"In the beautiful Midwest, windchill temperatures are reaching minus 60 degrees, the coldest ever recorded. In coming days, expected to get even colder. People can't last outside even for minutes," Trump wrote. "What the hell is going on with Global Waming? [sic] Please come back fast, we need you!"
And with that, Trump opened wide the doors to netizens eagerly waiting to bash the commander in chief for his views.
— Nev Schulman (@NevSchulman) January 29, 2019
— Kevin Joshi (@KevinSJoshi) January 30, 2019
— J. Dice 🎲 (@jdice03) January 30, 2019
— renae (@renaes24) January 30, 2019
— ben-jen-sen. (@benjensen_) January 30, 2019
— steg68 (@Steg68) January 29, 2019
— Willie Garson (@WillieGarson) January 30, 2019
But the classiest response came from NOAA. And although the government agency stressed on Wednesday that it wasn't responding directly to Trump's remarks, the timing was synced well enough.
"Winter storms don't prove that global warming isn't happening," NOAA tweeted, linking to a 2015 Climate.gov article that explains how warmer temperatures cause an increase in evaporation that in turn creates a wetter atmosphere and results in more rain and snow.
The tweet also nabbed a cartoon from the article that uses a teapot to demonstrate the weather effects.
— NOAA Climate.gov (@NOAAClimate) January 29, 2019
In a statement to CBS News, the Maryland-headquartered agency explained that the tweet was more of a regularly scheduled alert. "[It's] something NOAA routinely puts out when we get an extreme cold snap such as the one we're in now," a spokesperson said.
The discussion of weather and climate, and how one influences the other, has repeatedly been challenged by the Trump administration. During the presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly claimed that climate change was a hoax, perhaps perpetrated by China, and once in office, one of his first moves was to announce the withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement.
"United States pays billions of dollars [for the Paris Climate Accord], while China, Russia and India have contributed and will contribute nothing," Trump said at a April 2017 speaking event in Pennsylvania. He added that the agreement is "one-sided" and reminiscent of the Iran Nuclear Deal, another multinational agreement his administration scrapped.
Presently, Americans living in the US Midwest and Northeast are experiencing life-threatening cold weather caused by a polar vortex, an event that occurs when cold air in the upper level of the low-pressure area that lies over the North Pole moves down from the Arctic Circle.
As a result, schools have been shuttered, train and flight routes canceled and services halted. State agencies have taken added measures in an effort to bring homeless populations out of the cold.
