet as a whole continues to warm.

This is not a loophole in climate science. It is a consequence of it.

Extremes Are the Signal

Climate change is often discussed in terms of averages, but its impacts are felt through extremes.

A warmer atmosphere holds more energy and more moisture. That added energy amplifies weather across the spectrum: hotter heat waves, heavier rainfall, longer droughts, more destructive wildfires, and, at times, sharper cold snaps.

The defining feature of climate change is not steady warmth. It is instability.

Why This Moment Matters

Interpreting cold weather as evidence against climate change risks obscuring the larger challenge. Infrastructure across the United States is being tested by conditions it was not designed to withstand. Energy systems face stress in both summer heat and winter cold. Communities are absorbing rising economic and human costs from increasingly volatile weather.

The question for policymakers is not whether winter still exists. It is how often extreme disruptions will occur, how severe they will be, and how prepared the country is to respond.